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Showing the icon for all users usually requires an administrator account and a change made through Settings, the Registry, Group Policy, or a deployment script. Before applying device-wide changes, it is wise to back up the Registry, confirm the target Windows edition supports the chosen method, and test the setting on a noncritical machine.
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This guide covers practical ways to enable the “This PC” desktop icon in Windows 11, verify that it appears correctly, troubleshoot common issues such as policy conflicts or hidden desktop icons, and reverse the change when it is no longer needed.
What the “This PC” Desktop Icon Does in Windows 11
The “This PC” desktop icon is a shell shortcut that opens File Explorer directly to the device overview page. From there, users can access common folders, local disks, removable drives, mapped network drives, and certain system locations without first opening the Start menu or navigating through the taskbar. In Windows 11, it serves the same general purpose as “Computer” or “My Computer” in older Windows versions, but it is controlled through modern personalization settings and per-user desktop icon configuration.
For many users, placing “This PC” on the desktop makes file access more predictable. It provides a visible entry point for checking available storage, opening the C: drive, browsing USB devices, or reaching mapped drives used in business environments. This is especially useful on shared workstations, lab PCs, kiosks, training devices, and domain-joined computers where users may not be familiar with pinned taskbar items or organization-specific Start menu layouts.
The icon itself does not create a normal shortcut file on the desktop. Windows treats it as a special desktop icon managed by the shell. That distinction matters because copying a shortcut to C:\Users\Public\Desktop is not the same as enabling the built-in “This PC” icon. A copied shortcut can open File Explorer, but it may not behave exactly like the native shell icon, and it can be deleted or modified like any other shortcut. The built-in icon is controlled by Windows desktop icon settings and corresponding Registry values.
When configuring the icon for all users, administrators need to account for how Windows separates desktop content. Some items come from each user’s profile, while others come from the Public Desktop. The “This PC” shell icon is primarily governed by user-specific Explorer settings, so an all-user deployment usually means applying the same setting to each existing profile and ensuring new profiles receive it as well. Depending on the environment, that can be handled through Registry deployment, Group Policy Preferences, logon scripts, provisioning, or image customization.
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- Open local drives: Users can access internal disks such as the Windows system drive and secondary data volumes.
- View removable media: USB flash drives, external hard drives, memory cards, and optical drives appear when connected.
- Access mapped network drives: In managed environments, department shares and home drives can be opened from the same view.
- Check storage status: File Explorer shows drive capacity and free space, helping users identify full disks quickly.
- Reach common folders: Depending on File Explorer settings, Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Pictures, Music, and Videos may be available from the navigation experience.
Enabling this icon does not grant additional file permissions. Users still need the appropriate NTFS, share, and device permissions to open folders or drives. For example, a standard user can see the system drive but may be blocked from protected folders such as another user’s profile or certain Windows directories. Similarly, a mapped network drive shown under “This PC” still depends on the user’s domain credentials and access rights on the file server.
Because “This PC” is a visibility and navigation setting rather than a security setting, it is safe to enable in most environments when users already have desktop access. Administrators should still test the change with standard user accounts, roaming profiles, OneDrive Known Folder Move, and any desktop management tools in use. Those components can affect what appears on the desktop, when it refreshes, and whether a policy or script needs to run again at sign-in.
Enable This PC for the Current User Through Settings
The quickest supported way to show the This PC icon in Windows 11 is through the Personalization settings for the signed-in account. This method changes only the current user profile, so it is best for a single PC owner, a local administrator configuring their own desktop, or a help desk technician making a one-off adjustment for the person currently logged in.
Before changing the setting, confirm that desktop icons are visible. Right-click an empty area of the desktop, select View, and make sure Show desktop icons is checked. If this option is turned off, Windows can enable the This PC icon in the background, but nothing will appear on the desktop until desktop icons are shown again.
- Open Settings using Win + I, or right-click the desktop and choose Personalize.
- Select Personalization in the left pane if it is not already selected.
- Choose Themes.
- Under Related settings, select Desktop icon settings.
- In the Desktop Icons section, check Computer. In Windows 11, this is the setting that displays the This PC icon.
- Select Apply, then OK.
After applying the change, the This PC icon should appear on the current user’s desktop. If the desktop is crowded, it may be placed in the next available grid position rather than the upper-left corner. You can drag it to a preferred location, sort icons from the desktop context menu, or refresh the desktop with F5 if the icon does not show immediately.
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This Settings-based approach normally does not require administrator rights because it writes to the current user’s profile. Standard users can usually enable or disable their own desktop system icons unless the organization has restricted Personalization settings through policy. If the Desktop icon settings link is missing, dimmed, or the checkbox does not stay selected, a Group Policy, mobile device management profile, or registry restriction may be controlling desktop icons.
What this method changes
The dialog updates the current user’s desktop icon preferences. It does not create a normal shortcut file on the desktop, and it does not enable the icon for other local users, domain users, or future profiles on the same device. Each user has a separate preference, so another person signing in to the same Windows 11 computer may still see no This PC icon until the setting is applied for that account or deployed centrally.
| Scope | Result |
|---|---|
| Current signed-in user | This PC appears after enabling Computer in Desktop Icon Settings. |
| Other existing users | No change unless they repeat the steps or receive a deployed setting. |
| New users created later | No change by default when using only the Settings app. |
To verify the change, close or minimize open windows and check the desktop for This PC. You can also right-click the desktop, choose Personalize, open Themes, return to Desktop icon settings, and confirm that Computer remains checked. To reverse the change for the current user, return to the same dialog, clear Computer, select Apply, and then select OK.
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Windows stores the visibility of built-in desktop icons, including This PC, in each user profile. For Windows 11, the main value is a DWORD named {20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D} under the user’s HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel registry key. A value of 0 shows the icon, and a value of 1 hides it. To apply the setting to every user on a device, you must update existing user hives and, if needed, the default profile used for new accounts.
Before editing the registry, sign in with an administrator account and create a backup. At minimum, open Registry Editor, select the key you plan to change, and use File > Export to save a .reg file. On managed or production devices, create a restore point or test the change on one machine first. Registry changes are immediate in many cases, but the desktop may need to be refreshed, Explorer may need to restart, or the user may need to sign out and back in.
Registry value used to show This PC
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Registry path | HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel |
| Value name | {20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D} |
| Type | REG_DWORD |
| Show This PC | 0 |
| Hide This PC | 1 |
To enable the icon for the currently signed-in user, open Registry Editor as that user, browse to the path above, create the NewStartPanel key if it does not exist, and set the DWORD to 0. To apply it to other existing users, an administrator can edit each loaded profile under HKEY_USERS. Look for user SID keys such as S-1-5-21-…, then create or update the same path below that SID: Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel. Avoid changing service accounts such as S-1-5-18, S-1-5-19, and S-1-5-20 unless you have a specific administrative purpose.
For users who have not signed in yet, update the default user profile hive. From an elevated Command Prompt or PowerShell session, load C:\Users\Default\NTUSER.DAT into a temporary registry location, add the same DWORD, then unload the hive. For example, load it as HKU\DefaultUser, write HKU\DefaultUser\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel\{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D} with a DWORD value of 0, and then unload HKU\DefaultUser. This affects newly created profiles only; it does not automatically modify accounts that already have profiles on the computer.
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After applying the registry setting, verify the result by signing in as a target user and checking the desktop for This PC. If it does not appear, right-click the desktop and select Refresh, restart Windows Explorer from Task Manager, or sign out and back in. Also confirm that desktop icons are enabled from View > Show desktop icons on the desktop context menu. To reverse the change, set the same DWORD back to 1 or delete the value and let Windows use the user’s normal desktop icon configuration.
Deploy the Setting with Group Policy or Scripts
For managed Windows 11 devices, the most reliable deployment target is the per-user registry value that controls whether the This PC icon is hidden on the desktop. The value is stored under the signed-in user profile, so deployment should run in the user context or use a policy mechanism that writes to HKEY_CURRENT_USER. The icon is controlled by the CLSID {20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D} at HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel. Set the DWORD value to 0 to show the icon, or 1 to hide it.
Deploy with Group Policy Preferences
In an Active Directory environment, use Group Policy Preferences rather than a one-time manual registry edit. Create or edit a GPO linked to the OU that contains the target users or computers, then go to User Configuration > Preferences > Windows Settings > Registry. Add a new Registry item with the following settings:
- Action: Update
- Hive: HKEY_CURRENT_USER
- Key Path: Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel
- Value name: {20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
- Value type: REG_DWORD
- Value data: 0
This approach applies when each user receives policy, including standard users who do not have local administrator rights. Before linking the GPO broadly, test it with a small pilot group. If your organization uses item-level targeting, you can limit the change to specific security groups, departments, device types, or Windows 11 builds. After policy refresh, users may need to sign out and back in, restart Explorer, or right-click the desktop and select Refresh before the icon appears.
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For scripted deployment, run the change in the logged-on user context whenever possible. A PowerShell example is:
New-Item -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel" -Force | Out-Null; New-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel" -Name "{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}" -PropertyType DWord -Value 0 -Force | Out-Null
The same change can be made with reg.exe:
reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel" /v "{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}" /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
For Microsoft Intune, Configuration Manager, RMM tools, or logon scripts, confirm whether the script runs as the user or as SYSTEM. If it runs as SYSTEM, HKCU refers to the system profile, not the interactive user. In that case, use a user-context deployment, a proactive remediation that detects the logged-on user, or a registry preference delivered through policy. Avoid editing every profile hive unless you have a tested process for loading and unloading user hives safely.
Before deploying at scale, export the affected registry path from a test machine or document the original value so the change can be rolled back. To verify deployment, check that the DWORD exists with a value of 0, then refresh the desktop or restart Explorer. To reverse the setting, deploy the same value with data 1, or delete the value and let Windows return to its default behavior or any other policy that applies.
Troubleshooting When the Icon Does Not Appear
If the “This PC” icon does not appear after you enable it, first confirm that you are checking the correct desktop and user context. The per-user desktop icon setting is stored under that user’s profile, so a change made while signed in as an administrator may not affect a standard user unless you deployed it to each profile or used a logon script, Group Policy preference, or default profile method. Sign out and back in, or restart Explorer from Task Manager, to force Windows 11 to reload desktop shell settings.
Check the desktop icon visibility setting
Windows can hide all desktop icons even when the “This PC” value is configured correctly. Right-click an empty area of the desktop, select View, and make sure Show desktop icons is enabled. Also check whether the icon is on another display, behind an open window, or sorted into a different position after changing View options such as Auto arrange icons or Align icons to grid.
Verify the registry value and location
For the current user, confirm that the value exists in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel. The value named {20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D} should be a REG_DWORD set to 0 to show “This PC.” A value of 1 hides it. If you are targeting classic desktop mode layouts, also check HideDesktopIcons\ClassicStartMenu. On Windows 11, the NewStartPanel path is usually the one that matters, but setting both paths can help in mixed or upgraded environments.
- Wrong hive: A value under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE alone will not show the icon for every user because this shell setting is normally per-user.
- Wrong value type: Use REG_DWORD, not string or binary.
- Wrong GUID: The “This PC” class ID must be exactly {20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}.
- Policy conflict: A Group Policy or management tool may be hiding desktop items after your script runs.
Refresh Explorer and policy processing
After changing registry values or applying policy, refresh the shell. Open Task Manager, select Windows Explorer, and choose Restart. You can also sign out and sign back in. In managed environments, run gpupdate /force from an elevated Command Prompt, then restart Explorer or reboot the device. If the setting is delivered through Intune, Configuration Manager, or another endpoint tool, check the device sync status and confirm that the script or policy completed successfully for the signed-in user.
Review permissions and user profile state
Registry edits require the right permissions for the target hive. Administrators can edit other users’ hives only after loading the user profile hive, and scripts that run as SYSTEM may write to the wrong user context unless they are designed to enumerate loaded profiles or run at user logon. If the user has never signed in, their HKEY_CURRENT_USER hive does not exist yet as an active profile. For new users, apply the setting during first sign-in with a logon script or configure the default profile carefully after backing up the registry.
If everything appears correct, test with a newly created local user to separate profile corruption from deployment issues. Also check for desktop lockdown policies such as Hide and disable all items on the desktop, kiosk configurations, third-party shell customization tools, or security baselines that restrict Explorer behavior. Before making repeated changes, export the affected registry keys so you can restore the previous state if troubleshooting introduces an unwanted desktop layout change.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to Remove or Reverse the Change
Reversing the “This PC” desktop icon change depends on how it was enabled. If it was turned on through Windows Settings for one account, remove it from the same place. Open Settings, go to Personalization > Themes > Desktop icon settings, clear the Computer checkbox, and select OK. This removes the icon for the signed-in user only and does not affect other profiles on the device.
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If the icon was enabled for all users by modifying the registry, reverse the same registry value. Sign in with an administrator account, open Registry Editor, and check the policy-based path that was used for deployment. The common location is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel. To show “This PC,” many deployments create or set the DWORD value {20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D} to 0. To remove the icon again, either set that value to 1 or delete the value so Windows returns to its default behavior.
Safe registry rollback steps
- Sign in with an account that has local administrator rights.
- Create a backup before changing anything. In Registry Editor, select the target key, choose File > Export, and save the .reg file in a known location.
- Change the DWORD value for {20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D} to 1, or delete the value if you want to remove the override entirely.
- Restart Windows Explorer from Task Manager, sign out and back in, or restart the computer.
- Check the desktop for a standard user and an administrator account to confirm that the icon is no longer displayed.
For Group Policy, remove or disable the policy preference, registry item, or startup script that created the value. In a domain environment, edit the relevant GPO, delete the registry preference item, or change the value data from 0 to 1. After updating the policy, run gpupdate /force on a test computer or wait for normal policy refresh. If a Group Policy Preference item was configured with Apply once and do not reapply, you may need to deploy a separate cleanup item to delete or overwrite the existing registry value on devices that already received it.
For deployment tools such as Microsoft Intune, Configuration Manager, RMM platforms, or provisioning scripts, retire or update the assignment that applies the icon setting. A deployment-friendly rollback usually uses a small script that sets the registry value to 1 or removes the value, then refreshes Explorer. Verify the result on a pilot group before applying it broadly. If you previously backed up the registry key or created a system restore point, keep that backup until the rollback has been confirmed across the intended devices.
| Original method | Rollback action |
|---|---|
| Windows Settings | Clear Computer in Desktop Icon Settings for that user. |
| Local registry | Set the CLSID DWORD to 1 or delete the value, then refresh Explorer. |
| Group Policy | Disable, remove, or replace the registry preference or script and refresh policy. |
| Intune, RMM, or scripts | Deploy a cleanup script or update the configuration profile, then verify on target devices. |
Frequently Asked Questions
Does enabling the This PC icon for all users require administrator rights?
Yes, changing the setting for all users usually requires administrator permissions because it involves writing to system-wide Registry locations, Group Policy, or default user profile settings. A standard user can enable the icon only for their own account through Settings if desktop icon changes are not blocked by policy.
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Which Registry value controls the This PC desktop icon in Windows 11?
The This PC icon is controlled by the CLSID {20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}. For a per-user change, it is commonly managed under HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel, where setting the value to 0 shows the icon and 1 hides it.
How can I make the This PC icon appear for new users who sign in later?
Configure the setting in the default user profile or deploy it with Group Policy Preferences, Intune, a logon script, or another endpoint management tool. Applying the setting only to the currently signed-in user will not automatically affect accounts that are created or used later.
What should I check if the This PC icon still does not appear?
Confirm that desktop icons are enabled by right-clicking the desktop, opening View, and making sure Show desktop icons is selected. Also check whether a Group Policy, MDM policy, or third-party desktop management tool is hiding desktop icons or overwriting the Registry value after sign-in.
How do I undo the change and remove This PC from the desktop?
For a single user, open Desktop Icon Settings and clear Computer, or set the relevant Registry value back to 1. For managed devices, remove or update the Group Policy, script, or deployment profile that shows the icon, then refresh policy or have users sign out and back in.
Bottom Line
Showing the “This PC” icon for all Windows 11 users is straightforward when you choose the right method for your environment: Settings for a single profile, Group Policy for managed devices, or Registry-based deployment for repeatable rollout. Before changing shared settings, confirm you have administrative rights and back up the registry or create a restore point.
After applying the change, sign in with a standard user account to verify the icon appears as expected, then document the method used so it can be reversed later if needed. If you manage mulle PCs, package the registry or policy approach through your normal deployment tool to keep results consistent.
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