Saving desktop icons to their correct locations - display driver update

[boe]

Hello,

Whenever I change out a display driver or a video card -it often resets back
to 640x480 and then when you put it back to the previous resolution - e.g.
1280x1024 or higher, the icons/shortcuts on the desktop are all reordered.
Is there a way to save them to a particular order set so when you change
back to your previous display resolution before the patch/upgrade, they are
in the same order (FYI they are not organized by name or type - they have
been ordered according to where I manually put them).

Thanks

 

[Gary Brandenburg]

I use this: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1589855,00.asp

"Microsoft's Layout.dll (free) file, which is included in the Windows NT Resource
Kit, can be installed on Windows 2000 and XP systems. This adds the Save Desktop Icon
Layout and Restore Desktop Icon Layout options to the pop-up menus associated with
system icons like the Recycle Bin and My Computer. It's a bare-bones solution that
lacks the useful frills found in EzDesk, but it gets the job done."

It isn't always 100% reliable, but works alright most of the time.

~Gary

 

[Claymore]

Hello,

Whenever I change out a display driver or a video card -it often resets back
to 640x480 and then when you put it back to the previous resolution - e.g.
1280x1024 or higher, the icons/shortcuts on the desktop are all reordered.
Is there a way to save them to a particular order set so when you change
back to your previous display resolution before the patch/upgrade, they are
in the same order  (FYI they are not organized by name or type - they have
been ordered according to where I manually put them).

Thanks

Just to add to what Gary suggested:

Save desktop icon positions

Either:

Icon Restore
http://users.rcn.com/taylotr/icon_restore.html

===========================

Or:

layout.dll from Microsoft:

http://www.pcnineoneone.com/tweaks/layout.zip

Instructions

1. Download the file Layout.zip from the link under Tools above, and
extract the contents to an empty directory.

2. Copy Layout.dll to the WindowsSystem32 directory on the hard drive
which contains Windows XP.

3. Double click on the Layout.reg file to automatically make the
appropriate changes to your registry.

4. Now go to your desktop and arrange the icons as you'd like them to
be saved.

5. Once done, right click on the Recycle Bin and select 'Save Desktop
Icon Layout'. The positions of all the icons are now saved. You can
move the icons around

freely, however whenever you want them restored to their original
saved positions, right click on Recycle Bin again and select 'Restore
Desktop Icon Layout'.

6. Be sure that you receive a popup msg "Desktop Icon Settings
Saved". For some reason, unknown to me (running Winxp-SP2 Tablet PC
Edition), it doesn't always

save. It appears that it only actually does the save if you have
received the above confirmation message.

{Courtesy PCMAG.com forums}

 

[boe]

Thanks

Hello,

Whenever I change out a display driver or a video card -it often resets
back
to 640x480 and then when you put it back to the previous resolution - e.g.
1280x1024 or higher, the icons/shortcuts on the desktop are all reordered.
Is there a way to save them to a particular order set so when you change
back to your previous display resolution before the patch/upgrade, they
are
in the same order (FYI they are not organized by name or type - they have
been ordered according to where I manually put them).

Thanks

Just to add to what Gary suggested:

Save desktop icon positions

Either:

Icon Restore
http://users.rcn.com/taylotr/icon_restore.html

===========================

Or:

layout.dll from Microsoft:

http://www.pcnineoneone.com/tweaks/layout.zip

Instructions

1. Download the file Layout.zip from the link under Tools above, and
extract the contents to an empty directory.

2. Copy Layout.dll to the WindowsSystem32 directory on the hard drive
which contains Windows XP.

3. Double click on the Layout.reg file to automatically make the
appropriate changes to your registry.

4. Now go to your desktop and arrange the icons as you'd like them to
be saved.

5. Once done, right click on the Recycle Bin and select 'Save Desktop
Icon Layout'. The positions of all the icons are now saved. You can
move the icons around

freely, however whenever you want them restored to their original
saved positions, right click on Recycle Bin again and select 'Restore
Desktop Icon Layout'.

6. Be sure that you receive a popup msg "Desktop Icon Settings
Saved". For some reason, unknown to me (running Winxp-SP2 Tablet PC
Edition), it doesn't always

save. It appears that it only actually does the save if you have
received the above confirmation message.

{Courtesy PCMAG.com forums}

 

[boe]

Thank you

I use this: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1589855,00.asp

"Microsoft's Layout.dll (free) file, which is included in the Windows NT
Resource Kit, can be installed on Windows 2000 and XP systems. This adds
the Save Desktop Icon Layout and Restore Desktop Icon Layout options to
the pop-up menus associated with system icons like the Recycle Bin and My
Computer. It's a bare-bones solution that lacks the useful frills found in
EzDesk, but it gets the job done."

It isn't always 100% reliable, but works alright most of the time.

~Gary

 

[Gary Brandenburg]

You're welcome boe-
Sorry-I thought the link that I gave you *was* the layout dll download, but
fortunately, Claymore dug deeper to find the actual download, as well as the
instructions.

~Gary

 

[boe]

Turns out it works great as long as you don't change your resolution - I
changed my resolution - then said arrange by name - it messes up the
layout - then I put it back to the higher resolution and said to restore
layout - hoping it would put it back to the same order - unfortunately it
doesn't. Any other programs that might help for when the resolution is
temporarily changed when updating video drivers or video cards?

 

[boe]

Turns out it works great as long as you don't change your resolution - I
changed my resolution - then said arrange by name - it messes up the
layout - then I put it back to the higher resolution and said to restore
layout - hoping it would put it back to the same order - unfortunately it
doesn't. Any other programs that might help for when the resolution is
temporarily changed when updating video drivers or video cards?

 

[rod]

I am not sure I understand you,
if you need specific positions on desktop, unable to help,
but for a particular order
I click on the icon and rename using a numeral prefix

Then I just hit F5 to descramble.

eg AVG is 03avg, snagit is 12snagit etc
I enumerate in the frequency order I use them
high numbers=most frequent

 

[rod]

I am not sure I understand you,
if you need specific positions on desktop, unable to help,
but for a particular order
I click on the icon and rename using a numeral prefix

Then I just hit F5 to descramble.

eg AVG is 03avg, snagit is 12snagit etc
I enumerate in the frequency order I use them
high numbers=most frequent

 

[rod]

I am not sure I understand you,
if you need specific positions on desktop, unable to help,
but for a particular order
I click on the icon and rename using a numeral prefix

Then I just hit F5 to descramble.

eg AVG is 03avg, snagit is 12snagit etc
I enumerate in the frequency order I use them
high numbers=most frequent

 

[rod]

Oops. apologies.
not sure what happened there, Hiccups?

 

[M.I.5¾]

Turns out it works great as long as you don't change your resolution - I
changed my resolution - then said arrange by name - it messes up the
layout - then I put it back to the higher resolution and said to restore
layout - hoping it would put it back to the same order - unfortunately it
doesn't. Any other programs that might help for when the resolution is
temporarily changed when updating video drivers or video cards?

I'm not sure if it's the same one but this one seems to work without
problems *after* you change resolution.

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/iconrestore.html

 

[BCool]

I use a small program called, surprise, Restore Desktop,
http://www.lockergnome.com/windows/2004/09/06/restore-desktop/

It adds two items to the context menu when you right-click on your desktop.
It is resolution specific so if your screen is 1280x1024 it will say it's
saving for that resolution. If it resets to 640x480 all you have to do is
set it back to 1280x1024, right-click and select restore desktop.

Sometimes, if the order is really messed up you have to select restore 3 or
4 times but it will put it all back in place.

HTH

 

[Jeff Givens]

Hello,

Whenever I change out a display driver or a video card -it often resets back
to 640x480 and then when you put it back to the previous resolution - e.g.
1280x1024 or higher, the icons/shortcuts on the desktop are all reordered.

I am partial to PC Mag's WinTidy. It saves for all different resolutions
and also by name. If you switch amongst various resolutions it will
rearrange to the one you are on.

Search and you should be able to find a download somewhere.
_________________________________________________________________
JG... Jeff Givens
mailto:[email protected]

"My hovercraft is full of eels."