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![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(128, 8%, 22%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EA%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Hi,
I recently bought this new monitor. I connected it to my surface pro 7 and I was playing around with my settings a bit to change my refresh rate on my monitor. I did, but I came across other settings as well. I regret playing around with them.
Essentially, I changed the scale of my monitor to 100% (even though it was not recommended). I also changed the text size, back and forth (which also affected my laptop's settings). And after a while, I noticed that the app icons on my home screen disappeared. When I went to my app list on my settings, some apps like Word and OneNote don't show up, even though they do when I search them up on the task bar and the apps function normally when I use them.
I tried turning off 'show desktop icons' and turning it on again. It did nothing. I also tried troubleshooting. Nothing. I tried going to advanced settings, under 'add or remove apps', but I can't do it for apps that have disappeared from the home screen. I tried going on desktop icon settings, and restoring them, but it did nothing. All the buttons are also ticked. I also tried updating my windows 11. It updated successfully after 2 hrs, but it didn't bring my home screen icons back.
I notice that one file icon comes back when I change the scale to 100% (normally at 200%) under 'scale and layout' in the settings. However, it's piled on top of other icons from what I can tell. There's also this translucent bar at the top of the home screen. I also can't drag and drop app icons from the task bar apps.
Please help me.
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
Answer accepted by question author
Hi,
I am Dave, I will help you with this.
Click your Start Button, type regedit and hit Enter to open the Registry Editor
Click View and make sure 'Address Bar' is turned on
Paste this into the Address Bar at the top and hit Enter
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics
Please provide a screenshot of that Registry Editor window.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(192, 45%, 28%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3ED2%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Glad to help, I am glad you found the problem.
Thanks Dave M121 for your very quick response. It's all good now.
My icon vertical spacing was at -28860, same with the other icon spacing.
I appreciate your initiative.
Thank you :)
Never mind,
After five hours, I finally solved it!!! :))))
I used the website: Why are all my desktop icons stacked on top of each other? - Beaming. I took pictures of the old data before I changed it, in case something would go wrong. But it's all good now :))))
The issue was that I did something, and my apps ended up being stacked together, meaning I could only access the very top icon.
Thanks for listening :)
Leaving the post up in case any one else experiences a similar problem.
But also, do what you will at your own risk. I don't want to get sued or something. You have been warned!! The website just worked for me.
Thank you :))
