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I have two monitors connected to my computer. (same graphics card. One HDMI, the other DVI).

Whenever I do one of the following things, my icons move around on my desktop:

  1. Play a Game
  2. Turn off one monitor

When I stop playing the game or turn one of the monitors back on, Windows 7 does not properly restore the icon locations.

Is there is a way I can prevent Windows from moving my desktop icons around?

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Can you connect the HDMI monitor to a VGA or another DVI port? – Vladislav Zorov May 31 '11 at 16:07
No. :( only two ports on my video card: DVI and HDMI. – ray023 May 31 '11 at 16:14
Oh.. sorry to hear that. It doesn't work correctly if Windows thinks it's a TV, otherwise with two normal monitors it's working correctly. – Vladislav Zorov May 31 '11 at 16:16
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2 Answers

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No. When the screen resolution changes, Explorer will automatically move icons that would otherwise be off-screen.

(Imagine the complaints if it didn't do that. "I changed my monitor and now half my files are gone!")

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i understand what you are saying, but windows does such a piss-poor job 'restoring' icons, they should at least make it a setting u could toggle. – ray023 May 29 '11 at 17:04
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up vote 1 down vote accepted

I figured out one way to handle this. I have an application I use (fences) which allows me to group all my icons. I already had most of my desktop icons grouped with this application and noticed that they restore properly. So, I just created a "Miscellaneous" group and threw all my stray icons in there. I don't like this solution, but it's the best one I can come up with since windows will not properly restore icons or allow me to turn that "feature" off. :P

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