Thumbnails, desktop icons, taskbar icons gone, Properties doesnt work

All of a sudden the following symptoms (all at the same time)::
1. Taskbar icons gone (replaced by a neutral identical icon) except Edge and Store
2. In File Explorer, no longer thumbnails, no icons either, simply blank, but names show
3. All desktop icons gone; but their names still show and they "work"
4. When I rightclick to "Properties" (on desktop icons, or File Explorer items) nothing happens
5. Control Panel no longer shows icons, names only
Seems rather dramatic.... Anybody any idea?

I don't know whether your problem is the same as mine as your description sounds a bit different, however I experienced a similar thing this morning, which seems a bit coincidental, so maybe the problems are linked. PC booted to desktop fine, I went to make a coffee and when I got back the Desktop/Taskbar were blank and all the icons were missing.

The cause for me was that the Intel Graphics Drivers (Intel Iris Graphics 6100) decided that it was going to add a 'Virtual Display' on it's own accord and make that the primary monitor. So in short, the reason everything disappeared was that I was now looking at the low-res second monitor (that I don't have) on my main display.

To cure it I done the following:

1) Rebooted the PC with the power button on the machine, as was unable to do it from Desktop

2) I was then able to right-click the desktop and select 'Graphic Properties' in the context menu.

3) In the Intel 'Graphic Properties' I was able to un-select the 'Virtual Display' by setting it back to single monitor mode

4) Re-added my desktop background, rebooted and all was fine


Yesterday everything was normal and this morning it initially booted to desktop fine, so I'm not sure what the cause was or even what a 'Virtual Display' is. The only updates I can see are for the Windows Map App (where they added a live tile, but I'm not sure what else).

Thanks essenbe! In the meantime, I fixed it with the help of the Microsoft chat help desk. They told me to go back to the previous version of Windows. Apparently, they blamed it to a faulty update which I must have received yesterday. Well, it's now "fixed" so to speak. I'm now worried that by the next automatic Windows update something similar happens. Or worse. I don't even know how to turn automatic updates off....
Anyway, for now I'm (sort of) happy.
Thanks very much for your suggestion, which I'm going to save and use later on if necessary! Thanks!!

essenbe said:

Please try to right click on the start icon and select Command prompt administrator, give admin permissions and copy/paste this into the window that opens and press enter sfc /scannow . If you decide to type it in, please notice the space between the sfc and the /. We want it to say no integrity violations were found. If it says there where corrupt files that could not be repaired, please reboot and run it again. You may have to run it 3 times with reboots in between each time. See if this helps.

ARC1020 said:

I don't know whether your problem is the same as mine as your description sounds a bit different, however I experienced a similar thing this morning, which seems a bit coincidental, so maybe the problems are linked. PC booted to desktop fine, I went to make a coffee and when I got back the Desktop/Taskbar were blank and all the icons were missing.

The cause for me was that the Intel Graphics Drivers (Intel Iris Graphics 6100) decided that it was going to add a 'Virtual Display' on it's own accord and make that the primary monitor. So in short, the reason everything disappeared was that I was now looking at the low-res second monitor (that I don't have) on my main display.

To cure it I done the following:

1) Rebooted the PC with the power button on the machine, as was unable to do it from Desktop

2) I was then able to right-click the desktop and select 'Graphic Properties' in the context menu.

3) In the Intel 'Graphic Properties' I was able to un-select the 'Virtual Display' by setting it back to single monitor mode

4) Re-added my desktop background, rebooted and all was fine


Yesterday everything was normal and this morning it initially booted to desktop fine, so I'm not sure what the cause was or even what a 'Virtual Display' is. The only updates I can see are for the Windows Map App (where they added a live tile, but I'm not sure what else).

Thanks very much, ARC1020, for your elaborate and clear reply. You are right, your problem is a bit different. In the meantime, I fixed my problem with the help of the Microsoft chat help desk. They told me to go back to the previous version of Windows. Apparently, they blamed it to a faulty update which I must have received yesterday. Well, it's now "fixed" so to speak. I'm now worried that by the next automatic Windows update something similar happens. Or worse. I don't even know how to turn automatic updates off....
Anyway, for now I'm (sort of) happy.
Thanks very much again, for your help!!