# No icons show on Win XP

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-icons-show-on-win-xp/483453>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 28, 2009, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-icons-show-on-win-xp/483453 "2009-01-28T22:24:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\
**Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-icons-show-on-win-xp/483453/1 "2009-01-28T22:24:38Z")

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Win XP, SP 2.  
One of our former employes found a way to prevent icons from being displayed. One creates a short cut, and it won’t show. The same desktop and lack of icons occurs in the administrative account she supposedly didn’t know about. The desktop can be changed, but icons won’t display.  
Thanks,  
Plant

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**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\
**Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-icons-show-on-win-xp/483453/2 "2009-01-28T23:08:49Z")

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1. Right-click on your desktop.
2. Select Arrange Icons By.
3. Check Show Desktop Icons.

Ta-da.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\
**Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-icons-show-on-win-xp/483453/3 "2009-01-29T16:32:55Z")

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That was it.

Thanks, JSexton.