Member Avatar for Duki

Hey guys,

real brain power tester here...
In WinXP, how can I get the show desktop icon back in the quick-launch? :mrgreen:

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Nice, 's tip is the usual XP trick to put the Show Desktop button back. If got it working, great — here are the common gotchas and a few practical fixes for people who try the same and it doesn't behave.

  • Hidden extensions: Windows can save the file as whatever.scf.txt if Explorer is hiding extensions. In Explorer go Tools -> Folder Options -> View and uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types", then rename the file so the .scf extension is actually present.
  • Notepad saving: when using Notepad choose "Save as" -> set "Save as type" to "All Files" and Encoding to "ANSI" so it does not append .txt or change the file format.
  • Quick Launch visibility / locking: if the Quick Launch area is not visible enable it from a right-click on the taskbar -> Toolbars -> Quick Launch. If you cannot add items, right-click the taskbar and uncheck "Lock the Taskbar" to allow changes.
  • If drag/drop fails, paste the file directly into the Quick Launch folder by opening Run and entering %appdata%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch.

If the icon looks wrong or clicking it does nothing, restart Explorer (Task Manager -> End Process explorer.exe then File -> New Task -> explorer.exe) or log off/log on. Copying a working Show Desktop.scf from another XP machine also restores the behavior.

Security note: only create or copy the SCF yourself or from a trusted PC — do not download random .scf/shortcut files from the web.

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Member Avatar for Nick Evan

Hey guys,

real brain power tester here...
In WinXP, how can I get the show desktop icon back in the quick-launch? :mrgreen:

Copy and paste the following lines into a Notepad file.

[Shell]
Command=2
IconFile=explorer.exe,3
[Taskbar]
Command=ToggleDesktop

Save the file to your Desktop as whatever.scf.
Next left click on the file you just created and drag it down to the Quick Launch bar and release.
Or you could use WINDOWSKEY-D instead of all this.

Edited by Nick Evan because: n/a
Member Avatar for Duki

ah! mucho gracias! :D

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