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Thread: Some Desktop Icons gone

  1. #1

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    Some Desktop Icons gone

    Strange thing happened. When I started up my pc several of my desktop shortcuts were gone. All my VS icons were gone, my MS Office icons were gone and a couple of game icons were gone. Most of my icons were still there and the apps were still there.

    I hadn't done anything yesterday except use chrome and play a couple of games. I think I may have turned OneDrive off again. That may have something to do with it because OneDrive seems to do some strange things. When I got this pc a couple of months ago, I use PCMover to transfer all my programs from my old machine to my new pc. It worked fine, except when I used another pc I have in my dinning room, a bunch of desktop icons from my other machine had been added. So I deleted them but that also deleted the icons from my new machine. Strange.

    Anyway, has anyone ever had some of their desktop icon just disappear?

  2. #2
    Angel of Code Niya's Avatar
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    Re: Some Desktop Icons gone

    Desktops are a per-user objects so make sure you aren't accidentally using a different login from the one you normally use. That's the very first thing I'd check.
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    Administrator Steve R Jones's Avatar
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    Re: Some Desktop Icons gone

    DITTO to different USER accounts...

    For grins, look in the folder -> C:\Users\Your User Name\Desktop
    and see if they show up there.
    Wi-fi went down for five minutes, so I had to talk to my family....They seem like nice people.

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    Re: Some Desktop Icons gone

    Quote Originally Posted by Niya View Post
    Desktops are a per-user objects so make sure you aren't accidentally using a different login from the one you normally use. That's the very first thing I'd check.
    Thanks for the reply,

    There are no other users. No one else uses my pc's.

    I noticed today that my pc in the dinning room the OneDrive is saying a new desktop icon had been added. I had added new shortcut but not on that pc. For some reason it wants to sync my two pc's. I guess I'm going to have to do some research on OneDrive. Or find a way to just remove OneDrive all together.

  5. #5
    Angel of Code Niya's Avatar
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    Re: Some Desktop Icons gone

    Sounds like a misconfigured OneDrive. I've been using OneDrive for years as my primary backup for a number of files I never want to lose like source code and pictures. I've never had problems with it screwing up my desktop, however, I'm always very careful about how I configure it. I've configured it such that I have to manually copy to back-up. I don't let it back-up anything automatically.

    You could try right clicking on the OneDrive icon and checking the Sync and backup settings. See what I'm guessing happened is that your two PCs had different desktop layouts and in an attempt to sync them, it deleted files in an attempt to make both desktops have the same files. That's how OneDrive works.

    So for example if the contents of each PC's desktop were as follows:-
    PC1 - FileA, FileB, FileC
    PC2 - FileX, FileY

    OneDrive would try to sync them to be the same. It could choose to sync it to PC2 in which case it would add FileX and FileY to PC1 and delete FileA, FileB and FileC from PC1 resulting in both PCs now having identical desktops.

    Anyways, this is my speculation based on what you just described and what I know from using OneDrive.
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    There's just no reason to use garbage like InputBox. - jmcilhinney

    The threads I start are Niya and Olaf free zones. No arguing about the benefits of VB6 over .NET here please. Happiness must reign. - yereverluvinuncleber

  6. #6
    PowerPoster yereverluvinuncleber's Avatar
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    Re: Some Desktop Icons gone

    The desktop and all the stuff below (user profile &c) is organised using an internal database that we do not see. The structure is known to experience catastrophic failure from time to time, rare but the potential exists. Look for "profile failure" on t'net.

    It has happened to me twice on different Windows systems (only twice over the 30 or so years I have used various flavours of Windows) on machines with no obvious physical failure. The losses happened from Vista onward.

    Each time I lost all the data stored within the profile. Icons disappeared, many remained but the actual object linked to, was gone.

    Since then, I have never placed anything within any contrived Microsoft structure. I have experience of similar feck ups using other tools that used the desktop along with some sort of MS synching, briefcase, onedrive &c. Some of them were trivial losses but each was a loss.

    The loss of a whole desktop and all the files within the structure was traumatic when it happened once but then it happened again.

    That was it. Trust lost. I'm still twitching...

    However, I DO trust the NTFS file system as it was built by a different team but I definitely do not trust the bit of shennanigans that represents the deskpot, my coduments, my tinctures (sic) &c and as a result I NEVER place any documents under that structure.

    I never want to have that loss happen again. If you store your stuff there, move it.

    PS. If it is just a mere absence of wandering desktop icons, a nice little tool called iconoid will save your current icon positions on different resolutions and allow you to restore them at will, it may prevent them going off screen. If they are off screen, check the desktop using the file system, rather than the desktop itself and see if the links are still present. Windows is not very good at handling multiple monitors and when a monitor is disconnected, some things off screen, stay off screen!
    Last edited by yereverluvinuncleber; May 6th, 2023 at 05:33 AM. Reason: Added Postscript
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  7. #7
    Angel of Code Niya's Avatar
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    Re: Some Desktop Icons gone

    Quote Originally Posted by yereverluvinuncleber View Post
    The loss of a whole desktop and all the files within the structure was traumatic when it happened once but then it happened again.
    This is why I never put anything serious on the desktop. It's mostly links, and junk files.
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    C++ programmers will dismiss you as a cretinous simpleton for your inability to keep track of pointers chained 6 levels deep and Java programmers will pillory you for buying into the evils of Microsoft. Meanwhile C# programmers will get paid just a little bit more than you for writing exactly the same code and VB6 programmers will continue to whitter on about "footprints". - FunkyDexter

    There's just no reason to use garbage like InputBox. - jmcilhinney

    The threads I start are Niya and Olaf free zones. No arguing about the benefits of VB6 over .NET here please. Happiness must reign. - yereverluvinuncleber

  8. #8
    PowerPoster yereverluvinuncleber's Avatar
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    Re: Some Desktop Icons gone

    Quite correct Niya.
    https://github.com/yereverluvinunclebert

    Skillset: VMS,DOS,Windows Sysadmin from 1985, fault-tolerance, VaxCluster, Alpha,Sparc. DCL,QB,VBDOS- VB6,.NET, PHP,NODE.JS, Graphic Design, Project Manager, CMS, Quad Electronics. classic cars & m'bikes. Artist in water & oils. Historian.

    By the power invested in me, all the threads I start are battle free zones - no arguing about the benefits of VB6 over .NET here please. Happiness must reign.

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    Re: Some Desktop Icons gone

    I have no experience with OneDrive or PCMover, but based on your description of the sequences of events, it seems pretty clear to me that the issue is that the Desktop icons are being synced by OneDrive, and being "merged" for both devices. See the below threads:

    https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...d-fa169dd718a4

    https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...4-142a2d00761f

    https://www.howtogeek.com/879710/how...top-shortcuts/

  10. #10

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    Re: Some Desktop Icons gone

    Quote Originally Posted by OptionBase1 View Post
    I have no experience with OneDrive or PCMover, but based on your description of the sequences of events, it seems pretty clear to me that the issue is that the Desktop icons are being synced by OneDrive, and being "merged" for both devices. See the below threads:

    https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...d-fa169dd718a4

    https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...4-142a2d00761f

    https://www.howtogeek.com/879710/how...top-shortcuts/
    Thanks for the links.

    I ended up just removing OneDrive. These two pc's have no need to be synced. I don't use OneDrive for backups. So bye, bye.

    MS really pushes OneDrive. I don't know why they assume you want separate pc's to sync.

  11. #11
    Angel of Code Niya's Avatar
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    Re: Some Desktop Icons gone

    Quote Originally Posted by OptionBase1 View Post
    it seems pretty clear to me that the issue is that the Desktop icons are being synced by OneDrive, and being "merged" for both devices.
    That was my guess as well.
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    C++ programmers will dismiss you as a cretinous simpleton for your inability to keep track of pointers chained 6 levels deep and Java programmers will pillory you for buying into the evils of Microsoft. Meanwhile C# programmers will get paid just a little bit more than you for writing exactly the same code and VB6 programmers will continue to whitter on about "footprints". - FunkyDexter

    There's just no reason to use garbage like InputBox. - jmcilhinney

    The threads I start are Niya and Olaf free zones. No arguing about the benefits of VB6 over .NET here please. Happiness must reign. - yereverluvinuncleber

  12. #12
    Super Moderator Shaggy Hiker's Avatar
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    Re: Some Desktop Icons gone

    I've found OneDrive to be more annoying than useful. On the plus side, it did push me to more thoroughly make use of source control.
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  13. #13
    Angel of Code Niya's Avatar
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    Re: Some Desktop Icons gone

    I have found it very useful. I got two accounts I use for personal backup. I'm not one to turn down free online storage.
    Treeview with NodeAdded/NodesRemoved events | BlinkLabel control | Calculate Permutations | Object Enums | ComboBox with centered items | .Net Internals article(not mine) | Wizard Control | Understanding Multi-Threading | Simple file compression | Demon Arena

    Copy/move files using Windows Shell | I'm not wanted

    C++ programmers will dismiss you as a cretinous simpleton for your inability to keep track of pointers chained 6 levels deep and Java programmers will pillory you for buying into the evils of Microsoft. Meanwhile C# programmers will get paid just a little bit more than you for writing exactly the same code and VB6 programmers will continue to whitter on about "footprints". - FunkyDexter

    There's just no reason to use garbage like InputBox. - jmcilhinney

    The threads I start are Niya and Olaf free zones. No arguing about the benefits of VB6 over .NET here please. Happiness must reign. - yereverluvinuncleber

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