ghacks Technology News

Recreate the Show Desktop shortcut

The Show Desktop shortcut in the quick launch bar minimizes all open windows upon pressing the button. If you accidentally deleted that shortcut from the quick launch bar you might face a hard time getting it back there because there is no obvious way to create a Show Desktop shortcut.

Pressing Windows M might be an alternative although it does not minimize all open windows. It was for instance not able to minimize XMPlay, my music player. Fortunately it is not complicated to recreate the Show Desktop shortcut.

Create a new text document and add the following lines of code to it:

[Shell]
Command=2
IconFile=explorer.exe,3
[Taskbar]
Command=ToggleDesktop

Save it as “Show Desktop.scf”. Double-click the file to check if it is indeed minimizing all windows. You should at least have one window open to see the effect.

Right-click your task bar and uncheck the Lock The Taskbar entry. Now drag and drop the Show Desktop.scf file to your quick launch bar. Once that is done right-click the task bar again and lock the taskbar again.

Enjoyed the article?: Then sign-up for our free newsletter or RSS feed to kick off your day with the latest technology news and tips, or share the article with your friends and contacts on Facebook or Twitter.

Related Articles:

Some Windows Taskbar Tweaks
Create A Windows Search Shortcut
How To Enable Quick Launch In Windows 7
How to Create a Hotkey or Shortcut to Eject a USB Drive
Sort Your Desktop Toolbar By Name



About the Author:Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand. You can follow Martin on Facebook or Twitter.

Author: , Friday November 2, 2007 -
Tags:, ,


Responses so far:

  1. Roman ShaRP says:

    Since I learned “Win + D” keyboard shortcut {defauld Windows shortcut}, I never need any click for showing desktop anymore.

  2. Martin says:

    Roman that was the shortcut that I was looking for. Great, I always used Windows + M to minimize Windows.

  3. Tobey says:

    Hehe, I’ve been using Win+D too, never actually needed Desktop Shrotcut thanks to this hotkey.

  4. victor says:

    Thanks buddy i ve been searching this since i have deleted it from my System..but the icon is not matching as before..i am using vista..

  5. marc says:

    worked great thanks

  6. Funfrok says:

    Sometimes clicking an icon is easier than a keyboard shortcut. Thanks.

  7. Anna says:

    Especially if you have a tablet PC.

    Doesn’t this leave a shortcut floating around that you can’t now get rid of?

  8. jessie says:

    U ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!this is best answer .i followed steps and i was able to get my desktop shortcut

Leave a Reply   Follow Ghacks   Subscribe To Comment Rss

Subscribe without commenting

© 2005-2012 Ghacks.net. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy - About Us