Why does my Windows 10 desktop keep vanishing?

March 20, 2023 9:06 AM

After years of using only a Mac, work have given me a Windows 10 laptop, and it all feels very unfamiliar. I have one specific problem that I can't work out. I have a desktop, with a photo of my choice as background, apps pinned on the taskbar, and some files on the desktop. But, this keeps randomly changing of its own will to a useless blank desktop...

Periodically, for no reason at all, it will flip to a default Windows desktop (blue background with image of a window and light shining through). There are no files or icons on the desktop other than the Recycle bin. There are no apps on the taskbar other than Edge and Explorer. Nothing works - not the Start menu, search box, Edge or Explorer, and clicking on the Recycle Bin does nothing.

If I alt-tab, it brings up my running apps to choose from, with my desktop in the background. Sometimes doing this brings back my own desktop too once I select an app, but usually it doesn't, it just returns to the blue. It always brings back 'my' taskbar, with my running apps on it.

I have no virtual desktops on. Tablet mode is turned off. Sync accounts is turned off. My desktop background is not set to slideshow.

Please help me defeat the Blue Meanie.

posted by reynir to Computers & Internet (12 answers total)

Hi,hope this is of some help:

How do I fix my desktop from disappearing?

You can easily turn it back on by following the steps below.
Right-click on an empty space on your desktop.
Click on the “View” option from the context menu to expand the options.
Make sure that “Show desktop icons” is ticked. ...
You should immediately see your icons reappear.
posted by LOOKING at 9:16 AM on March 20, 2023

Response by poster: Thanks LOOKING, but it's not just items (i.e. files) 'on' the desktop, it's all functionality - task bar, start menu etc.
posted by reynir at 9:37 AM on March 20, 2023

If this is a corporate account, it's possible they have disabled private desktop or they are pushing updates in the background that erased your customizations. You need some sort of a utility that saves icon locations and restore them when they are no longer where you expect them.

See if IconShepherd can help you. As you're only using it on your machine, it's free.
posted by kschang at 9:54 AM on March 20, 2023 [3 favorites]

Sounds to me like you've inadvertently opened another, or an extended display. Again, right-click on the Desktop and investigate Display Settings. If this work laptop was configured to run with an external monitor, that's the phantom display you're seeing.
posted by Rash at 9:57 AM on March 20, 2023 [4 favorites]

In my experience, a taskbar on a secondary display should have all the usual pinned icons and the start button.

This sounds like some weird configuration glitch, probably caused by, and possibly only solvable by, the company's IT department.

If you can't access any of your applications or files, your machine is obviously unusable.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 10:14 AM on March 20, 2023 [2 favorites]

It sounds like explorer.exe (which runs in the background to enable desktop functionality) is crashing. What happens when (during one of these episodes) you press Windows+R and run "explorer.exe" (no path needed)?
posted by derrinyet at 1:31 PM on March 20, 2023 [1 favorite]

Nthing the idea that this is a corporate thing. Centrally-managed Windows allows for 'group policy' which limits or adds certain things to your Windows experience. This could also be an inadvertent central management thing - in other words, they set a corporate desktop when they didn't mean to. It may seem random because it may only happen when they do some sort of update.
posted by TimHare at 1:56 PM on March 20, 2023 [2 favorites]

Nthing that the most likely cause is your workplace overriding your settings through group policy. You'll want to talk to your IT helpdesk or moral equivalent to get it sorted out as there's no real way to solve it yourself.
posted by Aleyn at 11:08 PM on March 20, 2023

I wonder if you accidentally have multiple virtual desktops, as in this Microsoft support page. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/multiple-desktops-in-windows-36f52e38-5b4a-557b-2ff9-e1a60c976434
posted by cantthinkofagoodname at 12:22 PM on March 21, 2023

Yeah, this is most likely a corporate setting overriding your personalisation. It may be set to run on a schedule, which is why you get to keep your pretty stuff for a short time.
posted by dg at 3:55 PM on March 21, 2023

Response by poster: Thanks all, a few things to try and then I'll trouble our tech team if nothing changes. The odd thing if it is a group policy overriding things is that there have been occasions when it's gone backwards and forwards between my desktop and the non-functional one several times within a minute.
posted by reynir at 11:45 PM on March 21, 2023

Group policy is a weird beast that can be configured in broken ways if you're not careful. And I suppose there's always the possibility of malware, tho I'm not aware of any that behave this way. In either case, for a work-provided computer, you really should be talking to your IT department about it. (Be prepared for them to just reimage your machine, as that's the typical response to computer wonkiness.)
posted by Aleyn at 1:52 PM on March 23, 2023