How to Hide or Show Desktop Icon Text in Vista ​

Information Information This will show you how to Hide or Show any desktop icon name text so you can have a desktop where the icons you select are displayed with just the icon and no text.

Note Note

This will also work on any icon text in Windows Explorer to.

If you would like to hide or show all file and folder icon text inside of a folder, then see: How to Hide or Show File Names in Vista

Warning Warning Once you hide the text using OPTION ONE, you will not be able to rename, move, or delete the file or folder until you have the text show again using OPTION TWO.

Tip Tip

You can also delete the C:\Users\(user-name)\Desktop (or folder that this file or folder is in) file or folder without text while logged in another administrator account. If you lost or ignored the warning in OPTION ONE, then you can also use the free program Unlocker to be able to delete the file or folder without text.You can also delete the(or folder that this file or folder is in) file or folder without text while logged in another administrator account.

EXAMPLE:

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OPTION ONE OPTION ONE To Hide the Icon Text

NOTE:

OPTION TWO

1. Right click on the Icon you want to hide the text for. (See screenshot below)​

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2. Click on Rename. (See screenshot below)​

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3. For the first icon press and hold the Alt key, then type 255 from the number keypad to the right and release the Alt key. For the second icon , you will repeat this but type 255 two times while pressing the Alt key. For the third icon you will repeat this but type 255 three times while pressing the Alt key. Repeat this pattern of increasing how many times you type 255 for however many icons you want to hide the text for.​

NOTE: You must use the number keypad to the right. The number keys above the letters will not work for this. If you have a laptop that has numbers above the keyboard, then you may need to use the numbers on the keyboard instead using Alt + Function Key + 255.​

Warning Warning To make it easier for you to have these icons text show again in OPTION TWO below, you should write down the icon location path, for example: C:\Users\(User Name)\Desktop and the original icon name (ex: text) with how many times your typed 255 for it. You will wish you had this for folders later.

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4. Press Enter. (See screenshots below)​

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5. Your icon will now look like this with no text. (See screenshot below)​

NOTE: You may need to click on a empty area of the desktop and press F5 to refresh the desktop to see the change.​

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OPTION TWO OPTION TWO To Show Icon Text Again







Method One Method One For Every Icon Except Folder Icons

NOTE: A shortcut to a folder icon (with arrow) will work with this though. For a normal folder icon, you will need to use Method Two below.​

1. Right click on the icon with no text. (See screenshot below)​

NOTE: I will use the Recycle Bin icon as an example here.​

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2. Click on Rename. (See screenshot below)​

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3. Type in a name for the icon and press Enter. (See screenshots below)​

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4. Your icon should now have the text back. (See screenshot below)​

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Method Two Method Two For Folder Icons

NOTE: This for a normal folder icon. You can use Method One above for a shortcut to a folder icon (with arrow).​

1. Open the Start menu.​

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2. In the white line (Start Search) area, type cmd and press Enter. (See screenshot below)​

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3. In the command prompt, type cd\Users\(User Name)\Desktop and press Enter. (See screenshot below step 4)​

NOTE: ​

A) For example, I would type cd\Users\Moderator\Desktop​

B) If you have hidden the text for a icon in a different location than the desktop, then just type it's location here instead.​

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4. Type ren "(press and hold Alt and type 255 for how many times you did it in OPTION ONE step 3 above)" "text you want" and press Enter. (See screenshot below)​

NOTE: For example, for a New Folder on the Desktop that I only type 255 once while pressing Alt, you will see: ren " " "New Folder"​

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Tip Tip If you forgot how many times you did the alt + 255 before, then you can highlight the folder to see a small dash (character #255) in a row for each time you did in the folder name. This screenshot is for one time. You will have to estimate by how long your line is for how many times you did the alt + 255.

Tip Tip

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5. Close the Command Prompt.​

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6. Your folder icon should now have the text you wanted showing again. (See screenshot below)​

NOTE: You may need to click on a empty area of the desktop and press F5 to refresh the desktop to see the change.​

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That's it,Shawn