Icon placement on the desktop is saved when you log out or shut down NT. For
performance reasons, locations are noted and saved automatically at that time.
If you move a desktop icon from one location to another, you
can force a save of the layout by clicking the desktop (single left-click) and
then pressing F5. You will see the screen rewrite as NT stores the
layout. If you make a lot of changes to arrangement of icons and simply
powerdown the box instead of logging out or shutting down, upon reboot, your
desktop will revert to what it looked like at the last boot. Of course, if
you have a habit of powering down without shutdown, sooner or later you will not
have a bootable system. If you have the desktop the way you want it and want
to prevent icons being moved around (accidently or on purpose), cut and paste
the following script into nosaveicons.reg file and run
it.
REGEDIT4
BLANK
LINE GOES HERE
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
”
NoSaveSettings”=”1″
BLANK LINE GOES
HERE
See .REG files for background information on
.REG files.
In the NT Resource Kit there is a reg file names Layout.Reg which saves and
restores the Desktop Icon layout. Useful if you often change the windows
resolution.
