Windows 10: All Desktop icons are hidden inside a wide horizontal box

Discus and support All Desktop icons are hidden inside a wide horizontal box in Windows 10 Customization to solve the problem; All of a sudden, all my desktop icons are hidden inside a horizontal bounding box. When I click inside the box, it opens up the Recycle Bin. New... Discussion in 'Windows 10 Customization' started by Bob_H2, Mar 30, 2020.

  1. Bob_H2 Win User

    All Desktop icons are hidden inside a wide horizontal box


    All of a sudden, all my desktop icons are hidden inside a horizontal bounding box. When I click inside the box, it opens up the Recycle Bin. New laptop. New Window 10 install.


    The shortcuts still appear in explorer in the desktop folder.


    Help!


    All Desktop icons are hidden inside a wide horizontal box 907374d8-4edc-425b-ae93-cc6896a26b83?upload=true.png

    :)
     
    Bob_H2, Mar 30, 2020
    #1

  2. Icons on the desktop

    Hi,

    There are several reasons for your desktop icons not to stay put such as changes in registry, system cache, or an enabled
    Auto arrange icon setting. To rectify your issue with keeping your icons arranged, we suggest that you right-click on any blank space on your desktop, click
    View, then make sure that the check mark for Auto arrange icon is removed.

    If the issue persist even after performing the steps above, you can rebuild your icon cache. This method solves most issues with incorrectly displayed icons. Here are the steps to do so:

    • Press the Windows key + R on your keyboard to open the
      Run box.
    • Type %userprofile%, then hit Enter.
    • Go to the AppData folder, then open the Local
      folder.
    • Select the IconCache file, then click Delete.

    If you're having challenges finding the IconCache file, you have to make sure that your hidden items are visible. Below are the steps:

    • Type hidden in Cortana, the Windows search bar or your task bar.
    • Select Show hidden files and folders from the result.
    • Go to View tab.
    • Enable the Show hidden files, folders, and drives.
    • Hit Apply, then click OK.

    Update us if the steps above helped you in resolving your concern.

    Thank you.
     
    Angela Pun, Mar 30, 2020
    #2
  3. JanJan Win User
    How to align icons on desktop horizontally/top/bottom in Win 7 ?

    Does anyone know how to align icons on desktop horizontally/top/bottom in Win 7 ? Or can it *Confused All Desktop icons are hidden inside a wide horizontal box :confused:
     
    JanJan, Mar 30, 2020
    #3
  4. MMO
    mmo Win User

    All Desktop icons are hidden inside a wide horizontal box

    How to shrink the bounding box of desktop icons?

    I just reimaged my office computer from Win 7 to Win 10. Most things are fine but one thing annoys me greatly:

    The desktop icons are embedded in an insanely wide bounding box. I.e. if I select a desktop icon it gets surrounded by a light-bluish transparent box that is at least three times as wide as the icon.
    It is thus impossible to place an icon close to the screen border, because if its "bounding box" overlaps the border, Windows will automatically place the icon elsewhere (another one of those unwanted behaviors, but that's a different story).
    Due to this huge box I also have to place my desktop very widely interspaced (i.e. at least the equivalent of two icons' width apart) or else I get a hard time hitting the right one, because clicking on it then frequently triggers the overlapping left or right icon. :-(

    On my home system that bounding box is barely wider than the displayed icon, maybe 20% of the icons's width on each side and I am thus used to place my icons in groups and also much closer to each other.

    Any ideas how one can shrink or do away with that surrounding box?

    Just in case: of course I have already switched to small icons and disabled automatic placement and grid alignment. :-(
    I also fiddled with the registry settings at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics, specifically with IconSpacing as suggested in misc. google hits that I found but changing that value does not seem to have any influence whatsoever (I tried values between -20 and -2000, the original value being -1115).
     
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All Desktop icons are hidden inside a wide horizontal box

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