Alex Ruben
How To Easily Hide Desktop Icons in Windows 11
Keeping your desktop organized can greatly enhance your productivity and make your workspace feel less cluttered. In this guide, you’ll learn how to hide and unhide your desktop icons in Windows 11. It’s super quick, and honestly, sometimes you just want a clean desktop for a screenshot or to look a bit less busy, without deleting anything important. So, here’s how to do it.
Method 1: Using the Context Menu
Step 1: Find an Empty Spot & Right-Click
This part’s kinda weird, but if you right-click on something, you might accidentally select an icon. So, look for a blank area on your desktop — not on any icon — and right-click there. Usually, a menu pops up with some options—nothing too fancy.
Why it helps: This avoids messing with your shortcuts or files.
When to use: When you want a quick toggle without digging into Settings.
What to expect: The context menu appears, giving access to views, display settings, etc.Step 2: Choose the View Option
In that menu, hover over or click on View. It reveals a handful of choices—like icon size and whether to show desktop icons. Example path: Desktop context menu > View.
Note: Sometimes, if some icons are hidden, this menu might make it clearer.
On some setups, this menu takes a second to load after a reboot, so don’t panic if it’s slow the first time.Step 3: Toggle Show desktop icons
Look for the checkbox that says Show desktop icons. Click it to uncheck or check — uncheck to hide icons. Easy. You’ll see your icons vanish immediately, but they’re not gone forever; just hidden from view.
Why it helps: The toggle is a quick way to hide everything at once, perfect for noise reduction or a clean screenshot.
When to use: When you want an instant declutter.
What to expect: All your icons fade out, but this doesn’t delete any files or shortcuts.Unhiding the Icons
To bring your icons back, just repeat those steps. Right-click, go to View, and click Show desktop icons again. A little checkmark appears or disappears — indicating whether they’re visible or hidden.
Method 2: Using Settings (if the context menu doesn’t cut it)
Step 1: Open Settings
Head over to Settings — you can do this quickly with Windows + I. Or click the Start menu and choose Settings. It’s faster than diving through old menus sometimes.
Step 2: Go to Personalization
In Settings, pick Personalization. Then, scroll down to Themes in the sidebar. Be prepared to hunt for a little toggle for desktop icons here, because on some builds, it’s buried.
This path: Settings > Personalization > ThemesStep 3: Adjust Desktop Icon Settings
Scroll down and click on Desktop icon settings under Related Settings. Here, you can check or uncheck what icons to display — like This PC, Network, etc. (but not everything). On some Windows versions, the entire toggle for all icons is here too.
Why it helps: For more granular control, especially if you only want specific icons hidden.
When to use: When your desktop is cluttered with icons you rarely use.
What to expect: You get an options window with checkboxes for each desktop icon.Extra Tips & Common Quirks
One weird thing — sometimes toggling the show/hide desktop icons works after a restart or a quick logoff. On some old setups, it might not immediately hide icons until you restart Explorer. To restart Explorer without rebooting, hit Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager > find Windows Explorer > right-click and choose Restart. Yeah, Windows has to make it harder than necessary sometimes.
If that didn’t help, here’s what might: Check if any third-party desktop management tools are interfering. Sometimes, custom shell extensions or desktop enhancement apps can block these options from working smoothly.
Summary
- Right-click, go to View, toggle Show desktop icons
- Or: Use Settings > Personalization > Themes > Desktop Icon Settings
- Restart Explorer if needed to refresh the desktop view
Hopefully this shaves off a few hours for someone. Just remember: those icons aren’t gone forever—they’re just hiding behind a simple toggle. Worked for me — hope it works for you.