Windows 10: Desktop icons spontaneously disappearing

I'm not entirely sure why, but for some reason all the icons on the desktop will just randomly disappear and be replaced by 2 moveable boxes for seemingly no reason. It's pretty annoying, but all I have to do to fix it is to reboot the computer. This has been happening for at least a couple of years, though I don't recall exactly when it started. Does anyone know how to stop this?

This is what it looks like whenever the icons disappear, but the boxes seem to appear in completely random locations on the left side, and while they didn't appear there this time, they are normally in the top left.

:)

 

Desktop Icons disappeared

Hi Kinsley,

• Are you referring to the desktop icons?
• When did the icons disappear? Did you make any changes to the system Settings?

It's possible that your device is in Tablet mode. I suggest you to turn it off and check if the icons appear. To do so, select the
Action center icon on the taskbar (the little message box next to the date and time), and then select
Tablet mode to turn it on or off.

Also refer the following thread which discusses about a similar issue.

Windows 10 - Desktop icons disappeared - I may have hit something that is causing my problem

Hope this helps. Keep us updated with the status of the issue to continue assisting you further.

Thank you.

 

Remove Linux Desktop Icons

I am not sure whether this will work (Ubuntu does not have icons like that on the desktop by default), but I suggest opening the trash bin and sweeping the icons into the window showing the trash bin.

 

ALL icons missing/blank (desktop, taskbar, explorer)

Hi dalchina,

Thanks for your response.

I tried the steps suggested in your links but neither have worked :/