# [SOLVED] Unable to right-click on desktop



## Quackenbush (Apr 6, 2011)

Hello everyone ^^ I'm unsure of what caused it but all of a sudden, I'm unable to right-click my desktop and all the icons that were on there are now gone (Or at least appear that way/they've not displayed). I've looked online and found a Site that seemed to know my problem and a way to fix it (Cannot Right Click Desktop or in Windows Explorer | Misc | Technize - Be Techdated) however, after following both steps, I'm still experiencing the same issue. I then looked further and found this on cnet: Why Can't I right click my Desktop Icons??????????????? - CNET Windows XP Forums

However, I tried to download the file and given a nice 404 from the site (After paying), so I'm waiting for a reply from the site on that issue.

Is there anyone else out there that may have a few other ideas that may help? Keep in mind: System Restore is currently disabled and has been since installing this OS so doing a system restore isn't an option. That would be way too easy lol


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## TheGift73 (Oct 17, 2006)

*Re: Unable to right-click on desktop*

Hi Quackenbush and welcome to TSF.

Can you go to the Control Panel and to your Mouse settings. Go to the 'Buttons' tab. Put a check in the 'Switch primary and secondary functions' box and hit Apply. The go back and uncheck the same box and hit Apply again and OK. See if that helps? (was it ticked in the first place?)

Also, is your taskbar still there?

CTRL+ALT+DEL and check to see if there is a process running called explorer.exe (there should be)


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## Quackenbush (Apr 6, 2011)

*Re: Unable to right-click on desktop*

Thanks for the help, I decided to just go ahead and install a fresh version of Windows. All is good now.


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## TheGift73 (Oct 17, 2006)

*Re: Unable to right-click on desktop*

OK, no problem. Glad you are back up and running.

Can you mark this as Solved at the top. Thread Tools>Mark this thread as solved


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