Solved Can't get desktop shortcuts to launch via mouse left click

Win 11 version 21H2 build 22000.918. It's the latest with no updates outstanding.

I have icons for shortcuts on the desktop. When I hover the mouse pointer the icons lights up but the mouse pointer does not change to a hand so I can't launch it with a left click. If I right click the same or any icon and select Open then it launches OK. All of the icons have the same problem. I think it might be a permissions problem but I don't know which.

I have Googled and also searched this forum. So far nothing.

Any thoughts?

It's after midnight here right now. If I don't answer straight away then I might be snoozing.

Another member reported this same issue a couple of days ago. On the MS forum one user said his was fixed by, and I quote, "On the "Settings > Accessibility > Mouse pointer and touch" screen, I turned off the "Touch indicator" option, which was on by default even though my large desktop screen is not touch capable."


Also check to make sure your middle mouse button is not stuck.

I leave my mouse click setting as a double-left-click for the Desktop shortcuts as that is the default with an installation and I have to see the same thing my clients ask about. I never get the pointer change when moving onto an icon but do get an outline to get focus to it.

OK, I'm awake again now and thinking a bit better. I think Berton has the answer for me. It's probably somewhat simple but the lateness of the evening etc. made it too hard for me.

The machine is a laptop about 3 years old that has Win 11 but nothing else. I get it out about once a month for maintenance and battery charging. Last night I was watching the football finals and I thought I would do some background work as well.

The laptop had a bug where it wouldn't shut down properly. It looked like a sleep but it couldn't be restarted until I held the power button down for about 10 seconds until the power indicators went off. I eventually decided to reinstall Windows. Easy stuff because there no apps on it.

Windows installed OK after I downloaded a copy onto a USB stick. By this time it was about 11:00pm, the football was over, and I had a bit of frothy lubrication on board.

The answer to the problem was I normally set the mouse to single click but last night viewed from this morning, I'm sure I didn't. The machine was OK but last night, I was certainly not. It's 6:00am here right now. My aging bladder forced me awake. I'll try the machine a little later. I don't want to wake the wife right now. I'll post back once I confirm that the problem was me and the problem is solved. doh.

The 8-10 seconds holding down the power button is quite normal for a full shutdown of a Notebook, anything shorter may just be Sleep or Hibernate. It's probably documented somewhere by the OEM. And it also applies to Desktops.

Berton said:

The 8-10 seconds holding down the power button is quite normal for a full shutdown of a Notebook, anything shorter may just be Sleep or Hibernate. It's probably documented somewhere by the OEM. And it also applies to Desktops.

Click to expand...

It's not normal for any of my machines. I didn't tell the full story about the power problems. It wouldn't power down and it wouldn't power up easily and sometimes it would lock up when windows was booting. It was also complaining about the Memory Integrity setting in Windows security and several other things. All of which are OK now after I reinstalled Windows.

The original problem that I posted about is also "fixed". I forgot to set Single Click in Explorer Options.

BobD said:

I had a bit of frothy lubrication on board.

Click to expand...

I'm having a few tonight.

BobD said:

It's not normal for any of my machines. I didn't tell the full story about the power problems. It wouldn't power down and it wouldn't power up easily and sometimes it would lock up when windows was booting. It was also complaining about the Memory Integrity setting in Windows security and several other things. All of which are OK now after I reinstalled Windows.

The original problem that I posted about is also "fixed". I forgot to set Single Click in Explorer Options.

Click to expand...

Crossposted:
I had the same issue and it was making me crazy. I tried several mice, started in safe mode, did tons of troubleshooting hints. Still no clicking. I finally used EaseUS to restore my Win 11 system to a state before I installed the last StartAllBack upgrade. Now using SAB 3.5.3 with no issues.

@glasskuter thank you so much for this reply. Your suggestion worked for me.

My gratitude.