Solved Can't find "show desktop" tile on Metro start screen

[freelancer91]

A bunch of pre-installed apps are missing on CP

I upgraded to the CP a few days ago and just noticed a huge problem. The "Show Desktop" tile that is normally on the start screen be default has gone missing. I can't figure out how I got rid of it in the first place, but is there some way to add it back?

EDIT: I have changed the title to more accurately reflect the problem. A bunch of the features that come with Windows 8 CP (the tablet friendly Settings page, Remote Desktop, the show desktop tile, The Windows Store, etc) all vanished shortly after I installed Windows 8. I tried reinstalling and the same thing happened again. If anyone else is having this issue, let me know.

 

[HPDeskjet]

Go to the start screen and just type Desktop. The first screen shown below should appear with the Desktop listed. Right click on the desktop icon and re-pin it to your start screen using the option at the bottom of the screen. Below it shows only 'unpin' as I have not deleted the desktop icon from my own Start page.

 

[Brink]

Hello Freelancer,

You might check using OPTION TWO in the tutorial below to see if Desktop may be listed in the Apps screen to then be able to pin it back to the Start screen.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2352-apps-pin-unpin-metro-start-screen-windows-8-a.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[freelancer91]

Desktop is not a listed app in the start screen. I also just noticed that the Windows store has gone missing and I can't find that in the list of apps either...

 

[HPDeskjet]

Have you tried just typing the word whilst in the Start screen? You don't have to fill in any box with the word. Just type Desktop and see if it appears.

 

[freelancer91]

That was the first thing I tried. Typing "Desktop" returns no results in the apps or settings category. Typing "Store" also shows nothing. Here is a screenshot of the entire list of apps on my start screen

 

[HPDeskjet]

You may have to de a system 'Refresh' to get them back. Be careful though because a system 'Refresh' is different to a system 'Reset'.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2293-refresh-windows-8-a.html

 

[Brink]

Just as a test for a theory, uninstall Google Chrome, and make IE the default web browser to see if those apps return after restarting the computer.

For now, you could use the "Show Desktop" shortcut in the tutorial below as a workaround to add to the "Apps" screen, and then pin to the "Start" screen using the same OPTION TWO in the tutorial I posted above.

Show Desktop Icon on Taskbar - Windows 7 Forums

 

[HPDeskjet]

If you do decide to do a 'Refresh' I would very much advise you to read this tutorial first http://www.eightforums.com/general-discussion/4462-using-refresh-win8-option-quick-tutorial.html

 

[freelancer91]

I tried uninstalling Google Chrome. Still no change. Then I tried uninstalling all of the apps that I had installed in the past 2 days. Nothing. I did notice that Windows installed updates yesterday. Perhaps those broke my system.

I also noticed that when I try to start the refresh PC app in the start screen, it doesn't do anything. Same with reset and pretty much any other apps with an icon that shows a white gear in front of a blue background. I'm going to try resetting from the start up screen where I select my boot OS...

 

[HPDeskjet]

Unfortunately, it's beginning to look like a clean install for you then.

 

[whs]

Can you get to the desktop with Win+D.

 

[freelancer91]

@whs that is true, but this has become a much greater problem. Entire sections of my preinstalled app library have vanished. This includes all of the features found in the tablet friendly version of the control panel, the show desktop app, windows store, remote desktop, and more. I mamaged to get to refresh pc by going into the boot options. once it was done i had all of those apps back. However, as I was typing this, i checked again and they were all gone again. i unnstalled the 5 or so apps that I had managed to install since refreshing and I still couldnt get it back. I i type this on my tablet, i am running the same exe I used to upgrade to CP in hopes that a fresh install will fix this....

 

[whs]

This is strange indeed. But I would say you are lucky. I had to delete all that stuff manually. I wish a magic wand would delete all that garbage.

 

[freelancer91]

OK, I reinstalled Windows 8 CP and will let you guys know if it happens again....

 

[freelancer91]

AARRRGHH! It happened again. At some point, I lost all of those apps I mentioned again. This is really starting to piddle me off...

 

[freelancer91]

Is anyone else having this issue? This is seriously crippling the OS. I need some of those pre-installed apps!

 

[Brink]

Where you able to use this for now?

http://www.eightforums.com/general-...esktop-tile-metro-start-screen.html#post69072


In addition, you might see if you may be able to do the same thing in the thread below to restore the default app.

http://www.eightforums.com/installation-setup/4260-managed-delete-desktop-app-metro-interface.html

 

[freelancer91]

Running sfc /scannow worked. Interesting. I have to wonder what could have caused the files to become corrupt. Now that I know how to fix it painlessly, I should be able to pin-point what caused it if it happens again....

 

[Brink]

That's great news. Thank you for posting back with your results.