Icon layout on Desktop gets disrupted by image files

Jhearcht · Aug 1, 2023

Windows 11 on PC

I have my dozens of icons arranged in a particular pattern on the Desktop. When I add a text file, for example, it is inserted in an empty space after the last icon in the rightmost column. That's good.

But when I send an image file to the Desktop it is inserted in the second occupied space in the leftmost column. This moves all my other icons down one space. Not good. It's like the wind blew all my papers around.

For some unknown reason Windows does not place a new icon in the upper left corner, occupied by the Recycle Bin.

I don't know why image files are handled differently from text files. I suppose I could just avoid putting my icons in the first column. But I need that space.

Is there a way to avoid this disruption of my orderly Desktop?

Ghot · Aug 1, 2023

Jhearcht said:
Windows 11 on PC

I have my dozens of icons arranged in a particular pattern on the Desktop. When I add a text file, for example, it is inserted in an empty space after the last icon in the rightmost column. That's good.

But when I send an image file to the Desktop it is inserted in the second occupied space in the leftmost column. This moves all my other icons down one space. Not good. It's like the wind blew all my papers around.

For some unknown reason Windows does not place a new icon in the upper left corner, occupied by the Recycle Bin.

I don't know why image files are handled differently from text files. I suppose I could just avoid putting my icons in the first column. But I need that space.

Is there a way to avoid this disruption of my orderly Desktop?

It doesn't say what Windows 11 Home, build you are on... but I noticed the same thing after the 22621.2070 update on July 26th.
It may just be a bug that MS will fix in the August patch?
You can find your Windows build by typing: winver ...in the Taskbar search box.

wiganken · Aug 2, 2023

22H2, Build 22621.1992

I have also seen this several times over the last six months, not just recent builds. I have not noticed that it only happens with image files but you could be right. It is just me that hasn't made the distinction.
Same as you I have the Recycle Bin (RB) icon at top-left of the screen and it is only the icons underneath that which get moved down. The RB icon stays put. But get this: - The icons get moved down but the new image I copied onto the desktop does not always occupy the space under the RB icon. Sometimes it does and other times it is placed at the location where I clicked on 'Paste', which could be in the centre of the screen. In this case the icon space under RB icon remains empty. Weird!
As Ghot says they may fix it sometime but it has now been about 6 months for me. Not something we can fix.

glasskuter · Aug 2, 2023

I run release version and where windows places icons ((any file type) for me follows a definite pattern. It will always been the first empty spot in leftmost vertical column reading downward. If there are no empty spots it goes to second vertical row and reads downward until it finds an empty space, and keep moving left to right vertically. See screenshot. If I save 5 files to the desktop they will save in the 5 locations I have marked. My own arrangement never changes.

Whether the reason or not my own icon arrangement never changes, when I arranged them originally I hit F5 to lock them in place. Any time I put something I want to keep permanently in a position on the desktop I do that. It seems to work for me.

wiganken · Aug 2, 2023

@glasskuter - Yes, maybe make the desktop 'Active' and 'Refresh' it by pressing F5 before copying/pasting photos into desktop might be a good work around for those of us who are experiencing the issue. It is certainly better than having to rearrange the icons again after they are moved. I'll try that.
I don't think I made it clear that it does not happen every time I copy stuff to the desktop so maybe those times were when I was copying pdf/text/doc files and not images. I'll monitor this now.

glasskuter · Aug 2, 2023

@wiganken I might add that what I have observed above applies only when I 'save' a file to the desktop or if I am in explorer and copy a file to the desktop. However, the icon arrangement does not happen if I, for example, go to pictures and select copy on a file, then go back to desktop and select paste. In that case the icon will show wherever I have my mouse cursor placed on the desktop when I pasted.

wiganken · Aug 2, 2023

Sometimes I use 'Drag & Drop' or Ctrl+Drag & Drop but I can't say if this is a factor. I definitely do not 'Drop' files in any 'Occupied' areas.

Jhearcht · Aug 2, 2023

Ghot said:
It doesn't say what Windows 11 Home, build you are on... but I noticed the same thing after the 22621.2070 update on July 26th.
It may just be a bug that MS will fix in the August patch?
You can find your Windows build by typing: winver ...in the Taskbar search box.

Thanks for the reply. Winver says version 22H2 and Build 22621.1992.

I've experienced the icon disruption in the last couple of years. It seems to be mainly image files that go to the head of the line instead of the end.

Ghot · Aug 2, 2023

Jhearcht said:
Thanks for the reply. Winver says version 22H2 and Build 22621.1992.

I've experienced the icon disruption in the last couple of years. It seems to be mainly image files that go to the head of the line instead of the end.

It probably seems a bit overkill, but you could always do an In-Place Upgrade... which fixes "Windows" problems.
It won't help if the problem is caused by a driver or a 3rd party program. But this icon thing sounds like a Windows problem.

Repair Install Windows 11 with an In-place Upgrade

This tutorial will show you how to do a repair install of Windows 11 by performing an in-place upgrade without losing anything. If you need to repair or create a new recovery partition or having problems with the Windows 11 operating system on your PC, and the usual solutions will not fix it...

www.elevenforum.com

Here is the short version of the In-place upgrade tutorial...

DISABLE non-Microsoft:
a) antivirus software
b) firewall software
c) drive encryption software

Make a full OS backup with a program like Macrium Reflect or AOMEI Backupper Standard
Making a backup is optional, but always a smart move.
If you had a backup from before this problem occurred, you wouldn't be reading this.
Macrium Reflect
AOMEI Backupper Standard (free)

Get the Windows 11 ISO image and save it to your desktop...

Download Official Windows 11 ISO file from Microsoft

This tutorial will show you how to download an official Windows Server or Windows 11 64-bit or ARM64 ISO file from Microsoft. Microsoft provides ISO files for Windows Server and Windows 11 to download. You can use these ISO files to clean install or in-place upgrade Windows 11. The Flight Hub...

www.elevenforum.com

Right click the ISO image and choose: MOUNT
Open File Explorer and you will see a new drive letter. It will "look" like a DVD optical drive.
Double click the new drive letter to open it.
Find setup.exe and double click it to start the in-place upgrade.

Choose the Keep personal files and apps option.

After it's all done... to UNmount the ISO image, right click the new drive letter and choose: EJECT.

The ONLY thing you will lose is some of your personalizations.
Your drivers, programs and data will be intact.

wiganken · Jan 15, 2024

FWIW - Windows is now 23H2, Build 22631.3007 and this issue still persists 5 months later. It is a long-standing issue that MS do not seem keen to fix.

Berton · Jan 15, 2024

wiganken said:
FWIW - Windows is now 23H2, Build 22631.3007 and this issue still persists 5 months later. It is a long-standing issue that MS do not seem keen to fix.

Has it been brought to their attention?
Start, All apps, F, Feedback hub.

wiganken · Jan 15, 2024

Berton said:
Start, All apps, F, Feedback hub.

Thanks for the suggestion. I don't see this but I can find: - Start>Settings>Home> and at the bottom of the right-hand pane I see 'Give Feedback'. Clicking on that asks me to sign-in but I am already signed-in? Maybe it is a different sign-in for Feedback Hub so I decided to submit Feedback as a Guest and inserted the link to this thread as an explanation. I don't know if anyone else has submitted Feedback.

Icon layout on Desktop gets disrupted by image files

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