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

 

[q21]

fyi, this utility provides much quicker access to the desktop on my win7-32 computer, than the other show-desktop methods presented in this thread. If the taskbar entry were hidden and a shortcut assigned (e.g. with autohotkey), this might come as close at it gets to a win-d replacement.

1 Hour Software by Skrommel - DonationCoder.com -Desktop.exe

 

[TrojanHorse27]

Hi i am unable to pin the desktop icon please help

Regards
Trojanhorse

 

[Brink]

Hello Trojanhorse,

If you use the "Show Desktop" shortcut from OPTION ONE, do you have a "Pin to Taskbar" option when you right click on the shortcut after extracting it from the downloaded ZIP file?

 

[TrojanHorse27]

Dear Brink,

Thanks it works i was trying to create and then pin it on task bar

Regards
Trojanhorse

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome.

 

[alanrudy]

Thanks for this thread Brink! Is it possible to delete the show desktop on the right side?

 

[Brink]

Hello Alan, and welcome to Seven Forums.

You're most welcome. You might see if the free 3rd party app below may be able to work to remove the "Show Desktop" button on the taskbar.



Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[tony77]

How to correctly remove "show desktop"

Hi Brink,
What is the proper way to remove the "show desktop" app. ? I don't see it in the win "add&remove" of
the control panel.
Thanks

 

[Brink]

Hello Tony, and welcome to Seven Forums.

If you mean from the default "Show Desktop" button on the taskbar, then the link below is about the best option to use since there's not a way to do so normally in Windows.


Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[tony77]

Hi Shawn,
Thank you for the prompt reply.
I'd like to remove the "show desktop" created by option 1 recommended by Vic Ly(from the first page of this thread.
I already unpinned it from taskbar, but the shortcut (?) is still present on desktop and when I hovered the mouse over it : it says "Location: explorer(C:\windows)"
I don't know whether just hit delete the "show desktop" shortcut on desktop is enough or not ?
Best Regards

 

[Brink]

Hi Shawn,
Thank you for the prompt reply.
I'd like to remove the "show desktop" created by option 1 recommended by Vic Ly(from the first page of this thread.
I already unpinned it from taskbar, but the shortcut (?) is still present on desktop and when I hovered the mouse over it : it says "Location: explorer(C:\windows)"
I don't know whether just hit delete the "show desktop" shortcut on desktop is enough or not ?
Best Regards

Ah, ok Tony.

Yes, you would just delete the shortcut to remove it.

 

[tony77]

Thank you

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome.

 

[enygmagyrl]

Opt1 worked perfectly! Thank you!

 

[Lordardry]

Option 2 worked great, thanks A TON!

Option 2 worked great, thanks A TON! That has been driving me crazy since I moved to Win7

 

[Delar303]

This was exactly what I was looking for! Thank you!

 

[thanujkk]

Excellent

Great boss. It is a fantastic idea which works as exactly same like in old windows xp... Thanks a lot. This is exactly correct creation.

 

[reb3rd]

If you have not upgraded to Windows 8.1 yet. For Windows 8 and 8 Pro or any OS that does not go to Desktop automatically

"Boot To The Desktop"

Make sure you have "Hide extensions for known file types" unchecked in Folder Options. Just for file verification purposes.
Re-check it afterwards if you want.

Create the "Show Desktop" file:

Open a 'Text Editor' like Notepad. (not Word or Wordpad)
Copy and Paste or type the following into the text editor:

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

Do not have any extra spaces at the top and do not "Carriage Return" (enter) to next line at the end.

Save the file as - Show Desktop.scf (actually any name you want, just remember it)
When you see the file it will have the Desktop icon but it will not have .scf at the end even with "Hide extensions for known file types" unchecked. Right click the file and go to properties. It should have "Type of file: File Explorer Command (.scf)" and the name should be just "Show Desktop" with no extension.

Copy the file to the "Start Menu\Programs\Startup" folder.

There are more than one "Startup" folders in Windows 8 and 8 Pro. (In other Windows Version look for one similar to this one. Some are for current user and some are for all users.) Put it in this one:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

Close everything down. Restart your computer.

When it boots up, it will pause at the "Start" screen until it reads the contents of Startup.
It will then go to the Desktop with nothing opened up.

Side note: If you want something to open automatically when you boot up, put it in this same Startup folder after Show Desktop.