Desktop Tile Missing from Windows 8 Start Screen, Can’t Add from All Apps Page

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.

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.

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, 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.

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.

Have you faced this problem in Windows 8? Feel free to share your experience about Windows 8 in your comment...

Credits:www.askvg.com