Is there a hidden file that keeps the desktop organized the way you want?

If so I need to find that file and delete it. I have Nexus and it's organizing my icons for me but upon booting up in Windows 11 my desktop is a mess. All the icons are all over on my second monitor and then the system refreshes and they go where they should go between both monitors. I'd really like to start from scratch so I can depend on things looking as they should upon booting into the OS! Right now it's a bit annoying to me! So any help getting this, I'm thinking, ini file deleted so I can start new is what I'd like. I guess if Nexus has one too I'll need for that to be gone as well.

So far I really love the upgrade. Sleek. I was hoping for the Explorer crashy Mccrashy to stop but experienced one of those tonight. I guess it's a bug that will never die! LOL

there is a hidden file desktop.ini

A Two monitor system will assign the Default monitor to the first one to boot and send the acknowledgment to the system whilst it is booting - this is before windows is fully active. This then leads to the system showing the icons on the wrong monitor or in the order. once windows fully finishing its boot routines one of the last things it does is set the icons to their desired position

Try booting the system with the first monitor only active and then switching the second monitor on when Windows has booted

doing this a few times may "train" the system on how to start up, though being honest it is generally a case of training the User .

As an aside you will often see similar layout issues if you change the Icon size on one monitor on a two monitor system or more generally when the two monitors are different Resolution, or when the same resolution but different physical size and so need the screen scaling to be adjusted

Sometimes windows is just too flexible for it's own good

Hmmm, OK, seems a bit strange that there is just not a file I can delete and start over completely. I hate all that reboot to this monitor idea and then turn on the other blah blah blah.... I've also discovered that Display Fusion had a hand in all this but with Windows 11 newly easy to set up dual monitor background set up I was able to get that taken care of so now Display Fusion is uninstalled but the icons remain in their default set up. So it's either Winstep Nexus Ultimate (for my program and folder desktop bars and menus) that I think is also trying to have it's say and I don't know how to disable that. I downloaded a little program last night called Icon Shepherd but it didn't really do much to alleviate this annoyance.

Also wanted to ask, do any of you good folks know of a program I can install that will give me the ability to have a way to pin programs and folders so they stay over other's and also perhaps an all in one that would also give me a way to click on an opened window and have it move to the other monitor instantly? These two tools are about the only thing I will miss about Display Fusion!

I am not familiar with this Nexus you speak of but I am assuming it is Nexus Mods for gaming. Some third party tools and apps just do not Gee-Haw with the OS. Try uninstalling or disabling it. Restart and arrange your desktop manually. Hit F5. Restart again. If your desktop icons stayed the way you arranged them, then the fault is not in the OS.

Nexus is a tool bar app that I use. It wasn't at fault but instead a background image app software that was doing it. Once uninstalled it was fine. with all the background options we have on Win 11 I have no use for that software any more. Thank You

Good to know you fixed it. A good rule of thumb in troubleshooting Windows GUI issues is to always first suspect a third party app to be the problem. You can quickly find out by booting into a clean boot. It tells you right quick whether or not the OS has a problem or if it's something the user has installed.