Save / Restore Desktop Layout

Some times you may spend so much time while arranging your desktop icons and by any reason if you change the desktop resolution the icons changes their positions on the desktop and then you need to rearrange them.

Rearranging the icons again is time consuming and tiring task but you can avoid this by tweaking windows to save the desktop icon layout i.e the positions of your desktop icons.

Saving and then restoring the saved icons layout is all related to registry tweak and adding some system files in c:\windows\system32 folder. But don’t worry if you don’t want play with windows registry or windows system files, you how can you do this just by using a FREE utlity called Icon Restore.

We will also include the geeky way which will tell you how can you do this through registry editing and adding some system files.

Let’s discuss both the ways to save / restore desktop icons layout.

Simple Method To Save/Restore Desktop Icons Layout (Layman Way)

1. Download this utlity called Icon Restore from here, which adds a context menu under right click on my computer to save/restore the icon layout.

2. Install Icon Restore and then right click my computer icon to see the entries in the context menu.

Save Desktop Icon Layout

Restore Desktop Icon Layout

3. By right clicking the computer icon and select Save Desktop Icon Layout to save the desktop icons positions for the current desktop resolutions.

4. Now when ever you change the desktop resolution the desktop icons positions get changed you get the same positions of the icons by again right clicking on my computer and select Restore Desktop Icon Layout

Some another utility which do the same thing as Icon Restore are Solway’s Desktop Icon Layout Saver and DesktopOK (which let you save and restore multiple layouts).

Geeky Method To Save/Restore Desktop Icons Layout ( via HowToGeek )

1. Download and Extract Layout.zip, now copy the Layout.dll into your C:\Windows\System32\ directory.

2. Now double click on the Layout.reg file which will add contents to the registry, press or ok or merge to confirm registry additions.

3. Now When you right click on your computer you will see the entries in the context menu which says

Save Desktop Icon Layout

Restore Desktop Icon Layout

 

4. Now when ever you want to restore the original desktop layout and saved icon positions right click on the empty desktop and select Restore Desktop Icon Layout

Uninstall Desktop Icon Layout

If you want to uninstall desktop layout, download uninstall desktop layout from here, extract it and double click on the registry file and make sure to delete layout.dll from C:\Windows\System32