How to Lock Desktop Icons in Place

This wikiHow teaches you how to lock your desktop icons in place on Windows or Mac computers. Although Windows doesn't offer an easy option to lock your desktop icons in place, you can use the auto-arrange and alignment features to keep...

Method 1 of 3:

Using Auto-Arrange and Align on Windows

  1. Picture 1 of How to Lock Desktop Icons in Place
    Right-click on an empty space on your Windows desktop. This will open a small drop-down window.
  2. Picture 2 of How to Lock Desktop Icons in Place
    Click View. It's the first option at the top.
  3. Picture 3 of How to Lock Desktop Icons in Place
    Click "Auto arrange icons" so there is a checkmark next to it. This will reorder your desktop icons and keep them in a certain order so they can't be moved to other areas.
  4. Picture 4 of How to Lock Desktop Icons in Place
    Click "Align icons to grid" so there is a checkmark next to it. This will keep your icons neatly spaced and lock them to a grid layout.
Method 2 of 3:

Using DeskLock on Windows

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    Go to the DeskLock download page in a web browser. In a web browser, go to http://www.intowindows.com/lock-desktop-icons-windows and scroll down towards the bottom of the page.
  2. Picture 6 of How to Lock Desktop Icons in Place
    Click Download Desklock. It's the link at the bottom of the article.
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    Click DeskLock. It's the download link labeled "DeskLock v1.2" on the page next to the image of icons on a desktop. This starts the DeskLock download.
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    Double-click the "DeskLock.exe" file. Go to the location you downloaded the DeskLock application and double-click it start the app. DeskLock is a small program and doesn't need to be installed.
    1. By default, all downloaded files can be found in your Download folder.
  5. Picture 9 of How to Lock Desktop Icons in Place
    Right-click the DeskLock icon in your taskbar. It's a green icon with an "S" when it's not enabled. It's a blue and white icon with a yellow padlock when enabled. It's located in the bottom-right of the taskbar.
  6. Picture 10 of How to Lock Desktop Icons in Place
    Click Enabled. This turns on DeskLock and locks your desktop icons.
    1. If your icons are not locked, right-click the DeskLock icon in the system tray and go to Settings. Then make sure the checkbox next to Lock icons is checked and press OK.
Method 3 of 3:

Sorting by Tags on Mac

  1. Picture 11 of How to Lock Desktop Icons in Place
    Right-click each desktop item. This opens a drop-down menu. On a Mac with a trackpad or a magic mouse, click the desktop item with two fingers, or hold the ⌥ Option key and click to perform a right-click.
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    Select a colored tag. Use the colored tags to organize the desktop items however you wish. Icons will be arranged by color in the order they appear in the drop-down menu.
  3. Picture 13 of How to Lock Desktop Icons in Place
    Right-click an empty space on the desktop. This opens a drop-down menu. On a Mac with a trackpad or a magic mouse, click the desktop item with two fingers, or hold the ⌥ Option key and click to perform a right-click.
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    Click Sort By.
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    Select Tags. It's near the bottom of the pulldown menu. This will organize your desktop icons in the tag order you selected and they will then be locked in place.
Update 04 March 2020
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