{"id":855,"date":"2009-02-10T11:46:08","date_gmt":"2009-02-10T11:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=855"},"modified":"2021-05-31T14:28:53","modified_gmt":"2021-05-31T08:58:53","slug":"prevent-themes-from-changing-desktop-icons-windows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/prevent-themes-from-changing-desktop-icons-windows\/","title":{"rendered":"Prevent Themes from Changing Desktop Icons and Mouse Cursors"},"content":{"rendered":"

A theme<\/a> file can contain references to custom Visual Styles, namespace icons, mouse pointers, window metrics, colors and other visual elements. If you wish to preserve the existing icons for the namespace items such as Computer, Documents, Recycle Bin, Network etc, you can change a setting so that applying a custom theme does not affect the existing desktop icons and mouse cursors.<\/p>\n

Lock down the desktop icons during theme change<\/h2>\n

Right-click on the Desktop and choose Personalize<\/p>\n

Click the Change desktop icons<\/b> link in the left pane<\/p>\n

Note: Alternately, you can use the following command to launch this dialog, which works in Windows 7 through Windows 10.<\/p>\n

control desk.cpl,,0<\/pre>\n
Uncheck the following option and click OK<\/p>\n
Allow themes to change desktop icons<\/h4>\n
<\/p>\n
Lock down the mouse pointers during theme change<\/h2>\n
Right-click on the Desktop and choose Personalize<\/p>\n
Click the Change mouse pointers<\/b> link in the left pane<\/p>\n
Uncheck the following option and click OK<\/p>\n
Allow themes to change mouse pointers<\/h4>\n
<\/p>\n
The above settings apply to all versions of Windows, including Windows 10.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A theme file can contain references to custom Visual Styles, namespace icons, mouse pointers, window metrics, colors and other visual elements. If you wish to preserve the existing icons for the namespace items such as Computer, Documents, Recycle Bin, Network etc, you can change a setting so that applying a custom theme does not affect … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[593],"class_list":["post-855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-windows","tag-themes"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1075,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/fix-recycle-bin-icon-not-refresh-custom-icons-windows-7\/","url_meta":{"origin":855,"position":0},"title":"[Fix] Recycle Bin Icon Does Not Refresh Correctly","author":"Ramesh","date":"August 29, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"When you use a custom icon (.ico) file to customize the Recycle Bin Empty & Full icons manually or via a desktop theme, the Recycle Bin icon may not update or refresh correctly when emptying the Recycle Bin or when you add items to it. In some cases, the issue\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows"","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"recycle bin does not refresh","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/w7-rbin-custicon-3.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24029,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/desktop-icons-spacing-messed-up-fix\/","url_meta":{"origin":855,"position":1},"title":"[Fix] Desktop Icons Spacing is Messed Up in Windows","author":"Ramesh","date":"May 11, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Occasionally, your desktop icons may be spaced out too far or very close to each other in Windows. The desktop icon spacing may sometimes be messed up after installing a video driver update. In some cases, the vertical spacing may be fine, but the horizontal spacing may be messed up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows"","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"desktop icon spacing incorrect","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/desktop-icons-widely-spaced.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/desktop-icons-widely-spaced.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/desktop-icons-widely-spaced.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":762,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/explore-desktop-context-menu-vista\/","url_meta":{"origin":855,"position":2},"title":"How to Add “Explore” to the Desktop Context Menu in Windows","author":"Ramesh","date":"November 3, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This post shows how to add \"Explore\" to the desktop right-click menu. This tip is especially for users who hide the desktop icons for a plain desktop but want to quickly access the Desktop folder when required, without toggling the Show Desktop Icons option in the context menu. Add \"Explore\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows"","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/archived\/desktop-expl.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1123,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/unsaved-theme-shown-listing-windows-7-vista\/","url_meta":{"origin":855,"position":3},"title":"What Causes “Unsaved Theme” to Appear in Personalization window?","author":"Ramesh","date":"March 9, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"A desktop theme contains various settings such as cursors, icons, wallpaper, screensaver, and other UI settings. It's obvious that when one of those theme parameters is changed, Windows saves the customized setting in a separate theme file named Custom.theme, which is displayed in the Personalization window as \"Unsaved Theme\". RELATED:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows 7"","block_context":{"text":"Windows 7","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-7\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Unsaved Theme Appears in Personalization window","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/archived\/unsavedthm-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/archived\/unsavedthm-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/archived\/unsavedthm-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3607,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/undo-desktop-icons-auto-arrange-restart-explorer-exe\/","url_meta":{"origin":855,"position":4},"title":"How to Undo Desktop Icons Auto Arrange? [Quick Tip]","author":"Ramesh","date":"July 26, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"If you've accidentally reset your custom desktop icons layout by enabling Auto-arrange or by hitting a wrong key sequence, here is a neat trick to revert back to the original position. Desktop icons layout remains in the memory until you initiate a logoff. During user account logoff or when restarting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows"","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1035,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/share-desktop-theme-common-all-users\/","url_meta":{"origin":855,"position":5},"title":"How to Install a Desktop Theme For All Users in Windows 7, 8 and Windows 10","author":"Ramesh","date":"April 21, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"A theme is a combination of desktop background pictures, Window colors, sound scheme and a screensaver. 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