Solved Very Minor Desktop Icon issue

Ultragravy · Feb 6, 2023

Hi all, having a slightly odd issue on Windows 11 that is very minor but wanted to see if it was anything to be remotely concerned about in case something wasnt setup right.

Whenever I leave my PC for a length of time, maybe 15-30 minutes, about the time you'd expect a screensaver or power management to kick in, when I return, my Desktop icons do not highlight when i hover over them, and mouse clicks to them will not respond. However, if I click on the taskbar or load up another app, everything is then 100% fine and the system works with no issues and all icons respond normally.

I have most screensaver/sleep/power management things turned off I believe, but it's a curious issue. There's nothing untoward in event logs, and a single click on a bar or loading an app or anything like that will resolve it fine. I'd read things about invisible windows from the Windows 11 Search function in previous patches, and wondered if it was related, but I've turned off the search box on the taskbar. I havent established EXACTLY what makes the icons start working again, but just clicking on the taskbar seems enough.

Is this something anyone has experienced before?

safron · Feb 6, 2023

I've not experienced the your issue, but have found Windows 11 desktop to be a bit flakey.
One of the things you can try to address the symptoms (not the cause) is restarting Windows Explorer:

1) Task Manager {Ctrl}{Shift}{Esc} > Processes > Windows Processes > Windows Explorer > right-click > restart

2) If you find yourself doing this often, you can create a bat file, and paste a shortcut to it on your desktop


    taskkill /f /IM explorer.exe
    start explorer.exe
    exit

Hope this helps!

OAT · Feb 6, 2023

To refresh icon cache:

WinKey R

ie4uinit.exe -show <Press OK>

Or include it in the batch (.cmd or .bat) as mentioned above.

BrianInEngland · Feb 6, 2023

Ultragravy said:
Hi all, having a slightly odd issue on Windows 11 that is very minor but wanted to see if it was anything to be remotely concerned about in case something wasnt setup right.

Whenever I leave my PC for a length of time, maybe 15-30 minutes, about the time you'd expect a screensaver or power management to kick in, when I return, my Desktop icons do not highlight when i hover over them, and mouse clicks to them will not respond. However, if I click on the taskbar or load up another app, everything is then 100% fine and the system works with no issues and all icons respond normally.

I have most screensaver/sleep/power management things turned off I believe, but it's a curious issue. There's nothing untoward in event logs, and a single click on a bar or loading an app or anything like that will resolve it fine. I'd read things about invisible windows from the Windows 11 Search function in previous patches, and wondered if it was related, but I've turned off the search box on the taskbar. I havent established EXACTLY what makes the icons start working again, but just clicking on the taskbar seems enough.

Is this something anyone has experienced before?

I can confirm this happens on two PCs in the house, not every time but it does happen

Try3 · Feb 6, 2023

I suggest you reinstall your display driver just to bowl out the possibility that it has become corrupt.
- Reinstallation will rewrite the driver and re-register its constituent files such as dlls.
- Checking for updates will not have the same effect.
- You should get the driver from your computer maker if the display adapter was in it when you bought it. Otherwise get it from the display adapter maker.

Best of luck,
Denis

Ultragravy · Feb 6, 2023

Firstly, thanks everyone for the initial responses.

I can seemingly replicate the bug at will, it's definitely leaving the PC alone for 25-30 minutes that causes it which makes me think its related to power management in some way. Leaving it idle for 15-20 minutes doesnt seem to do anything, but I have monitor and system sleep set to Never so the only setting I can think of that might still do something like that is the "Balanced" Power Plan maybe somehow shutting off the desktop in some way if things arent used? Clutching at straws here.

When it happens, clicking between any open windows like discord/firefox wont resolve it, it seems i physically have to click on the taskbar, but as soon as I click on it the icons all work and everything instantly resolves with no need to reboot anything or restart explorer. It's as if my entire desktop is going to sleep and needs a taskbar click to wake it up. I typically don't have too much running other than maybe Firefox open and discord either in the system tray or open, and it happens regardless of whether those are open or not.

Doing an explorer close wont necessarily do anything because the issue is completely resolved by the click on the taskbar that i'd need to do to open the task manager anyway.

I'll update my display drivers to see, I'm running an Nvidia 3080ti card with recent drivers though. I'm not sure how long this issue has been going on as I've only noticed it over the past week but I've had the machine about 3-4 months. I'm sure i'd have noticed it by now if it was happening sooner, so it feels like this is something that's started happening within the past 2-3 weeks max, making me think a possible windows update might have caused it as basically nothing else has changed on the system in terms of hardware or software installs.

BrianInEngland said:
I can confirm this happens on two PCs in the house, not every time but it does happen

Do you have any more info on when/how this happens? Has this been a recent thing for you or have those two machines been doing it for ages? And is it resolved in the same way as me, just a simple click on the taskbar "wakes the desktop" and everything works fine?

BrianInEngland · Feb 6, 2023

Ultragravy said:
Firstly, thanks everyone for the initial responses.

I can seemingly replicate the bug at will, it's definitely leaving the PC alone for 25-30 minutes that causes it which makes me think its related to power management in some way. Leaving it idle for 15-20 minutes doesnt seem to do anything, but I have monitor and system sleep set to Never so the only setting I can think of that might still do something like that is the "Balanced" Power Plan maybe somehow shutting off the desktop in some way if things arent used? Clutching at straws here.

When it happens, clicking between any open windows like discord/firefox wont resolve it, it seems i physically have to click on the taskbar, but as soon as I click on it the icons all work and everything instantly resolves with no need to reboot anything or restart explorer. It's as if my entire desktop is going to sleep and needs a taskbar click to wake it up. I typically don't have too much running other than maybe Firefox open and discord either in the system tray or open, and it happens regardless of whether those are open or not.

Doing an explorer close wont necessarily do anything because the issue is completely resolved by the click on the taskbar that i'd need to do to open the task manager anyway.

I'll update my display drivers to see, I'm running an Nvidia 3080ti card with recent drivers though. I'm not sure how long this issue has been going on as I've only noticed it over the past week but I've had the machine about 3-4 months. I'm sure i'd have noticed it by now if it was happening sooner, so it feels like this is something that's started happening within the past 2-3 weeks max, making me think a possible windows update might have caused it as basically nothing else has changed on the system in terms of hardware or software installs.

Do you have any more info on when/how this happens? Has this been a recent thing for you or have those two machines been doing it for ages? And is it resolved in the same way as me, just a simple click on the taskbar "wakes the desktop" and everything works fine?

It just seems random, and not always from waking from sleep. And yes if I click the taskbar it fixes it

Try3 · Feb 7, 2023

Ultragravy said:
I'll update my display drivers to see, I'm running an Nvidia 3080ti card with recent drivers though.

Not just check for updates.
Reinstall. Perhaps that's how Nvidia supply updates anyway - complete packages that overwrite the previous version.
If it happens to be a later version then fine but it's the act of installing that overwrites any potentially damaged driver components.

Good luck,
Denis

spapakons · Feb 7, 2023

If this is independent of System Power settings, then it should has to do with the graphics power settings. Reinstall latest drivers directly from nVidia and then go to nVidia Control Panel, Manage 3D Settings, Power Management mode. I always set that to Prefer maximum performance.

Ultragravy · Feb 8, 2023

Hi all - just an update. I've reinstalled my Nvidia drivers and set graphics card power management to Max Performance.

The system still does as I described but I did a little more testing - it seems clicking on the taskbar/icon isnt actually needed, it's more a "time" thing. When I return to the PC after leaving it idle for a while, hovering the mouse over desktop icons doesnt highlight them or allow clicking, but if I just move the mouse around, hover over them, not clicking or interacting but just moving the mouse, after 5-10 seconds it all starts working fine again, almost gradually as some icons will start being highlighted when hovering over, some wont, but then they all start working fine. It's just as if my desktop is "slowly waking up from sleep" after moving the mouse. I can speed this process up by hitting the windows key and activating the start menu.

Definitely feels like power management so I'm not too concerned - I havent yet changed the Windows power management away from "Balanced". Is there any major negative to doing this? If what I've described above just feels like a standard slightly flakey Win11 desktop behaving "normally" due to power management then I'll just leave it as it is, unless the symptoms above make anyone concerned that something more serious is actually wrong in some way.

Mostly just wanted to make sure that this behaviour wasnt indicative of some incoming system issue!

Try3 · Feb 8, 2023

Is your mouse a USB one or have you got an emergency USB mouse hidden away somewhere?
It would be interesting to see if there's any difference in behaviour. That would point to power settings within the WiFi / BT adapter used for your normal mouse [or, for a BT mouse, its corresponding entry within Device manager, Bluetooth].

Ultragravy said:
Definitely feels like power management so I'm not too concerned ...
Mostly just wanted to make sure that this behaviour wasnt indicative of some incoming system issue

Since it's not a corrupt display driver, I'd agree with you that it seems like a power mgmt issue.
I cannot see anything in your descriptions to indicate that it is a progressive problem or a system problem.

All the best,
Denis

BrianInEngland · Feb 8, 2023

Ultragravy said:
Hi all - just an update. I've reinstalled my Nvidia drivers and set graphics card power management to Max Performance.

The system still does as I described but I did a little more testing - it seems clicking on the taskbar/icon isnt actually needed, it's more a "time" thing. When I return to the PC after leaving it idle for a while, hovering the mouse over desktop icons doesnt highlight them or allow clicking, but if I just move the mouse around, hover over them, not clicking or interacting but just moving the mouse, after 5-10 seconds it all starts working fine again, almost gradually as some icons will start being highlighted when hovering over, some wont, but then they all start working fine. It's just as if my desktop is "slowly waking up from sleep" after moving the mouse. I can speed this process up by hitting the windows key and activating the start menu.

Definitely feels like power management so I'm not too concerned - I havent yet changed the Windows power management away from "Balanced". Is there any major negative to doing this? If what I've described above just feels like a standard slightly flakey Win11 desktop behaving "normally" due to power management then I'll just leave it as it is, unless the symptoms above make anyone concerned that something more serious is actually wrong in some way.

Mostly just wanted to make sure that this behaviour wasnt indicative of some incoming system issue!

Exactly the same problem here

spapakons · Feb 8, 2023

Maybe a process running in the background (such as Windows Update or Google Updater) delays the system from waking up. It could also be some malware keeping the system busy. I would check with Superantispyware and remove all findings.

wa1fhy · Feb 8, 2023

I am experiencing the exact same thing on my Dell Inspiron (3511) laptop, virtually word-for-word with the descriptions given above. I've tried everything suggested as well as a few more power related settings. This all started right after a couple of Windows 11 updates on Jan 25 and 27. I also saw an update preview for the .NET Framework, but I tried uninstalling that to recover the previous version - no effect. Hopefully someone (?) can get word to Microsoft.

BrianInEngland · Feb 8, 2023

I find it happens even after unlocking the PC, got two here doing the same thing

Ultragravy · Feb 8, 2023

wa1fhy said:
This all started right after a couple of Windows 11 updates on Jan 25 and 27.

That would make sense as about a week ago was the first time I noticed it, but as it's such a minor/infrequent thing I just figured I might have not noticed it happening. In hindsight I'm sure I would have done, so an update around the end of january that caused it would make sense for me too.

robertbezak · Feb 8, 2023

After last big update from Microsoft, I am fighting with this about a week(I have tried everything possible and impossible, 3 set of keyboard and mice, all possible settings, nothing worked), today I tried program "caffeine", which will keep the computer awake...it simulates keyboard. Now the icons are not freezing and I can wait Microsoft to repair it. By the way, it always took exactly 20 minutes of doing nothing on the computer for the icons to freeze...

spapakons · Feb 9, 2023

Go to Control Panel, Power Settings and click to change settings for this plan. Go carefully through all the settings and disable any timers (never sleep, never stop hard disk, maximum performance etc). This might fix it.

robertbezak · Feb 9, 2023

spapakons said:
Go to Control Panel, Power Settings and click to change settings for this plan. Go carefully through all the settings and disable any timers (never sleep, never stop hard disk, maximum performance etc). This might fix it.

Nothing of this helped. I have tried everything, including what you wrote. Tried new bios, latest drivers of graphics cards, usb drivers, and it has nothing to do with the graphics card, because it did the problem also with internal graphics card, I also tried dedicated graphics card. I tried to disable all timers, all cost savings measures including USB and other devices in device settings, I tried wireless mouse and keyboard, then wired mouse and keyboard, different desktop settings...and nothing helped. I am struggling with this already about week(30+ hours of work). It is some kind of windows error, which came with the last windows update, and it is not possible repair with some settings....I am 100% sure. The only thing, which helped for now, is any keyboard or mouse activity simulator. For me helped small program I found, called Caffeine from Zhorn sofware, but I had many others simulators prepared to try. I had to add it to startup manually.

Try3 · Feb 9, 2023

robertbezak said:
For me helped small program I found, called Caffeine from Zhorn sofware

I thought Caffeine just kept your display on.
Couldn't you achieve that by setting your display to stay on in Power settings?

I thought this had been checked above but must be getting mixed up between threads.
Is your computer an S3 Sleep one or an S0 Modern standby [aka S0 Low power idle] one?
Find out by running this command
PowerCfg -a

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