Sort my desktop by name, but it is not..

[John Dingley]

Try right clicking on the desktop > select Arrange Icons by ..... and take
your pick.

 

[PeterM]

For some reason I like to have 20 or so shortcuts/icons on my desktop. I
tried to sort it by name, and I figured it will be alphabetical, but it
is not. What am I doing wrong. Is there a program to download that would
make this nice and delightful to look at, and all alphabetical ?

 

[Keith Miller]

You're not doing anything wrong. The icons on the desktop come from four possible places:

The registry:
'HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace'

'HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace'

Folders:
'C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop'

'C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Desktop'

When you right-click the desktop & select 'sort by name', the icons are sorted WITHIN their
'grouping' and then the groups are displayed sequentially.

Not sure about what 3rd-party software can do. To gain more control within the confines of windows,
you could hide the namespace icons through the customize desktop dialog, replacing them with
'normal' user-created short-cuts in one of the two folders mentioned above (you will lose the
specialized context menus the namespace icons provide). You can also opt to move all of your
shortcuts/files to one or the other folders mentioned above, giving you only one grouping to sort.

Keith

 

[Alex Nichol]

You're not doing anything wrong. The icons on the desktop come from four possible places:

The registry:
'HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace'

'HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace'

Folders:
'C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop'

'C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Desktop'

When you right-click the desktop & select 'sort by name', the icons are sorted WITHIN their
'grouping' and then the groups are displayed sequentially.

The right click on the desktop and Arrange has a 'Show in Groups' which
you should be able to uncheck if it is on. I think it will also be
necessary to have 'Autoarrange' checked to get a Name order in practice