This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off align desktop icons to grid for your account in Windows 10 and Windows 11.
The desktop (Win+D) is your home screen and working space in Windows that contains the taskbar and any icons (ex: shortcuts, files, folders, etc...) you add to and arrange on the desktop.
If you turn on Align icons to grid, your desktop icons will automatically be snapped into place on an invisible grid on your screen. The grid keeps the icons aligned with each other to prevent them from overlapping.
If you turn off Align icons to grid, your desktop icons will no longer be snapped into place by grid.
Contents
- Option One: Turn On or Off Align Icons to Grid on Desktop using Context Menu
- Option Two: Turn On or Off "Auto arrange icons" and "Align icons to grid" on Desktop using BAT file
EXAMPLE: Align desktop icons to grid turned on and off
1 Right click or press and hold on your desktop.
2 Click/tap on View, and click/tap on click/tap on Align icons to grid to check (on - default) or uncheck (off) for what you want. (see screenshot below)
1 Do step 2, step 3, step 4, or step 5 below for what you would like to do.
2 To Turn OFF "Auto arrange icons" and Turn OFF "Align icons to grid"
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the BAT file below, and go to step 6 below.
Auto_arrange_icons-OFF_and_Align_icons_to_grid-OFF.bat
(Contents of BAT file for reference)
Code:
@echo off
REG ADD "HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\1\Desktop" /V FFLAGS /T REG_DWORD /D 1075839520 /F
taskkill /f /im explorer.exe
start explorer.exe3 To Turn ON "Auto arrange icons" and Turn OFF "Align icons to grid"
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the BAT file below, and go to step 6 below.
Auto_arrange_icons-ON_and_Align_icons_to_grid-OFF.bat
(Contents of BAT file for reference)
Code:
@echo off
REG ADD "HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\1\Desktop" /V FFLAGS /T REG_DWORD /D 1075839521 /F
taskkill /f /im explorer.exe
start explorer.exe4 To Turn OFF "Auto arrange icons" and Turn ON "Align icons to grid"
This is the default setting.
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the BAT file below, and go to step 6 below.
Auto_arrange_icons-OFF_and_Align_icons_to_grid-ON.bat
(Contents of BAT file for reference)
Code:
@echo off
REG ADD "HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\1\Desktop" /V FFLAGS /T REG_DWORD /D 1075839524 /F
taskkill /f /im explorer.exe
start explorer.exe5 To Turn ON "Auto arrange icons" and Turn ON "Align icons to grid"
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the BAT file below, and go to step 6 below.
Auto_arrange_icons-ON_and_Align_icons_to_grid-ON.bat
(Contents of BAT file for reference)
Code:
@echo off
REG ADD "HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\1\Desktop" /V FFLAGS /T REG_DWORD /D 1075839525 /F
taskkill /f /im explorer.exe
start explorer.exe6 Save the .bat file to your desktop.
7 Unblock the .bat file.
8 Run the .bat file.
9 You will now notice your screen flicker as the explorer.exe process is restarted to apply the registry changes.
10 You can now delete the downloaded .bat file if you like.
That's it,
Shawn Brink
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