Icons disappearing on Windows 10... anyone know what's going on?

Software Issues Forum
1

So I recently upgraded my RAM and connected a new soundbar. After doing a quick reset, all my desktop icons vanished, and I can’t create new ones either.

I looked around online and saw something about a ‘temporary login’ being the issue, but I’m not sure how to fix it. I tried booting into Safe Mode and resetting—my icons actually showed up in Safe Mode! But when I rebooted normally, they were gone again.

It gets weirder: if I put my PC to sleep and then wake it up, some icons appear, but the screen locks, and I have to restart the whole thing. Has anyone else dealt with this or knows what I should try next? I’m totally stuck here.

2

First thing I’d try is running sfc /scannow. It checks for corrupted system files and fixes them. Could be a good start.

3

Elianaliza said:
First thing I’d try is running sfc /scannow. It checks for corrupted system files and fixes them. Could be a good start.

I’m not sure what that even is. Can you explain?

4

@Ariel
Yeah, no worries. Open Command Prompt (search for ‘cmd’ in the Start menu), then type sfc /scannow and hit Enter. It’ll scan and repair system files.

5

Elianaliza said:
@Ariel
Yeah, no worries. Open Command Prompt (search for ‘cmd’ in the Start menu), then type sfc /scannow and hit Enter. It’ll scan and repair system files.

Okay, I ran it, and it completed, but unfortunately, nothing changed. Icons are still missing and only reappear when I go into sleep mode, which then locks my PC. So frustrating.

6

Elianaliza said:
First thing I’d try is running sfc /scannow. It checks for corrupted system files and fixes them. Could be a good start.

I figured out how to run it—thanks! Fingers crossed this fixes it.

7

Have you tried checking if the temporary profile thing is actually the issue? Sometimes logging in with an admin account and fixing the profile from there can help.

8

Magdalina said:
Have you tried checking if the temporary profile thing is actually the issue? Sometimes logging in with an admin account and fixing the profile from there can help.

Not yet, but that’s a good idea. I’ll look into how to fix the profile. Any pointers?

9

@Ariel
You’ll need to create a new user account, transfer your files, and then delete the corrupted profile. It’s kind of annoying but might work.

10

That’s super weird. Could it be a hardware conflict? Maybe the RAM upgrade is messing with something?

11

Ashby said:
That’s super weird. Could it be a hardware conflict? Maybe the RAM upgrade is messing with something?

I thought about that, but everything else seems to be running fine. Would RAM really cause something like this?

12

@Ariel
Possibly, but it’s more likely a Windows bug. Maybe try re-seating the RAM or updating your BIOS, just in case?

13

Might sound basic, but have you tried updating your display drivers? A lot of weird icon bugs can come from outdated drivers.

14

CharlotteMia said:
Might sound basic, but have you tried updating your display drivers? A lot of weird icon bugs can come from outdated drivers.

I haven’t yet, but I’ll check that next. Thanks for the suggestion!

15

This happened to me once—it turned out my system theme settings were messed up. Switching to a default theme fixed it.

16

Blakeley said:
This happened to me once—it turned out my system theme settings were messed up. Switching to a default theme fixed it.

Interesting… I’ll try that too. Thanks for sharing!