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Fix: Windows 10/11 Desktop Icons are Too Wide
Use Windows settings to change the size of and customize your icons
9 min. read
Updated onJuly 23, 2024
updated onJuly 23, 2024
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Key notes
To fix various driver issues on your PC, you will need a dedicated tool to find the freshest and the original drivers. You can use PC HelpSoft Driver Updater to do it in 3 easy steps:
The first thing many users notice aboutWindows 10soon after they install it is that desktop icons are too large.
Fortunately, this issue can easily be fixed by customizing the display settings.
Before customizing the settings for the desktop and taskbar icons, make sure you’re using the rightdisplay resolution, and you’re running the latest graphics driver.
Why are my desktop icons so big?
When Windows updates itself, it can cause different miscommunications between the old settings and the new ones, as well as between drivers.
For example, your scaling settings might have been changed or misinterpreted by the system, thus, you will need to go back and reset your preferences as you would want them to be.
Icons are an integral part of the Windows interface, but some users seem to have issues with their icons. Speaking of issues, these are some of the most common problems that users encounter:
In order to quickly fix the problem of icons that are too big on your Windows 10 desktop, you need to follow the solutions and steps below, so keep reading.
What can I do if the icons are too big on my Windows 10 PC?
1. Change the icon size
This is one of the quickest solutions you’ll ever have on hand to get rid of the problem of overly large icons on your Windows 10 PC desktop, so be sure not to miss it.
We have a complete guide onhow to change icon size on Windows 10that will provide more information.
2. Update your drivers
If your Windows 10 icons are too big, the issue might be your drivers. If your graphics card drivers are out of date, you’ll be limited to a certain resolution and your icons will appear bigger.
However, you can easily fix this problem by updating your graphics card driver, and no method is much faster at doing so than with a driver updater.
Outbyte Driver Updater
3. Change your resolution
Some users have reported that by changing the resolution to the recommended one in the display settings, they got rid of the problem of too large desktop icons, so be sure to try it out now.
4. Install the missing updates
If your icons are too big, the issue might be the missing updates. Sometimes certain glitches can appear on Windows 10, and that can cause this and many other issues to appear.
However, you can easily fix most of those issues simply by installing the missing updates.
In most cases, your operating system will automatically install the missing updates, but sometimes, you can miss an update or two.
If any updates are available, Windows 10 will download them automatically in the background and install them once you restart your PC. Once your PC is up-to-date, check if the problem is resolved.
Also, if you don’t knowwhich is the latest version of your OS, you can find out from our constantly updated guide, so be sure to check it out.
5. Change the size of Taskbar icons
It also helps you a lot if you go into the taskbar settings, and choose to use small taskbar buttons. Make sure you don’t miss this simple solution!
6. Personalize the font size on the desktop
By making the correct adjustments in the Advanced display settings section, you can fix the problem with large desktop icons, so try it out now!
7. Use keyboard shortcuts
Changing the icon size is rather simple, and if your icons are too big on Windows 10, you might be able to solve this problem simply by changing their size.
To change the icon size, simply press and hold theCtrlkey and scroll with themouse wheel.
Alternatively, you can useCtrl and dash (-) keyto make your icons smaller. If you are a laptop user and you don’t have a mouse, you can simply press theCtrlkey and perform the pinching gesture on yourtouchpad.
All these methods should make your icons smaller, so feel free to try any of them.
In our experience, the simplest and the best way to change the size of your icons is to useCtrl + mouse wheel, so be sure to try this method first.
Everything you need to know about using keyboard shortcuts in Windows 10 is in ourdetailed guide, so be sure to take a closer look.
8. Rollback the older graphics driver
If your icons are too big on Windows 10, the issue might be caused by your graphics driver.
According to users, they managed to fix the problem simply by rolling back their graphics driver to the older version.
After doing that, your driver will be reverted to the older version. If the problem is resolved, it means that the driver was causing this issue.
It’s worth mentioning that Windows 10 will automatically update your drivers, so in order to prevent this issue from reappearing, you’ll need to prevent Windows from updating your graphics card driver.
To see how to do that, be sure to check our guide onhow to prevent driver updates on Windows 10.
If you don’t have the Roll Back option available, you can try installing the older driver manually. This is rather simple and you can do it by following these steps:
After doing that, the issue should be completely resolved.
If rolling back to the older driver doesn’t help, you can always uninstall your driver and use the default driver instead.
To do that, just select the Uninstall option in Device Manager and restart your PC. After doing that, your PC will install the default driver once it restarts.
9. Change your scaling settings
According to users, your Windows 10 icons can become too big due to your scaling settings. Sometimes this problem can occur due to a certain bug with Windows.
After doing that, the problem with large icons should be resolved, and everything should start working again.
This is a simple workaround, and it works great according to users, so we advise you to try it out.
What to do if Windows 11 desktop icons are too wide?
Windows 11 is similar to Windows 10 as far as settings go, and changing icon size makes no exception:
As you can see in the screenshot, you can also use hotkeys. For small icons:Ctrl+Shift+4, for larger iconsCtrl+Shift+3, and for large iconsCtrl+Shift+4.
We have written extensively in ourdetailed guide on Windows 10 resolution issue, so be sure to take a closer look.
Problems with large icons can be annoying, but we hope that you fixed them by using one of our solutions. If you have more suggestions or other questions, please access the comments section below.
More about the topics:Windows 10 desktop icons
Madalina Dinita
Networking & Security Specialist
Madalina has been a Windows fan ever since she got her hands on her first Windows XP computer.
She is interested in all things technology, especially emerging technologies – AI and DNA computing in particular.
Prior to joining the WindowsReport team, she worked in the corporate world for a number of years.
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Madalina Dinita
Networking & Security Specialist
Madalina is a Windows fan since forever, especially interested in AI, emerging technologies, privacy, and security.
Reviewed byVlad Turiceanu
Coming from a solid background in PC building and software development, he’s a Windows 11 Privacy & Security expert.More about Vlad ›
