Restore the Show Desktop icon in your Quick Launch toolbar

After a number of customers called me having the same issue, I'm sharing the solution here. They all deleted the "Show Desktop" icon in their Quick Launch toolbar. Without further ado, here is how to restore/recreate the Show Desktop icon to your Quick Launch toolbar in Microsoft Windows XP.

• Open Notepad


• Paste the following text in a new document

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



• Go to "Save As"


• The filename should be ShowDesktop.scf and the file type should be "all types" (be sure the file is not called ShowDesktop.scf.txt). Save it in a place where the file won't get deleted on accident, but where you can still find it if you need it again. Click "Save"


• Drag and drop the file you just created to the Quick Launch toolbar.

Note: You can change the name from "Shortcut to Show Desktop" to "Show Desktop" by right-clicking on the icon and choosing "Properties."