My desktop icons are disordered

Post any technical problems or questions you have while using or configuring Dexpot.
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mosquitocreek
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Joined: 08.05.2017 02:16:53

Explorer favorite and explorerpinned unavailable -2,3,4

Postby mosquitocreek » 08.05.2017 02:50:52

my 'explorer favorites' are not available in desktops 2, 3, 4

-'explorer pinned' not available from taskbar

-dialog box

"the item you selected is unavailable. it might have been moved, renamed, or removed.
do you want to remove it from the list"
yes no

the path is different in the other desktops

how to fix this ?

i have myweschel patch installed

also, i don't see "new topic" button ?

mosquitocreek
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Joined: 08.05.2017 02:16:53

Re: My desktop icons are disordered

Postby mosquitocreek » 10.05.2017 04:09:16

problem is with starred favorites for file explorer

if i drill down into users > me > desktop > folders

then i can drag file explorer to other my desktops without getting "not available" error


apparently this forum is not very active

dont see where to post "new" topic ..

many of the topics seem to be for Dex esoterica and not posts for general usage within Windows for beginner dex user

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Sebastian
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Re: My desktop icons are disordered

Postby Sebastian » 12.05.2017 10:20:26

:dex:,

favorites might not work on all desktops with icon customization enabled since the path is switched.
Best regards (wave)
Sebastian Brands, Dexpot GbR

mosquitocreek
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Re: My desktop icons are disordered

Postby mosquitocreek » 12.05.2017 14:53:11

thank you for the response.
--the path is changed to pinned and favorites, so dex can't follow broken path

seems obvious now but took newbie a minute to figure..
______________________

apologies for stepping on this topic, where is button for new topic ?

VirtuaMan
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Re: My desktop icons are disordered

Postby VirtuaMan » 17.05.2017 13:00:16

I still do not know where Dexpot stores the positions of the icons ... ...

Noesis
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Joined: 07.05.2013 15:26:48

Re: My desktop icons are disordered

Postby Noesis » 18.05.2017 07:25:28

Icon positions are stored in a couple of places that I know of. Which takes precedent of the other I have no Idea, but go into:
c:\users\<user>\Appdata\Roaming\Dexpot folder. There is a <user>.dxi file which has Icon info in it and there should be profiles subdir, which will contain <profile>.dxp files and these also have icon info along with other info. Both dxi & dxp files can be viewed in a text editor.

Note, I'm using <user> and <profile> as placeholders for the actual user name / profile name being used. Again I've never altered these files and I have no Idea what happens if you do alter them, i.e. standard I'm not responsible for any damage you may cause statement. Also this info may or may not be in the registry as well, I have no Idea as I've never looked for it there.

VirtuaMan
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Re: My desktop icons are disordered

Postby VirtuaMan » 20.05.2017 07:34:34

And what does Sebastian say about it?

zwgiqqnc

Re: My desktop icons are disordered

Postby zwgiqqnc » 21.05.2017 01:41:42

Hey folks. And yes - the 'ol disorganised icons drove me nuts for years too! Luckily I have found a/the solution [tested] and it has worked like a dream for me [and hopefully you too]. It's not my solution, but another person's from another dexpot forum. I have copied and pasted the solution here -
(P.S. This solution fixes all disorganised icon problems with dexpot, not just the moved to the left icon problems in Dexpot ; )
Re: Icon Layout Messed Up
Postby Patrick » 02.01.2014 19:36:16
Dexpot doesn't move your icons to the left, Windows does.
When Dexpot starts at Windows login, you can probably prevent it by going to "Settings > General" and setting the "Initial desktop" to "Last active desktop". This way, the location of the desktop folder doesn't have to be changed when you start Dexpot.
If the problems occurs at a different time (not sure why it would) you can restore the icon layout with the "Reload icons from profile" hotkey (Settings > Controls > Hotkeys > Miscellaneous).
So........................................................................................it was just a menu selection problem, no bat file required. Hope this helps <3 to U

VirtuaMan
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Re: My desktop icons are disordered

Postby VirtuaMan » 30.05.2017 22:26:58

This is a great step forward! Is it not, Sebastian?
I discovered something, too.
I ran Dependency Walker on Dexpot.exe and discovered two error messages.
One referred to a missing file IEShims.dll that I found in C:\Windows\winsxs\...
and then copied to the Dexpot folder, after which that error message was gone when I after restart ran the Walker again.

The other error message reads:
"Warning: At least one module has an unresolved import due to a missing export function in a delay-load dependent module."
I have no idea what it refers to.

Now we would also like to automatize what happens when hitting that hotkey, so that it is done when Dexpot starts.
Is there a corresponding command that can be used in a batch file, Sebastian?

VirtuaMan
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Re: My desktop icons are disordered

Postby VirtuaMan » 04.06.2017 09:51:19

Apparently a batch file cannot generate a keystroke.
But a vbs file can!
Try this:
Set objShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
objShell.SendKeys "%{F11}"

I have set that key in Dexpot to ALT+F11
The vbs is now set to autostart with 10 seconds delay and I will then see how that works.

VirtuaMan
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Re: My desktop icons are disordered

Postby VirtuaMan » 04.06.2017 10:23:55

Well, 10s delay was not enough, since it varies when Dexpot starts with Windows.
I have now set Dexpot to start first of all startup programs and the delay for the vbs file to 20s.
Maybe I can then reduce that delay to 10s again.

Searching the Internet I find that many have a problem with the behavior that Windows 7 and up shift all icons to the left at startup.
Various solutions have apparently been tried but few work.

VirtuaMan
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Re: My desktop icons are disordered

Postby VirtuaMan » 05.06.2017 18:10:25

It works!!

VirtuaMan
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Re: My desktop icons are disordered

Postby VirtuaMan » 15.06.2017 15:32:36

Yes it works for quite a while.
Until something happens.
I have two Backups, Backup 1 and Backup 2 that should be identical.
Then it may happen that they are not!
Suddenly one of them is messed up a bit. In at least one of my four windows.
How can that be? How can the backup be disordered?
Then I am glad to have the other one to replace the messed one with...

I wonder why the developers do not more take part in this discussion ...

VirtuaMan
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Re: My desktop icons are disordered

Postby VirtuaMan » 16.06.2017 11:10:42

The so far best solution.
If I set an application to start with a delay, the actual start also depends on other factors in the autostart lien of programs, waiting for each other.
Therefore, to secure a constant delay between Dexpot and the keystroke script, I now have this as an autostarting batch file:

"C:\_UTILITIES\Dexpot\dexpot.exe"
TIMEOUT /T 10
"C:\KeyAlt-F11.vbs"
TIMEOUT /T 10
"C:\KeyAlt-F11.vbs"
CLS
EXIT /

The keystroke script (see earlier post above) is run twice to make sure.

I wonder when the developers will comment on this... They should know best!

VirtuaMan
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Re: My desktop icons are disordered

Postby VirtuaMan » 25.06.2017 15:10:13

I cannot help but comment on the remarkable non-participation of the developers...
Could it be that they did not develop this themselves, but bought it and now they do not know what to do?
Or at least they do not know about how Windows 7 (and up) handles icons - apparently differently from Windows XP.

alemax
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Joined: 23.11.2017 10:42:50

Re: My desktop icons are disordered

Postby alemax » 23.11.2017 11:25:52

Hello,

In windows 10 (64 Pro) I had the "icons disordered" problem from time to time (but never when starting windows ) when I switched back to the first desktop.
Since the W10 update to version 1703 (15063.726) it occurs each time.
So with the help of this forum I have found a solution which works fine for me, here after enclosed between
"=" character

==================================================
:: Rbureau1.Cmd command file
::
:: This file must be placed in the execution directory
:: from ReIcon / ReIcon_x64
:: Before execution, it is necessary to have executed ReIcon
:: to create a backup of each of the desktops that we
:: want to be able to restore
::
::

@echo off
setlocal
rem wait 1 to 3s until W10 has refreshed the screen

TIMEOUT / T 2

rem Next line to modify according to ReIcon and its backup
rem / File backup_Icons_file
rem / id ID of the backup line of the desktop you want to restore

ReIcon_x64.exe / R / File IconLayouts.ini / ID xxx

exit
endlocal


:: ******** Automated use with dexpot *****

:: 'ReloadIcon.cmd' command file must be placed in ReIcon's runtime directory
:: Change the name of the .cmd and the / min if necessary

@echo off
setlocal
start / min Rbureau1.cmd
endlocal
exit


::
In AUTOMATED use with Dexpot, you need to configure :
Dexpot-> Configure desktops then choose
the first desktop in the list -> Start-up
Command: C:\Directory ReIcon\ReloadIcon.cmd
Event: Every entry Close: Never
::

============================================================

It should also correct the icon errors at windows start
I hope it can help
regards
alemax

VirtuaMan
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Re: My desktop icons are disordered

Postby VirtuaMan » 29.11.2017 09:57:31

I have a vbs script as follows:
Set objShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
objShell.SendKeys "%{F11}"
and I call it KeyAlt-F11.vbs.

In Dexpot > Settings > Controls > Miscellaneous > Restore icons from profile I have chosen the key combination Alt and F11. The vbs script does the same as hitting these two keys.

Then in each and every Dexpot window I in a corner have an icon that runs KeyAlt-F11.vbs when double clicked. If the icons are not properly ordered when I open one of the Dexpot windows, I just double-click that icon. Then they normally order up as they should.

But if they still do not, it is because the backup has become messed up. I have two backups: Backup 1 and Backup 2. If still messed up, I load the other one and then it is almost always OK. Then I store it to replace the backup that has become disordered.

So here is a question: Why does it sometimes happen that a backup is disordered after starting Win-dows? That should not happen! It should be as it was stored in the previous Windows session. If only I knew where Dexpot stores the locations of the icons, I could probably have a master backup and at the start of Windows copy its content to the backup folder for Dexpot in …App Data > Roaming > Dexpot > profile. - But maybe I can just copy the ordered backup in the latter folder to a safe place and recopy (overwriting) at start? I will explore that idea… maybe that is where the locations are stored – but how can they then sometimes change when restarting Windows? And it seems that, when they do, it is usually in the backup that is set as a chosen profile.

It is obvious that Windows XP and Windows 7 (and higher) handle the desktop icons differently, and it seems that the Dexpot developers don’t know how Windows 7 (etc.) does it. If they did, they would probably have adapted Dexpot accordingly in a Windows-7-version…

As another little trick I use the program Desktop OK (in a portable version) and let it run in autostart. Then the Dexpot window 1 is loaded at startup, as it is stored by Desktop OK from the last session. Dexpot usually starts a bit later and is not yet running in this moment. When it starts, it just “over-writes” window 1 and then loads all the other Dexpot windows also. So there will not be a “primary mess of icons” immediately after starting Windows – until Dexpot is also running.


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