Since a couple of days, each time I turn on my laptop my manual arrangement of the icons on the desktop is destroyed. A part of the icons is put along the left vertical edge of the screen and another part of the icons along the right vertical edge of the screen. Some of the icons thrown towards the right edge are even placed under the gadgets! Both the Auto Arrange and Align to grid are unchecked! I run Windows 7 Professional and use another display unit connected to the laptop by a cable. the other display remains connected to the laptop all the time. It was not disconnected and reconnected as the problem described occurred. I use the laptop mostly as a stationary PC. Does somebody have an idea what is going on? Thanks a lot in advance! Marcus

I suspect that the issue is caused by the video driver. Although the second display is not disconnected physically, the driver problem may refresh the display settings and the icons are arranged during this time. Can you disconnect the other display and monitor the issue? If the issue does not occur without that display, this should be a driver issue. You may download the latest video driver from the manufacturer’s website. If it does not help either, I suggest you contact the manufacturer support for more information. Arthur Xie - MSFT

Thanks for your answer! In the meantime, I found out that the cable connecting the second display to the laptop had slipped out slightly from the laptop socket and was not fastened properly. After I have pressed it in again, the problem seems to have disappeared! Do you think this could have been the reason or is that rather a coincidence? Marcus

I suspect that the issue is caused by the video driver. Although the second display is not disconnected physically, the driver problem may refresh the display settings and the icons are arranged during this time. Can you disconnect the other display and monitor the issue? If the issue does not occur without that display, this should be a driver issue. You may download the latest video driver from the manufacturer’s website. If it does not help either, I suggest you contact the manufacturer support for more information. Arthur Xie - MSFT A driver refresh should not affect the arrangement of icons on the display which are placed by explorer not the video card driver. I suspet the OP has auto arrange activated so to stop that, the OP should disable autoarrange. Vote if answered or helpful, I am running for Office (joke)! IT/Developer, Windows/Linux/Mainframe

If you read my first post once more you will see that the autoarrange was disabled: "Both the Auto Arrange and Align to grid are unchecked!" What do you think about my previous message, i.e.: "In the meantime, I found out that the cable connecting the second display to the laptop had slipped out slightly from the laptop socket and was not fastened properly. After I have pressed it in again, the problem seems to have disappeared! Do you think this could have been the reason or is that rather a coincidence?" Marcus-Maarkus

Thanks for your answer! In the meantime, I found out that the cable connecting the second display to the laptop had slipped out slightly from the laptop socket and was not fastened properly. After I have pressed it in again, the problem seems to have disappeared! Do you think this could have been the reason or is that rather a coincidence? Marcus That may be the reason. Let’s monitor the issue for several days. Arthur Xie - MSFT