How To: Restore the “Show Desktop” in your Quick Launch bar

Have you ever accidentally deleted, or somehow lost the “Show Desktop” icon in your Quick Launch bar (just next to your Start button)? The icon is quite useful, so the problem is, how do you restore it? It’s very easy actually, just follow these quick steps:

  • Open Notepad. [Start -> All programs -> Notepad]
  • Enter the following code:

[Shell]
Command=2
IconFile=explorer.exe,3
[Taskbar]
Command=ToggleDesktop

  • Now save the file as Show Desktop.scf in the directory C:\WINDOWS\system32.
  • Navigate to C:\WINDOWS\system32 in Windows Explorer.
  • Drag the Show Desktop.scf file to your Quick Launch bar:

Done – enjoy!

NOTE: This trick does not apply to Windows 7 users. Windows 7 users don’t have the “Show Desktop” icon because Windows 7 does not have the Quick Launch bar anymore (by default anyway). Rather, Windows 7 users have a different method that performs the same function as the “Show Desktop” icon (see the very right of your Windows Taskbar if you are on Windows 7).

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