Desktop Icon size

How to Change the Size of Desktop Icons in Vista​


information   Information
This will show you how to increase or decrease the size of all the icons on the Desktop in Vista. The icons size is set to Medium Icons by default.
Note   Note
To see the icons for internet URL shortcuts on the Desktop instead of the default e icon, you must have the View set to Classic Icons. For more on this, see: How to Add a Fully Functional IE7 Shortcut Icon to the Desktop in Vista





OPTION ONE
To Change Size with the Context Menu

1. Right click on a empty space on the desktop.​
​
2. Click on View. (See screenshot below)​
​
3. Select the size you want. (Classic, Medium, or Large Icons)​
Right_Click.jpg​
​







OPTION TWO
To Change Size with the Mouse Scroll Wheel

NOTE: This will also work on all icons in Windows Explorer.
1. Highlight the Icon.​
​
2. Press and hold down the CTRL key (Control).​
NOTE: You may need to also press and hold the right mouse button with some older mouse models.​
​
3. Roll your mouse scroll wheel up or down to adjust the icon size​
NOTE: The trick is not moving the mouse while rolling the scroll wheel. (up=larger, down=smaller)​
​
4. Release the CTRL key when done.​
​
That's it,
Shawn



Related Tutorials

 

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Last edited:
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Hi Shawn,

I only need to hold down ctrl and scroll the mouse button - don't need to right click as well.

Think you only need to use right click as well if it doesn't work with just the ctrl key and scroll wheel.

I think this is true of most modern mice. ( The ones with clickable scroll wheels - in fact right clicking might stop you being able to do it if you have one of these). Seems it's the older ones where you also need to right click.

SIW2
 
Last edited:

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Thank your SIW2. The tutorial has been updated for this.

Shawn
 

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    512 GB M.2 SSD
Hello Elito, and welcome to Vista Forums.

It should stay set the way you set it by default unless you change it.

I'm not sure what may be causing this (bad video drivers?), but you can use the free program Iconoid to help maintain your desktop icon positions. You might also run a sfc/ scannow command to see if it can find and fix any bad system files that may be responsible.

Hope this helps,
Shawn
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2, 4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2, 8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system, Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam, HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn, APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI, Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
I am having trouble maintaining my icon size. When I try to get them to classic size, my icons immediately swell back to the large size. Neither method below makes my icons stay small.

What is happening?

Thanks,
Grams21
 

My Computer

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Hello Grams21, and welcome to Vista Forums.

At what point do they revert back to the large size? (ex: after playing a game, etc....)
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2, 4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2, 8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system, Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam, HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn, APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI, Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
It has happened most often after I have used the Skype video conferencing program. This never happened until I began to use Skype.

Additionally I am using my laptop with an external monitor attached.

Now everything is ok, but it has happened too many times. Everything is very very large!! It corrects by itself after I continuously click on the classic size. Sometimes it takes several hours to get my icons and all other programs back to a normal view.
 

My Computer

System One

With it being very large, it sounds like the DPI setting or screen resolution may be being lowered after using those items.

You might see if the free program Iconoid can help maintain your settings easier until you can get the issues with Skype worked out.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2, 4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2, 8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system, Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam, HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn, APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI, Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
Thank you.

The DPI settings and the resolution are at the settings as recommended. They did not change.

From reading other posts, this seems like a problem that others have had also. There must be some setting, somewhere that causes this. When I try to change the view settings after right clicking on the desktop, the radio button never moves from "large".

I have download the program you suggested. I will let you know what happened.
 

My Computer

System One

I hope that it can help.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2, 4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2, 8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system, Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam, HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn, APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI, Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
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