Desktop Icon arrangement

[John]

It's a long story, but for some reason I pulled out my laptop which I hadn't used in a while.

Unit = IBM ThinkPad A30 - OS = Win Pro SP2 build 2600
Since I am the only user of this laptop, there's only one user account (administrator).

It seems to me this problem did not exist before - could it possibly be the result of one of Microsoft's "essential'
updates?

Problem: I can't seem to keep the desktop icons arranged the way I want to.
It acts like I selected "Arrange Icons by" "auto arrange", but that option is NOT selected.
I line up the icons the way I want them, but either in the middle of the session for no apparent reason, or on start-up
the icons are all lined up in three columns at the left-hand side in alphabetical order.

I have searched the Internet, and the only thing I see is third-party programs which will supposedly fix this problem
for a price.
However, it seems to me that I must be overlooking something obvious, or have a wrong setting somewhere.

I deleted all the appearances of the "desktop.ini" file from "Documents and Settings", hoping it would rebuild a similar
file containing my preferences.
It did in fact rebuild the file, but the icons are still all on the left-hand side.

Who can and will point me in the right direction to resolve this problem?

Many thanks!

 

[Wesley Vogel]

If Lock Web Items on Desktop is checked...
Items can be moved, but they are moved back after reboot.

If Auto Arrange is checked...
The icons are arranged in columns along the left side of your screen.

Right click Desktop | Arrange Icons By |
UNCheck: Auto Arrange
UNCheck: Lock Web Items on Desktop

Auto Arrange
[[Arrange the icons in columns along the left side of your screen.]]

Lock Web Items on Desktop
[[Specifies whether Web content windows or items that *you* have placed on
your desktop are locked in place and can’t be moved. Select the check box to
lock Web content in place. Clear the check box if you want to be able to
move Web content.]]

Do you happen to have a program called Anti-Peeper Key?
http://www.ahusoft.com/antipeeperkey.htm

<quote>
You press 2 keys and it will switch you to a completely different desktop. I
had no idea that this might create a problem, but evidently, when you are
running this program (even if it is not active, but loaded and ready to use
when you push the 2 keys to switch desktops) the "align to grid" setting on
the alternate desktop must be unchecked also. I unchecked "align to grid and
when I rebooted, icons popped right into the spaces they were supposed to.
<quote>
from...
Desktop Icons Staying where they are put
http://groups.google.com/group/micr...cdfac?lnk=st&q=&rnum=1&hl=en#1539e34ed43cdfac

If either of these keys loses ownership...
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\1
or
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\1\Desktop
The desktop can rearrange itself.
from...
Desktop icons won´t save
http://groups.google.com/group/micr...ey+author:vogel&rnum=3&hl=en#568149f030edddf5

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Malvern]

What works here is to right-click blank spot on Taskbar, then uncheck "Lock
the Taskbar". My Desktop icons stay as wanted.

Malv

It's a long story, but for some reason I pulled out my laptop which I hadn't used in a while.

Unit = IBM ThinkPad A30 - OS = Win Pro SP2 build 2600
Since I am the only user of this laptop, there's only one user account (administrator).

It seems to me this problem did not exist before - could it possibly be

the result of one of Microsoft's "essential'

updates?

Problem: I can't seem to keep the desktop icons arranged the way I want to.
It acts like I selected "Arrange Icons by" "auto arrange", but that option is NOT selected.
I line up the icons the way I want them, but either in the middle of the

session for no apparent reason, or on start-up

the icons are all lined up in three columns at the left-hand side in alphabetical order.

I have searched the Internet, and the only thing I see is third-party

programs which will supposedly fix this problem

for a price.
However, it seems to me that I must be overlooking something obvious, or

have a wrong setting somewhere.

I deleted all the appearances of the "desktop.ini" file from "Documents

and Settings", hoping it would rebuild a similar

 

[Old enough]

Right click Desktop | Arrange Icons By |
UNCheck: Auto Arrange
UNCheck: Lock Web Items on Desktop
Check

Do you happen to have a program called Anti-Peeper Key?
http://www.ahusoft.com/antipeeperkey.htm
No


If either of these keys loses ownership...
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\1
or
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\1\Desktop
The desktop can rearrange itself.

In regedit, I can see the entry
"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\1"

It has no sub keys or values.

If I try to manipulate the key "1" I get various error messages,
telling me "cannot open 1 - error while opening key" or "cannot delete
1 - error while deleting key".

When I click on "permissions", it tells me
"You do not have permission to view the current permission settings
for 1, but you can make permission changes".
When I click "OK" I get some screens I don't understand.

Any further help, Wesley?

Thanks!

____________________________
Old Enough . . . .
to know I don't know a thing.

 

[Old enough]

Wesley:

Earlier, I told you:

In regedit, I can see the entry
"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\1"

It has no sub keys or values.

If I try to manipulate the key "1" I get various error messages,
telling me "cannot open 1 - error while opening key" or "cannot delete
1 - error while deleting key".

When I click on "permissions", it tells me
"You do not have permission to view the current permission settings
for 1, but you can make permission changes".
When I click "OK" I get some screens I don't understand.

Any further help, Wesley?

UPDATE:
I have been mucking around with the permissions, and suddenly the
"right" entries appeared.

My desktop icons now stay where I put them.

Another minor annoiance item: The items on the taskbar (even though
"lock the taskbar" is checked) don't stay in the same order as I leave
them.
If you have any suggestions there, I'll gladly take them.

In the meantime, thanks for pointing me in the right direction to
solve the original problem.

Cheers!

If you're in Canada, Wesley, have a great May 24 week-end!

____________________________
Old Enough . . . .
to know I don't know a thing.

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Glad you got the original "opportunity" sorted out.

Another minor annoyance item: The items on the taskbar (even though
"lock the taskbar" is checked) don't stay in the same order as I leave
them.

This is what Lock the taskbar does...
[[Locks the taskbar at its current position on the desktop so that it cannot
be moved to a new location and also locks the size and position of any
toolbar displayed on the taskbar so that it cannot be changed.]] Also locks
the size of the Taskbar so that it cannot be changed.

Are you referring to the Quick Launch icons, Taskbar buttons or Notification
area icons?

The order of the Quick Launch icons seems to be the order that they appear
in the %appdata%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch folder,
alphabetical.

The order of the Taskbar buttons is the order in which they were opened.
Unless Group similar taskbar buttons is selected in Taskbar and Start Menu
Properties.

Group similar taskbar buttons
[[Displays taskbar buttons for files opened by the same program in the same
area of the taskbar. In addition, if the taskbar becomes so crowded with
buttons that the width of the buttons shrinks beyond a certain width, then
the buttons for the same program are collapsed into a single button.
Clicking the button lets you access the document you want. Right-clicking
the button lets you close all the documents you want.]]

The order of the Notification icons is the order in which they were started.
Or random order if explorer.exe is killed and restarted.

[[The Quick Launch bar is a customizable toolbar that lets you display the
Windows desktop or start a program with a single click. You can add buttons
to start your favorite programs.]]

taskbar button
[[A button that appears on the taskbar and corresponds to a running
application.]]

notification area
[[The area on the taskbar to the right of the taskbar buttons. The
notification area displays the time and can also contain shortcuts that
provide quick access to programs, such as Volume Control and Power Options.
Other shortcuts can appear temporarily, providing information about the
status of activities. For example, the printer shortcut icon appears after a
document has been sent to the printer and disappears when printing
is complete.]]

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Canyda]

Greetings ...

I'm having a bit of a similar problem with desktop icons moving about. I've researched the Shell\Bags\1\Desktop issue, but my problem is that the registry doesn't show the \Desktop part of the key, and whenever I click on the 1, I get an "Error while opening key" message.

Any thoughts?