Windows 10: My desktop suddenly disappeared. What happened and how to recover?

My personalized desktop suddenly disappeared a few days ago. I was doing nothing unusual when it changed to a format I am totally unfamiliar with. All of my icons are gone except for my icons in the taskbar. This changed desktop is very strange. As you might have detected, I don't know much about Windows 10. I wish I could go back to Windows 7. Windows 10 does nothing for me but cause problems.
Does anyone know how I can recover my desktop? Can you give me a clue how to troubleshoot and correct? I don't understand much of the computer technical jargon so please talk to me as if I were computer illiterate. I use the computer for browsing and email only. I appreciate any and all help.

:)

 

Today's update deleted all desktop files and icons

Today's Windows 10 update (August 19) removed every desktop icon and file/folder on my screen. I can find them in Explorer in my Desktop category, but they disappeared from the desktop. Anyone have any idea what Microsoft did to make this happen with today's
update?

I opened my Desktop in Explorer and dragged the shortcuts listed to all my desktop items back to the desktop and suddenly all my files appeared again. Then I trashed the shortcuts and everything seems to be back to normal. Still do not know what kind of
bug in today's update caused this problem.

 

Small Window Suddenly Appears and Disappears Intermittently - Windows 10 Desktop

Greetings,

I am facing a problem where a small window on my desktop suddenly appears and then disappears in a second. This happens so fast that I can't tell what the window says. I think it's a cmd prompt window. This problem is happening intermittently and happens
from one time to three or so per computer use session.

This started happening after the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update was installed.

Can anyone help me?

Thanks,

Michael

[Moved from: Windows / Windows 10 / Desktop, Start, & personalization / Desktop]

 

Hi, how do you recover the content? Have you tried rt clicking an empty area, click Show desktop icons?

If not, do you have full backups, or disk images (we strongly and repeatedly recommend the routine use of disk imaging; the compressed copies of your disks mean you can recover your PC without technical help even if you have to replace your disk. You can also extract files and folders from the images. E.g. Macrium Reflect (free) + its boot medium + external storage for the image set(s)).

Note the standard recommendation is not to keep a lot of info or content on your desktop.

You may be happier using Classic Shell (free) as your start menu - you'll feel very comfortable with it as it behaves like Win 7/ XP start menus- configurable. It also expresses more deeply nested start menus properly, which Win 10's doesn't, and full support of drag 'n drop.

 

Thank you dalchina. Right clicking anywhere on the desktop does nothing. No reaction at all. Even the recycle bin icon is not there. I do not want to implement new stuff. I am more comfortable keeping everything as simple as possible using the standard
out-of-the-box Microsoft Windows 10 system. Your suggestions, although reasonable to you, are way above my skill level. Disk imaging sounds good but I don't have a clue what you are talking about. I just want to correct the problem and continue using my computer as I have been.
Oh, and here is some more info which I failed to mention. I have two user accounts on this one computer. One for me and one for my wife. Both are set up the same. Her computer was not affected by my problem. Her start-up desktop, although not the same as mine, was not changed.
Thank you very much for your attention to my problem. I really appreciate your response.

 

Why can't you?

 

Hi Navy. I don't know why I can't. I don't know why I can. I really don't know much of anything. Right now all I want is to solve and correct my desktop problem. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

 

right click desktop/select refresh , see if that helps

 

Chances are that your User Profile did not load properly and Windows loaded the Default Profile and desktop.
If you browse to C"\Users\[YourUserName] you should see your personal folders. If you open the Desktop folder, all of your icons should still be there. If that is the case, then here are ways to fix it: How to Fix A Corrupt User Profile in Windows 10

 

Thanks for the advice asusG, but no desktop appears at all anytime anywhere. It seems to be covered up by the start screen. Right click does nothing at all on the start screen. I think my desktop is still there somewhere but is just covered up. It never shows. I don't know how get to the desktop. I don't want the start screen. I want my desktop. I may create a new user and transfer all my files as spunk suggested. Hope that works. I implemented Classic Shell as NavyLCDR recommended but now Classic Shell is the start screen. Still no desktop at all. This has been a miserable experience. As I said in a previous post, my wife's user account works fine. WHY ME?

 

Are you in tablet mode?



(It's a drop-down option there.. if you are using a normal PC you should have that setting as shown).

To get there:
Settings, type 'Tablet' in the search box, click Tablet Mode Settings.

If it says Tablet Mode- that explains why the start menu covers the screen.

Otherwise
Please take a photograph of your screen and post it using the little icon above your post to the left of the video icon. (Or if you know how and can do it a screenshot using e.g. the Windows snipping tool).

Maybe you have a friend or family member who can help you become a bit more familiar with Win 10. The old control panel is still there too- well, mostly.

** I avoid most of the Win 10 features as far as I can- I don't use the apps or the Win 10 start menu - I want one that works properly, as in Win 7. I want Windows to look a bit like Win 7. So I use a start menu that behaves like Win 7's. I have transparent/opaque borders around windows where that's possible. Hey, I even have the Win 7 orb as the start button... and I almost never talk to Cortana.



- looks a bit more familiar?

 

Not in tablet mode. I checked. Computer is Dell Inspiron 660. I have been using Windows 10 since last summer when I thought I had to upgrade. I had been using Windows 7 and previously Windows XP and before that the early versions on several machines.
The normal 'desktop' is where I put the shortcuts I use most often. Used desktop for years. Now nothing. The Desktop folder still contains all of these shortcuts but I don't know what to do with it. I am not a PC guru but have been a user for many years doing simple things. I do not need all the advanced features. Cortana is a joke.
Wife's user account is working great. I must have really hit the evil key. Will keep on working through this as I have time. Thank you.

 

See bottom right option

(And I wouldn't regard Cortana as 'advanced'... especially as regards file search).

 

Success! I also thought ‘tablet mode’ might be the problem since the start menu screen covers the entire screen when in tablet mode. I had previously checked everywhere that told me if I was in tablet mode. The answer was always no. Then you told me your opinion that tablet mode might be my problem. I checked again and found on ‘settings - tablet mode - When I sign In - use the appropriate mode for my hardware’. I assumed that meant leave it alone and the appropriate selection would automatically be made. WRONG! Changed it to ‘Use desktop mode’ and like magic everything was back to normal. What’s so strange is the problem only showed up a couple of weeks ago. It had been working fine since I “upgraded” to Windows 10 last Summer. The second user account on my machine has been and still is working fine. This problem has no affect, yet. I hate Windows 10!

dalchina, navy, and others, thank you so much for helping me through this problem.

 

Good thing it was simple.. just wait 'til you get to the hard ones some people experience.

I'd hold off on the Creator's upgrade- I'm waiting until they bring out the first big update after this release.

Meanwhile, please consider this- it can save you so much pain when things go wrong: this is how to act defensively and potentially save you a great deal of time and difficulty:

Here's my write-up on the value of disk imaging.

Creating disk images lets you restore Windows and all your imaged disks and partitions to a previous working state from compressed copies you have created and kept updated on external storage media, quickly and probably without technical help.

You can recover from:
- a failed disk drive (restore to a new one)
- ransomware (which encrypts your disk)
- user error
- unrecoverable problems from failed updates to problem programs
- unbootable PC (hardware faults aside)

Images also act as a full backup- you can extract files too.

You can even use images to help you move more easily and quickly to a new PC.
Can be used with Laplink software to transfer your build automatically to another PC

Imaging can even help you sleep at night knowing you have a second chance.

Many here recommend Macrium Reflect (free) as a good robust solution and more reliable than some others. It’s
- more feature rich
- more flexible
- more reliable
than Windows Backup and Restore system images.

It's well supported with videos, help and a responsive forum.

There are other such programs, free/commercial, some with simpler interfaces, but Macrium R is one of the most robust and reliable.

How long does it take?
SSD+ USB3 - maybe 15 mins for the first system image, less thereafter
HDD + USB2 - maybe 40-50 mins
That’s with little personal data, few programs installed.
- of course, depends how much you have on C:
(You can and should image all your partitions and disks)

Once you've created your first image, keep it updated with e.g. differential imaging- which images just changes from the first image, more quickly, and creates a smaller image file.

You need a backup medium - say- twice as large as the total amount of data you are imaging to keep a reasonable number of differential images. This will vary dependent on the number of images you keep, so is only a rough practical guide.

Some comment that system restore isn't always reliable; if it works and solves the problem, great. But sometimes restores won't work or fail. And of course a restore point only covers a limited number of aspects of the system. That’s where disk imaging comes in.

(There's a tutorial on Macrium in the Tutorials section, and a couple of videos in the user videos section on this forum)
Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect - Windows 10 Backup Restore Tutorials
Windows 10 instructional videos by Ten Forums members
Here's my write-up on the value of disk imaging.

Creating disk images lets you restore Windows and all your imaged disks and partitions to a previous working state from compressed copies you have created and kept updated on external storage media, quickly and probably without technical help.

You can recover from:
- a failed disk drive (restore to a new one)
- ransomware (which encrypts your disk)
- user error
- unrecoverable problems from failed updates to problem programs
- unbootable PC (hardware faults aside)

Images also act as a full backup- you can extract files too.

You can even use images to help you move more easily and quickly to a new PC.
Can be used with Laplink software to transfer your build automatically to another PC

Imaging can even help you sleep at night knowing you have a second chance.

Many here recommend Macrium Reflect (free) as a good robust solution and more reliable than some others. It’s
- more feature rich
- more flexible
- more reliable
than Windows Backup and Restore system images.

It's well supported with videos, help and a responsive forum.

There are other such programs, free/commercial, some with simpler interfaces, but Macrium R is one of the most robust and reliable.

How long does it take?
SSD+ USB3 - maybe 15 mins for the first system image, less thereafter
HDD + USB2 - maybe 40-50 mins
That’s with little personal data, few programs installed.
- of course, depends how much you have on C:
(You can and should image all your partitions and disks)

Once you've created your first image, keep it updated with e.g. differential imaging- which images just changes from the first image, more quickly, and creates a smaller image file.

You need a backup medium - say- twice as large as the total amount of data you are imaging to keep a reasonable number of differential images. This will vary dependent on the number of images you keep, so is only a rough practical guide.

Some comment that system restore isn't always reliable; if it works and solves the problem, great. But sometimes restores won't work or fail. And of course a restore point only covers a limited number of aspects of the system. That’s where disk imaging comes in.

(There's a tutorial on Macrium in the Tutorials section, and a couple of videos in the user videos section on this forum)
Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect - Windows 10 Backup Restore Tutorials
Windows 10 instructional videos by Ten Forums members