Windows 10: KB5040427 causing apps and desktop icons to disappear

Hi. After KB5040427 got downloaded, I noticed that instead of a blue screen, it installed while in a black screen. First time that ever happened when installing a culminative update. When it booted up after the installation, I then noticed that ALL my desktop shortcut icons disappeared as well as ALL tiles from the Start pinned tiles. When checking program files and x86, the programs were completely gone! I had to reinstalled them including Edge browser. The issue is that the Windows OS is not functioning like it should causing some programs to give an error even after reinstallation. Shoul

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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.

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

Thank you.

 

Icons have disappeared

Hi Robert,

Missing icons after a recent Windows update can be due to the changes made in your PC Settings while updating.
Before we proceed with any troubleshooting steps, we suggest that you make sure that
Show Desktop icons is enabled. Here's how:

• Right-click on the empty area on your desktop.
• Choose View and you should see Show Desktop icons option.
• Try checking and unchecking Show Desktop icons option a few times but remember to leave this option checked.

Should the issue persists, you can turn off tablet mode. Windows 10 is designed to work with touchscreen devices and touchscreen monitors and it comes with tablet mode that optimizes Windows 10 for touchscreen devices. apparently using tablet mode can sometimes
cause your icons to disappear so let’s see how we can turn off tablet mode. Follow the steps below to turn off tablet mode:

• Open Settings > System and choose Tablet mode from the left.
• Locate the Make Windows more touch-friendly when using your device as a tablet and set it to off.
  
• Your desktop icons should now appear. If that doesn’t work, try turning on and off Tablet mode a few times.

Keep us posted on how it goes.

 

Bitlocker Causes Taskbar Pinned Apps Disappeared

Alright, the problem is the Desktop directory. Rather than force end explorer process which cause another issue, today i found it is better to moved Desktop directory back to C:\Users\username\Desktop and create a symbolic link to keep the desktop files
secured with Bitlocker.

The steps are:

• Moved back Desktop directory to original location C:\Users\username\Desktop
• Moved Desktop files to safe location (in this case to D:\username\Desktop)
• Delete Desktop directory in step-1
• Create Dekstop directory symbolic link using elevated command prompt:

code:

mklink /D C:\Users\username\Desktop D:\username\Desktop

This way the Taskbar Pinned apps - in my case - not disappeared unlike before.

Thanks