Show Desktop Shortcut - Create

How to Create a "Show Desktop" Shortcut in Windows 7 and Windows 8​

   Information

Show Desktop was a feature present in Windows XP and Windows Vista, but has been changed to the Aero Peek/Show Desktop button on the bottom right corner of the screen, near the Notification Area in Windows 7 and Windows 8.

This tutorial will show you how to create or download a Show Desktop shortcut that you can use anywhere in Windows 7 and Windows 8.

   Note

By default in Windows 7, the taskbar button on the far right side is for Show Desktop and Aero Peek.

OPTION ONE

To Download the "Show Desktop" Shortcut

1. Click/tap on the Download button below to download the Show_Desktop.zip file.

Download


2. Save the .zip file to your desktop.

3. Open the .zip file, and extract (drag and drop) the Show Desktop shortcut to your desktop.

4. Unblock the Show Desktop shortcut.

5. In Windows 7, you can now Pin to Taskbar or Pin to Start Menu, add to Quick Launch, assign a keyboard shortcut to it, or move this shortcut to where you like for easy use.

6. In Windows 8 and 8.1, you can Pin to Taskbar on desktop, Pin to Start screen, add to Quick Launch,assign a keyboard shortcut to it, or move this shortcut to where you like for easy use.

7. When finished, you can delete the downloaded .zip file if you like.

OPTION TWO

To Manually Create the "Show Desktop" Shortcut

1. Right click or press and hold on an empty area on your desktop, and click/tap on New and Shortcut.

2. Copy and paste the location below into the location area, and click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)
%windir%\explorer.exe shell:::{3080F90D-D7AD-11D9-BD98-0000947B0257}


3. Type Show Desktop for the name, and click/tap on the Finish button. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: You can name this anything you would like though.

4. Right click or press and hold on the new Show Desktop shortcut, and click/tap on Properties.

5. Click/tap on the Shortcut tab, then click/tap on the Change Icon button. (see screenshot below)

6. In the line under "Look for icons in this file", copy and paste the location below, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
%SystemRoot%\system32\imageres.dll

7. Select the icon highlighted in blue above, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot above)
NOTE: You can use any icon that you would like instead though.

8. Click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

9. In Windows 7, you can now Pin to Taskbar or Pin to Start Menu, add to Quick Launch, assign a keyboard shortcut to it, or move this shortcut to where you like for easy use.

10. In Windows 8 and 8.1, you can Pin to Taskbar on desktop, Pin to Start screen, add to Quick Launch, assign a keyboard shortcut to it, or move this shortcut to where you like for easy use.


Hope this helps,
Victor Ly

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Turn Aero Peek On or Off in Windows 7
• How to Use Show Desktop in Windows 7
• How to Create a "Window Switcher" (Flip 2D) Shortcut in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Restore Missing "Desktop" Tile on Start Screen in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Enable or Disable Quick Launch in Windows 7

 

[kumobox]

not working for me! everything is fine until i reboot and the show desktop icon is no longer there...

 

[VicVicVic]

not working for me! everything is fine until i reboot and the show desktop icon is no longer there...

Sorry about that. I have since updated the tutorial to make sure that does not happen.

Have a good day,
Victor Ly

 

[kumobox]

Thanks! it's working now!

 

[kumobox]

Not working on final release?

Hi Victor, sorry to bother you again but since installing the retail version of windows 7 home I'm unable to put show desktop on the taskbar.
If I drag it to taskbar it gets pinned either to windows explorer or to my computer, it doesn't stay directly on the taskbar, I have to click on windows explore or my computer and then its there like a jumplist.
any suggestions?

 

[derekimo]

This didn't work for me either, but I found the shortcut in the Quicklaunch folder in Brinks tutorial " Quicklaunch - Enable or Disable " ,Right clicked on it to send to desktop ( create shortcut ). Then followed Charbroil57's tutorial on how to pin the Recycle bin to the Taskbar and that worked for me, I don't know if there is an easier way to go about it ?

 

[kumobox]

Thanks Derekimo, I've tried that and it works but its not ideal as I have to keep the icon eiter down one side or the other.
The way the icon behaved after Viktor's tutorial was what I needed, hope he'll be able to fix it.
Thanks

 

[captnorm]

Show Desktop works near start button, can I get rid of

This procedure worked perfectly. Is there any way to get rid of the small icon to the right of the time?

 

[matthewindc]

Creating the desktop icon on the task bar

Hi,

This is totally minor, but I was wondering if you could tell me what I did wrong or what the fix might be: I was able to install the desktop button on my task bar, but it is not actually the desktop icon...can I get the icon image? Thanks!

 

[whs]

Unfortunately this did not work for me. When I wanted to save the Notepad file, I get this message. I am puzzled. I guess I will use Win+D.

 

[Brink]

Hello Wolfgang,

That's normal. You have to save anything first into a user folder (ex: Desktop), then you will be allowed to copy or move it to a system location like the C:\Windows folder. It's a security feature.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[whs]

Thanks Shawn. Of course it helps - as usual. You are always on top of things - amazing.

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Wolfgang.

 

[JoeMax]

Why do I get a message that it is an x86 program, 32 bit and that I should contact the software publisher for a 64bit version???

 

[Brink]

Hello Joe,

Strange, it works fine on my 64-bit Windows 7. You might try the tutorial on the first page again to see if a mistake may have been made while creating it.

 

[Chowchilla]

Hello guys. Great tip, but I'm having little problem getting it configured as I'd like.

I followed the instructions above to the letter and managed to get the icon working in the taskbar. However I'd like to have the icon as the new style "Show Desktop" icon. A minor point, I know.

I first tried, after doing everything described in the first post, simply shift+right clicking the icon, clicking change icon, then selecting the icon via the "imageres.dll" location. That changes the icon in the properties window and changes it if I navigate in explorer to "C:\Users\Muzher\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\TaskBar". However it does not change the icon in the Taskbar.

Next I tried what I think Brink was advising above. I followed the instructions upto and including creating the "Show Desktop.exe" file in "C:\Windows". I then created my own shortcut, targetted to the aforementioned .exe and then pinned it to the Taskbar. This appeared to look fine, correct icon and all. However clicking it would yield an error about it not being x64 compatible.

I'd really appreciate any ideas you guys have, as this is starting to become a bit of an irritant.

I uploaded a screenshot of the error described in my second attempt (creating a shortcut to the .exe) here:

 

[Brink]

Hello Chowchilla, and welcome to Seven Forums.

After you have done the tutorial completely, then right click on the pinned "Show Desktop" icon on the taskbar, right click on "Show Desktop" in the jump list, click on "Properties", "Chage Icon" in Shortcut tab, then select the new icon, and OK twice.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[bjitesh]

Thanks Vic, worked perfectly for me.

 

[Cornelia]

I was delighted to find this tutorial, and all went well until I tried the change Properties of the command bar icon from .exe to .scf. Windows insists on telling me that the path is invalid, despite having the file right where it should be. Any ideas?

 

[wehrbar]

Notepad won't save to Windows folder

I had the same problem. There are probably more elegant ways to do it, but I was able to work around this by:

Saving to the user folder using the option that the message offered

Using Windows Explorer, copy the folder to the Windows folder. The OS will give you the option to CONTINUE and the file will appear in the Windows folder.

Follow the rest of the procedure.