System application shortcuts.

Question

I changed the appearance of the Recycle Bin, the system drive, and the network designation. There are new shortcuts, but the Recycle Bin and the drive are no longer on the desktop. They have disappeared. Only the network remains. They are not there in Explorer. I looked at their information, and it is installed. They have a free location. How can I fix this? Please tell me.

Answer 1

Hi Василий Пупкин,

I understand you’re missing the Recycle Bin and your system drive icons after changing their appearance on Windows 11.

Have you already tried the Q&A Assist suggestions? In addition, could you confirm:

• After the issue happened, do you still see your system drive inside “This PC” (File Explorer)?
• And did you use any third‑party customization tool when changing the icons?

In the meantime, please try the following:

1, Recreate the system icons

Sometimes changing icon appearance can corrupt the icon cache.

1. Press “Win + R” > type “cmd” > press Enter
2. Run the following commands one by one:

taskkill /IM explorer.exe /F
DEL /A /Q "%localappdata%\IconCache.db"
shutdown /r /t 0

Your screen may briefly go blank, this is expected.

2, Manually open “This PC”

The system drive won’t appear directly as a desktop icon, it shows under “This PC”.

1. Press “Win + E” to open File Explorer
2. Click “This PC” on the left
3. Check if your C: drive (or system drive) appears there

• If it does, the issue is likely only with the desktop shortcut
• If it does not, we may need to check disk visibility

3, Check if the drive is hidden in File Explorer

1. Open File Explorer
2. Click “…” > “Options”
3. Go to the “View” tab
4. Click “Reset Folders” > then “Apply"

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Answer 2

Restore the desktop icons and verify they are enabled in settings.

1. Make sure desktop icons are shown
   • Right-click a blank area of the desktop.
   • Select View.
   • Ensure Show desktop icons is checked. If it is not, click it to enable.
2. Re‑enable Recycle Bin and system icons
   • Open Settings.
   • Go to Personalization > Themes.
   • Select Desktop icon settings.
   • In the list, check Recycle Bin, Computer (or This PC), and Network as needed.
   • Select OK.

After this, the Recycle Bin and system drive (via This PC/Computer icon) should reappear on the desktop. If only the icon image was changed earlier, these steps restore the system shortcuts themselves.

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References:

• Find the Recycle Bin in Windows
• How to Arrange or Move Icons on the Desktop