Start Screen in Windows
8 is one of the most impressive things (for some people) and
at the same time one of the most irritating things (for many people) present in
the OS. Start Screen works like a replacement for the good old Start Menu. It
shows big tiles of programs in form of a grid. You can add new tiles or remove
existing tiles to customize Start Screen appearance. You can check out following
tutorial to learn more about Windows 8 Start Screen if you are not familiar with
it:
[Windows
8 Start Screen] How to Pin, Resize, Move, Close or Uninstall App
Tiles?
Windows 8 also shows all program shortcuts in a new "All
Apps" page which is actually a part of the new Start Screen. If you
removed a shortcut accidentally or if you want to restore a removed shortcut,
you can go to this "All Apps" page and can pin or add the shortcut again to
Start Screen as mentioned in point 2 of this
guide.
But sometimes Windows 8 users face a strange problem. Actually Windows 8
Start Screen shows a rectangle tile of Desktop which allows you
to switch to Desktop from Start Screen. Due to some unknown reasons, sometimes
Desktop tile gets deleted from Windows 8 Start Screen.
If the user tries to add it using All Apps page by pressing Ctrl+Tab keys, it
doesn't show in the list as shown in following screenshot:
It becomes quite irritating and there is no way to add the Desktop tile back
to Start Screen. The reason behind this strange problem is unknown but I have
seen this problem in a few computers. In fact I have received few emails from
AskVG readers regarding this annoying problem. It might be possible that some
3rd party software removed the tile or may be temporary files cleaning software
such as CCleaner
removed the shortcut? But the real reason is still unknown. Anyway lets move to
the solution of this problem!
Actually Desktop tile shown at Start Screen is a special type of shortcut
which is present in "Programs" folder and if the shortcut gets
deleted from the folder, it also disappears from Start Screen and you'll not
find it in "All Apps" page as well.
To restore Desktop tile at Start Screen, you just need to copy Desktop
shortcut in "Programs" folder again and it'll reappear at Start Screen.
If you are also facing Desktop tile missing in Windows 8 Start Screen
problem, you can follow these simple steps to fix the problem:
1. Press "Win+R" keys together to open RUN
dialog box. Now copy following string in text box and press Enter:
%programdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
It'll open "Programs" folder containing various shortcuts which are shown at
Start Screen or "All Apps" page.
2. Now download Desktop tile shortcut using following
link:
Download
Desktop Tile for Windows 8 Start Screen
Its a ZIP file, extract it and you'll find a file "Desktop"
in the extracted folder.
3. Copy "Desktop" file from the extracted folder and paste
it in the "Programs" folder which you opened using step 1.
4. That's it. As soon as you copy the shortcut, Desktop tile
will be re-added automatically to Start Screen. If you still don't see the tile,
you can re-pin it using "All Apps" page. Now it'll appear on that page.
