How to Show This PC (My Computer) on the Desktop in Windows 11

Want the old My Computer icon back on your Windows 11 desktop? In Settings, open Personalization, then Themes, and click Desktop icon settings; tick the This PC box (it may be labeled Computer) and select OK. Before you do, it’s worth asking what you actually want from it: a desktop icon to double-click, a File Explorer that opens straight to your drives, or a one-click taskbar button. Each goal has a slightly different best route.

Pick the route that fits

This PC is Windows 11’s name for what older versions called My Computer or Computer: the view of your drives and connected devices. There are several ways to keep it close, and they aren’t mutually exclusive.

What you want	Best route	Trade-off
Double-click an icon on the desktop	Turn on the This PC desktop icon	Hidden whenever desktop icons are hidden or covered by windows
Press a key and see your drives	Set File Explorer to open to This PC, then use Windows + E	You lose the Home view as your starting page
One click from the taskbar	Same setting, with File Explorer pinned to the taskbar	Changes what every File Explorer window opens to
Find it now, no changes	Windows + E, then This PC in the left pane	One extra click every time

If you’re used to My Computer, the first two routes work well together: the icon for habit, the File Explorer setting for speed.

Turn on the This PC desktop icon

Microsoft notes in its page on how to customize the desktop icons in Windows that by default only the Recycle Bin sits on the desktop. This PC is one of four system icons you can add.

1. Right-click an empty area of the desktop and choose Personalize, or press Windows + I and select Personalization.
2. Select Themes.
3. Scroll down and select Desktop icon settings (on most PCs it sits under Related settings). A small separate window opens.
4. Tick the box for This PC. Microsoft’s page calls it This PC; in the dialog itself the box may read Computer.
5. Optionally tick the other system icons in the same box: User’s Files (a shortcut to your personal folders), Network and Recycle Bin.
6. Select Apply, then OK. The This PC icon appears on the desktop, usually near the top-left.

While the dialog is open, look at Allow themes to change desktop icons at the bottom. It’s on by default, which lets a new theme swap the pictures used for This PC, User’s Files, Network and Recycle Bin. If you later give This PC a custom picture, clear this box so a theme change doesn’t replace it.

This is the system icon itself rather than a shortcut. If you’d rather drag ordinary shortcuts onto the desktop, the options to make shortcuts on Windows 11 and to add an app to the desktop in Windows 11 cover those.

Make File Explorer land on This PC

By default, File Explorer in Windows 11 opens to Home. If what you really want is your drives on screen as fast as possible, change that starting point.

1. Press Windows + E to open File Explorer.
2. On the command bar at the top, select See more (the three dots), then Options.
3. Next to Open File Explorer to, choose This PC.
4. Select Apply, then OK.

Those steps match Microsoft’s File Explorer help page. From then on, Windows + E and the File Explorer taskbar button both open on This PC. If File Explorer isn’t on your taskbar, open it, right-click its taskbar button and choose the pin option (Pin to taskbar).

Can’t see This PC in the left pane at all? The navigation pane may be turned off. Select View on the command bar, then Show, and make sure Navigation pane is ticked.

What This PC shows in current versions of Windows 11

People who remember My Computer are often surprised by what’s missing. In older versions, This PC listed Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures and Videos above your drives. Microsoft says that starting with Windows 11 version 22H2, those default folders moved to Quick access, which is now called Home, and are no longer displayed under This PC.

So in current versions of Windows 11, This PC is mainly for:

• Drives and devices: your internal drive (usually C:), extra drives, USB sticks, memory cards and phones you plug in, each with a bar showing free space.
• Network locations: mapped network drives appear here once you add them.
• System details: right-clicking the This PC icon usually offers Properties, which opens your PC’s system information; on many PCs, Show more options adds Manage, which opens Computer Management.

Your personal folders are still a click away: they’re pinned under Home and in the left pane. If you want a single icon on the desktop that opens them, tick User’s Files in Desktop icon settings as well.

Icon missing after you ticked it

If you selected OK and nothing appeared, work through these in order.

1. Desktop icons are hidden. Right-click an empty part of the desktop, point to View, and make sure Show desktop icons is checked. This switch hides every icon at once, so the This PC box alone isn’t enough when it’s off.
2. The desktop hasn’t refreshed. Click an empty part of the desktop and press F5.
3. Windows covers the desktop. Press Windows + D to minimize everything and look again.
4. File Explorer is misbehaving. If the taskbar or desktop also seems stuck, restart File Explorer in Windows 11 and check again.
5. The PC is managed by work or school. If Settings shows a message that some settings are managed by your organization, a policy may control desktop icons. Ask your IT team rather than trying to work around it.

Even with desktop icons hidden, Microsoft points out that you can reach everything on the desktop by opening File Explorer and selecting Desktop in the navigation pane.

Take the icon off or tidy it

Changing your mind is just as quick. Go back to Desktop icon settings, clear the This PC (or Computer) box and select OK. That removes only the icon; nothing on your drives is touched, and This PC stays in File Explorer.

A few tidy-up options:

• Hide one icon or all of them. Clearing the box removes This PC only. Unchecking Show desktop icons under View hides everything temporarily, which is handy before a screen share.
• Change its size. Right-click the desktop, choose View and pick Large icons, Medium icons or Small icons, or hold Ctrl and turn the mouse wheel. More detail is in the steps to change desktop icon size in Windows 11.
• Use the old name. Right-click the icon, choose Rename and type My Computer. The new name is only a label; nothing on your drives changes.
• Change the picture. In Desktop icon settings, select the This PC preview and use the Change Icon button below the previews; Restore Default reverses it.

Setting up an older PC as well? The same dialog exists there, and the Windows 10 version of these steps, including dragging This PC to the desktop, is covered in how to add a This PC shortcut to the desktop in Windows 10.

Desktop icon questions

Does turning on Show desktop icons bring This PC back by itself?

No. Show desktop icons only unhides icons that are already on the desktop. If the This PC box in Desktop icon settings is clear, you still need to tick it.

Can I pin This PC to the taskbar?

The most dependable one-click route is to set File Explorer to open to This PC and pin File Explorer to the taskbar; then one click shows your drives. The Windows 10 steps linked above also describe pinning a This PC desktop shortcut to the taskbar.

Why does my C: drive show a red bar under This PC?

The bar shows how full each drive is, and Windows normally colors it red when a drive is nearly full. Emptying the Recycle Bin or clearing old downloads frees space quickly.

Next step: once This PC is on the desktop, try Windows + E with the open-to-This PC setting for a week, and hide the icon again if you find you never use it.