Windows 10: Desktop icons keep rearranging

Here's the skinny...
After valued research that goes back to 2009.
Microsoft has no intention to fix this because they've known about it since then.
Monitors through the HDMI "PORT" are treated as devices as in Display Device.
When it's turned off there is no more device which forces Windows to revert back to default state which is 800x600 and that means your icons and open windows/programs will jump to the left unless the window itself has an assigned save position value which it will go back to after the resize occurs.

There is a device some ass sells which is nothing more than an HDMI Angle adapter that he bought for a couple bucks, opens it up and changes one wire then sells it for $20.

It disables the autodetect which for some reason neither NVidia or Microsoft will have a manual disable in their software.
ATI cards has a registry value that you can change that will work.

It's shameful that MS knows about this and refuses to adjust for fire which is annoying end users.
People complained about the lack of multimonitor support as well as No Aero Glass and the Folders sizes and positions.
Hell even a simple one step button to change sound output without opening playback devices and defaults.

Windows is a complete mess and I haven't a clue why people migrate elsewhere "Sarcasm"
We now see why the emphasis on Windows 10 looking and acting like Linux and Apple because it's suddenly found to be irrelevant when you can run 99% of Windows programs on Linux and Apple through emulators and get a better user experience.

Believe me I hate UAC in Linux but you can theme linux to look like Mr. Hanky's bathroom if you want and no one cares because that's what you want but Windows is just annoying at times.

 

Make sure you have the correct monitor, pc and graphics drivers installed for win10. MS generics are not good enough in my opinion. I have had no icon issues since using the OEM supplied drivers.

 

I have this with 10 but on the same setup not with 7, 8 or 8.1

I was using HDMI and have changed the link. No diffrence still all over the place!

 

Having the same issue (icons self-aligning to the left every so often).
DisplayPort connection, 3840x2160 @60Hz, 200% scaling.

It is excruciatingly more annoying each time it does this as I do a lot of photo and video editing using many programs, of which I like the icons arranged the way I want, for efficiency. If anyone has a fix, I'll be very grateful.

 

Not really a windows 10 fix, but I use a small free program called IconRestorer - one click and icon positions all restored.

 

I have this issue also I've done absoloutly everything u can possibly do to fix this nothing works including the registery fixes however this only happend to me after I installed the arma series games and set screen resolutions etc etc and more so I found it does it when I run games upon exiting them I don't know if this has anything to do with it, the build and make up of one individuals computer is of no concern I've been building PCs since I was 7 years old and can %100 say this is not a machine issue it is purely attached to the win 10 os either Microsoft will need to make a fix of sorts or bring out a seperate reg key update that replaces the existing one as a previous member states it's not changed much but whatever key value worked for the other os's is clearly not working on 10.

 

What is the latest consensus? I have this issue too. The icons even rearrange during the logged in session at times. I have of course done the obvious and nothing seems to help. Any help is appreciated.

And I don't play games and I don't mess around with different programs and web sites. This is clearly a Windows 10 issue. Ran Windows 7 for years and only on rare occasions a few icons may move. Not like this. I will admit that I could (and probably should) reduce the number of desktop icons (about 70) but it should not matter. What is the registry fixes mentioned above?

 

I right clicked in Desktop and unchecked "show desktop icons".
When I selected it again, they re-appeared in the order I had placed them. Not sure how long this will stay though, but that might help as temp fix...

 

Try going to settings and type in snap. It will bring up a page which offers to turn off windows arrange. Works for me for 2 weeks.

 

Testing reveals this does not work, I did this. Turned off auto arrange, set up my icons, turned the monitor off and on. The icons were screwed up again.

 

Your only real chance of fixing this is to look at the registry fixes posted earlier.
Desktop icons keep rearranging - Page 5 - Windows 10 Forums

As said previously, this problem has been one which has been experienced by some users of Windows through several versions of Windows. It's not specific to Win 10, nor do all Win 10 users experience it. I don't know if an in-place upgrade install might fix it (see Tutorial section) - albeit a sledgehammer approach- which takes over an hour but can keep all your programs and most settings.

 

I have used (and managed 100+ PC’s) Windows since DOS then 3.1 and on multiple PC's and before 10 never had this problem. On both 10 installs its there and not before and the two not updated still no problem. It may well have been a problem before 10 but its a much bigger problem with 10. One PC has been updated and has gone through 7, 8, 8.1 and now 10. No issue on all the other versions only 10. It’s a big enough annoyance that we are not going to update the other two which my wife uses as she refuses to move to 10 until its sorted.

 

Agreed, Win 10 is fragile and in my opinion immature. There are a good many issues with Win 10 that one has to learn to avoid, if possible. However, I've never had this particular problem, and it may be simply very optimistic to wait for Uncle MS to fix it.

Clearly an earlier version of ESET was responsible for some - beyond that one can argue that allowing anything and everything to write to the registry (and most OS folders)- is a profoundly questionable architectural decision lending itself to this sort of issue.

That's not going to change any time soon.

So you might like to try the registry fix or anything else previously posted, and also an in place upgrade repair install. However, if a 3rd party program is breaking this feature, I suppose any repair will fail. I can only wish you good luck beyond that, and sympathise with your frustration.

Note that various 3rd party programs have also been suggested to restore icon positions.

 

Thanks ... tried to toggle the "show desktop icons" off and on two days ago and so far so good. The icons have not moved since. This may not be a solution for everyone. I'll report back in a week or so to give an update.

 

me too