All desktop icons became rectangles instead of squares on Windows 10

Question

I have changed some scaling back and forth to chose the one I like best and as a side effect I got all windows icons to become rectangles instead of ordinary squares.

They also take enormous amount of free space to be placed vertically. This is minimum space between to icons:

Any idea on how this can be fixed?

Solution

Resetting the Window Metrics in the registry should fix the problem.

Default registry settings via How to Reset Window Color and Appearance Settings?

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics]
"IconTitleWrap"="1"
"Shell Icon Size"="32"
"BorderWidth"="-15"
"CaptionFont"=hex:f4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,90,01,00,00,\
  00,00,00,01,00,00,05,00,53,00,65,00,67,00,6f,00,65,00,20,00,55,00,49,00,00,\
  00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
  00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
"CaptionHeight"="-330"
"CaptionWidth"="-330"
"IconFont"=hex:f4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,90,01,00,00,00,\
  00,00,01,00,00,05,00,53,00,65,00,67,00,6f,00,65,00,20,00,55,00,49,00,00,00,\
  00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
  00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
"MenuFont"=hex:f4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,90,01,00,00,00,\
  00,00,01,00,00,05,00,53,00,65,00,67,00,6f,00,65,00,20,00,55,00,49,00,00,00,\
  00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
  00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
"MenuHeight"="-285"
"MenuWidth"="-285"
"MessageFont"=hex:f4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,90,01,00,00,\
  00,00,00,01,00,00,05,00,53,00,65,00,67,00,6f,00,65,00,20,00,55,00,49,00,00,\
  00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
  00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
"ScrollHeight"="-255"
"ScrollWidth"="-255"
"SmCaptionFont"=hex:f4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,90,01,00,\
  00,00,00,00,01,00,00,05,00,53,00,65,00,67,00,6f,00,65,00,20,00,55,00,49,00,\
  00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
  00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
"SmCaptionHeight"="-330"
"SmCaptionWidth"="-330"
"StatusFont"=hex:f4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,90,01,00,00,\
  00,00,00,01,00,00,05,00,53,00,65,00,67,00,6f,00,65,00,20,00,55,00,49,00,00,\
  00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
  00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
"AppliedDPI"=dword:00000060
"PaddedBorderWidth"="-60"
"IconSpacing"="-1125"
"IconVerticalSpacing"="-1125"
"MinAnimate"="0"

Using Notepad, create a .reg file with the above contents. Then run the .reg file by double-clicking it. See also How to add, modify, or delete registry subkeys and values by using a .reg file

Comments

[duenni]

On the Desktop press and hold CTRL while moving your mousewheel.

[Ilya Chernomordik]

this changed the size, but otherwise it is like before

[Seth]

Does it cause any issues? The icons themselves are still square it seems?

[Ilya Chernomordik]

Not too bad, but as you can see there is e.g. much less space for icons left, since there is this enormous empty space between them for some reason.

[Ramhound]

Did you perform a reboot after changing the scaling?

[Ilya Chernomordik]

Yes, I did reboot PC

[harrymc]

Try this: Right-click on an empty part of the desktop, click the “View” option, then change the display option to either “Large Icons,” “Medium Icons” or “Small Icons”. If this fixes the problem, reset your preferred size and see if the icons are now squares.

[harrymc]

Another: Use regedit to go to the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics, and set the value of IconSpacing to -1130. (Note and report on the old value.)

[Ilya Chernomordik]

I tried different sizes in the view, it did not change anything unfortunately.

[w32sh]

Does the registry fix here help -> How to Reset Window Color and Appearance Settings? - It has the Windows defaults.

[Ilya Chernomordik]

@harrymc, yes this seem to control it, just have to find correct values now :)

[w32sh]

If that doesn't fix it, try resetting folder views. Folder Options > View tab > Reset Folders. Or via the registry

[Ilya Chernomordik]

It did fix it, though I don't really understand why these values were broken in the first place. It was windows itself that did it

[w32sh]

Excellent! Thanks for the update.