{ 154 Intelligent Comments }

Desktop icons all have blue highlight box around text

Written on July 27th 2009 at 07:59. Last modified: March 23, 2011

Icons highlighted in blueAre your icons name’s blue?

In Windows XP your desktop icons text labels used to be transparent but now the icons seem to have a blue background or blue highlight. This seems to have happened the icons for no reason i.e. you did not mess with your appearance settings or display settings.

Symptoms

The icons on your Windows XP desktop have a blue background on the text label or the whole icon.

Explanation

This usually happens the Windows XP icons for one of three reasons:

  • you have the desktop items locked
  • you have the background set as a web page
  • you have the drop shadow setting enabled

Solution 1 – Uncheck “Lock Web Items on Desktop”

  1. Right click on your Windows Desktop
  2. In the context menu, click Arrange Icons By > Uncheck Lock Web Items on Desktop
  3. Click OK
  4. Check your desktop icons

Solution 2 – Desktop Home Page Problem

  1. Right click on your Windows Desktop
  2. In the context menu, click Properties
  3. Display Properties should appear. Click the Desktop tab
  4. Now click the Customize Desktop… button
  5. The Desktop Items properties page should appear. Click the Web tab
  6. In the top pane where it says ‘My Current Home Page’, delete all entries from that pane except ‘My Current Home Page’
  7. Uncheck My Current Home Page
  8. Uncheck Lock desktop items
  9. Click OK and OK again
  10. Check you icons

Solution 3 – Disable Drop Shadow

  1. Right click on the ‘My Computer’ icon
  2. In the context menu, click Properties
  3. Click Advanced tab > Settings (In the Performance section)
  4. Look down the list and clear the Drop Shadows option
  5. Click OK > OK
  6. Check your icons

Disable drop shadows option to fix blue highlight around desktop icons

Discussion


Wow, 154 Comments! We've got a conversation going now. Join the discussion below!

  1. Race says:
    August 9, 2009 at 03:36

    Thankk you sooooo much!!!=)..

    Reply
    1. Amit says:
      March 4, 2011 at 19:38

      Thankyou it works ….

      Reply
      1. Anonymous says:
        March 30, 2011 at 04:59

        did all of the above and still did not work

        Reply
        1. Javmiller says:
          June 12, 2011 at 07:11

          Try making your background wallpaper as a .bmp file; it works for me

          Reply
        2. Javmiller says:
          June 12, 2011 at 07:11

          Try making your background wallpaper as a .bmp or maybe a .jpg file; it works for me

          Reply
          1. Anonymous says:
            December 1, 2012 at 13:53

            I had the background as a .Png
            Quickly opened it up in paint and saved it as a .jpg and now it works, thanks for solving my problem

            Reply
    2. satya says:
      June 1, 2011 at 07:18

      thanks

      Reply
    3. shepster says:
      June 3, 2011 at 05:52

      superstar, thanx so much !!

      Reply
    4. Anonymous says:
      August 2, 2011 at 23:08

      THANK YOU SO MUCH YARR

      Reply
    5. rojareddy says:
      August 15, 2011 at 00:27

      thankyou it is very useful to me

      Reply
    6. Anonymous says:
      August 2, 2012 at 13:35

      Thank you very much. It worked perfectly.

      Reply
    7. Armindo Tomo says:
      April 26, 2013 at 02:59

      Thank you so much it worked

      Reply
  2. Mel says:
    August 18, 2009 at 05:00

    In my case I had created a PNG image to use as my desktop. I converted that image to JPEG with Gimp and the blue highlight went away.

    Reply
  3. Govind says:
    August 20, 2009 at 06:16

    Yes, I have succeeded in trying Solution – 2 detailed here.I could get rid of blue highlight box.Thank you very much for the solution.

    Reply
  4. Lauren says:
    September 30, 2009 at 06:39

    Thanks! Unchecking the Lock Desktop Items box removed my blue highlights, too. Hooray!

    Reply
  5. ibee says:
    October 8, 2009 at 02:01

    wow., thanks! it’s a great help..^__^

    Reply
    1. Alma says:
      January 10, 2013 at 02:40

      Thanks a lot… u did really help…

      Reply
  6. Rosco says:
    October 8, 2009 at 07:46

    Hi ibee,

    Glad you solved your problem!

    Take Care

    Rosco

    Reply
  7. Anonymous says:
    July 29, 2010 at 09:50

    awesome! It worked great! :)

    Reply
  8. Eric says:
    August 12, 2010 at 00:11

    Oh, thank you thank you thank you. Finally my desktop looks normal again!!!

    Reply
  9. Yvan says:
    August 12, 2010 at 12:15

    Solution 3 helps me thx!

    Reply
  10. lori says:
    September 2, 2010 at 13:49

    all 3 solution did not work still blue.
    Help please

    Reply
    1. Rosco says:
      September 23, 2010 at 07:54

      Hey lori…Send me a screenshot and I’ll see what’s up…might be a different problem.

      R.

      Reply
  11. Patrick says:
    September 5, 2010 at 17:48

    This has been my problem for weeks, and I didn’t know what to do. I tried googling it and found these solutions. I tried the 2nd solution. It worked!! Thanks a lot!

    Reply
    1. Rosco says:
      September 23, 2010 at 07:52

      Hi Patrick, That’s good to hear. I’m glad google is sending people my way…good boy google… :)

      Take care. Thanks for visiting.

      R.

      Reply
  12. star says:
    September 23, 2010 at 11:31

    thank you soooo much,your solution was complete and helpful.
    you first mentioned the reasons and then explained how to solve this problem,the best way,I’d already fixed it once,but now I was forgetting it,I searched some sites but yours was the most complete,
    thank you all again.

    Reply
  13. Rosco says:
    September 23, 2010 at 11:41

    Hi there star…glad this worked well for you!

    Rosco

    Reply
  14. Anonymous says:
    October 14, 2010 at 08:56

    Thank u very much i get rid of this by selecting Sol-2……….thank u very much admin…………….

    Reply
  15. Baljinder shahi says:
    November 17, 2010 at 10:05

    tanks a lot actually i am a kind of person not like to going something wrong with my machine so you helped me a lot thanks

    Reply
  16. S S Parikshit says:
    November 20, 2010 at 09:15

    thanks alot your solution #2 solved my problem and also solved my worry once again thanks a ton

    Reply
  17. ck says:
    December 1, 2010 at 10:07

    Thank YOU..thank you ..thank you. I have been trying to solve this forever. You rock!

    Reply
  18. mazhar says:
    January 31, 2011 at 22:45

    3 step try but not working way reason this problem ?
    pleas tell me

    Reply
    1. mazhar says:
      January 31, 2011 at 22:50

      sorry i am try again and job is done
      very very thanks

      Reply
  19. sharry says:
    February 20, 2011 at 05:52

    thanks so much…..second option worked for me….now i can impress lots of my friends who has the same problem….thanks soooooooo much…

    Reply
  20. nivethan says:
    February 22, 2011 at 11:02

    Thank u very much…

    Reply
  21. Nancy says:
    February 22, 2011 at 20:09

    HURRAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!! Finally got the right answers…those highlighted words were bugging me…TYSM!!!!

    Reply
  22. Hariom says:
    March 13, 2011 at 04:32

    thanx buddy this is really helpful.Finally i got rid-off of those highlighted words

    Reply
  23. Jenkenz06 says:
    March 15, 2011 at 06:22

    Thanx man..it was really helpful

    Reply
  24. psteelerfan says:
    March 15, 2011 at 14:08

    Here is another solution:
    Go to the Control Panel and then to Accessibility Options and then the display tab. Next uncheck the box to use high contrast.

    Reply
  25. Kamz says:
    March 18, 2011 at 13:25

    i tried all three none owrked for me???

    Reply
    1. Rosco says:
      March 18, 2011 at 22:28

      Hi Kamz, If you remove your desktop background image and just set a plain colour background – does the problem go away?

      If not, perhaps you can email me a screenshot of your desktop?

      rosco at proposedsolution.com

      Reply
      1. Sho says:
        April 22, 2011 at 09:58

        Rosco I removed the desktop background image and set a plain color
        the problem did go away, but then as soon as i put a pic back
        the highlighting comes back.

        Reply
        1. Sho says:
          June 7, 2011 at 07:40

          finally did the second one and deleted the active desktop
          page from the web listing. looks so much better now thanks much!

          Reply
  26. Christy H says:
    April 2, 2011 at 17:48

    Thanks it Worked!!

    Reply
  27. nick says:
    April 4, 2011 at 09:28

    thanks a great deal!! solution 2 did all the magic.

    Reply
  28. DEEP says:
    April 10, 2011 at 11:44

    good solution

    Reply
  29. Thomas says:
    April 10, 2011 at 17:30

    Thanks very much, you solved my problem!!!!!!!

    Reply
  30. basha says:
    April 10, 2011 at 23:58

    thanku sir

    Reply
  31. Anirban says:
    April 11, 2011 at 22:40

    Very Good..working..(Solution 2 – Desktop Home Page Problem)

    Thanks

    Reply
  32. toha says:
    April 15, 2011 at 19:30

    worked

    Reply
  33. Anonymous says:
    April 21, 2011 at 16:26

    Salamat po

    Reply
  34. emon says:
    April 24, 2011 at 22:50

    it works!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    thank u

    Reply
  35. tymi says:
    May 10, 2011 at 09:44

    all worked ….
    the first one is quite magical…………..:)

    Reply
  36. Rajesh says:
    May 25, 2011 at 12:08

    Great ! I tried from the step 1 to 3.
    It works.. now the blue box is removed below the icon

    Reply
  37. Android says:
    May 31, 2011 at 04:52

    Thanks sooo much

    Reply
  38. Ramesh says:
    June 8, 2011 at 22:43

    Thanks a lot

    Reply
  39. Shivanand says:
    June 28, 2011 at 01:22

    Thanks a lot mate……..

    Reply
  40. samithashiva says:
    July 2, 2011 at 23:03

    thank u wery much

    Reply
  41. Nadda says:
    July 22, 2011 at 23:07

    Thanks – Sol 2 worked very well for me.

    Reply
  42. Nadda says:
    July 22, 2011 at 23:07

    Thanks – Sol 2 worked very well for me. AWESOME

    Reply
  43. dcle3 says:
    July 25, 2011 at 04:39

    thank you it worked great . I build computers and never had this problem ..I feel stupid now lol

    Reply
  44. Roosedon says:
    July 25, 2011 at 18:51

    I am having a similar problem, however, none of the solutions work even though I have tried all a number of times. HELP!!!!!

    Reply
  45. aSh says:
    July 25, 2011 at 20:57

    ur a genius

    Reply
  46. hema says:
    July 26, 2011 at 02:48

    Dear Sir,
    Out of three , first two didn’t worked out for me while trying the third option I am not getting the option of shadow option , under VISUAL EFFECTS

    plz help

    Reply
  47. Pictogrammen says:
    July 26, 2011 at 04:45

    [...] zijn 3 manieren om het op te lossen SOLVED: Windows Desktop Icons Have Blue Highlight Box Around Text Label Spijtig genoeg moet ik nu even weg. Als de vertaling moeilijk gaat, zullen mijn collega's u zeker [...]

    Reply
  48. Pradeep says:
    July 27, 2011 at 12:48

    It works, but what if I need to use a webpage as desktop background?

    Reply
  49. Lucky babbar says:
    August 5, 2011 at 00:40

    It was really helpful for me , …………… please make the ,ore notes on another problem that we are facing regularly……..

    Reply
  50. missy says:
    August 11, 2011 at 08:38

    Solution #2 worked for me. I’m so thankful you have provided these solutions, I was going crazy trying to figure out how to fix this. I’m happy now :-)

    Reply
  51. Dipen says:
    August 16, 2011 at 10:08

    Thank you very much. Solution 2 is work for me

    Reply
  52. Maureen says:
    August 23, 2011 at 01:23

    I’m afraid none of the above worked for me. I eventually found that by right clicking on My Computer selecting Properties, this shows System Properties window; click on Advanced tab, on here select Performance/ Settings. On the Performance Options window that opens select Visual effects tab and then selecting ‘let Windows choose what’s best for my computer’ then OK

    I guess the method of removal depends on how we each put them there!

    Reply
    1. Jody says:
      January 14, 2013 at 14:42

      Thanks Maureen – after trying all 3 solutions, yours was the only one that worked for me!

      Reply
    2. Jeannie says:
      May 8, 2013 at 11:40

      Thank you soooo much, your suggestion worked for me. I’m very happy those ugly blue icon highlights are gone!

      Reply
  53. prabhakaran says:
    August 24, 2011 at 03:34

    ear Sir,
    Out of three , first didn’t worked but the second one worked.i thank u a lot

    Reply
  54. dharma says:
    September 1, 2011 at 00:23

    second one worked for me, thanks

    Reply
  55. Mac says:
    September 5, 2011 at 09:40

    Thanks a Gazillioooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

    Reply
  56. ALI says:
    September 6, 2011 at 02:10

    it worked!!!!!!!! i’ve had this problem for years now and the second solution totally did it!! thanks so much you guys!!

    Reply
  57. piya says:
    September 8, 2011 at 07:48

    thanks a lot!

    Reply
  58. Hitesh says:
    September 15, 2011 at 22:16

    thanks…. solution 2 worked for me….. \,,/

    Reply
  60. Rajasekhar.R says:
    September 22, 2011 at 05:32

    Thank You Buddy

    Reply
  61. yogesh says:
    September 28, 2011 at 12:35

    thanks yaar this is perfect solution give by u U are a very good person thank again….

    Reply
    1. rs25 says:
      January 19, 2012 at 03:18

      Thanks you very much its worked fine,

      Reply
      1. dimuthu says:
        April 30, 2012 at 00:56

        thanks it worked than again

        Reply
    2. Anonymous says:
      June 8, 2012 at 19:22

      Thank you very much. your info was very helpful

      Reply
  62. Roosedon says:
    September 28, 2011 at 15:34

    Problem solved. Thanks Maureen. None of the 3 posted solutions worked, however, Maureen’s post on August 23, 2011 finally resolved the blue highlights problem.

    Thanks again

    Reply
    1. Maureen says:
      October 1, 2011 at 10:51

      I’m glad that I was able to help

      Reply
    2. Rishi says:
      December 31, 2011 at 04:50

      Perfect it worked thanks man

      Reply
  63. catat says:
    October 1, 2011 at 10:20

    thank you soooooooooooooooooo much for solution no. 3!!!!!!!!!

    Reply
  64. praveen says:
    October 9, 2011 at 04:33

    thank you very much it solved my problem

    Reply
  65. abreham says:
    October 29, 2011 at 03:04

    tanx a lot good way to sole the problem and ur way is the way the help ppl. tanx a lot

    Reply
  66. merlin says:
    November 17, 2011 at 21:08

    thanx…thanx…thanx…..

    Reply
  67. yogeshk says:
    November 20, 2011 at 04:11

    thanks bro. its really works. Most helpful answers in xp related problems.

    Reply
  68. bhuvi says:
    December 6, 2011 at 07:24

    nice troubleshoot my problem solved

    Reply
  69. Raj Narayan Singh says:
    December 16, 2011 at 01:42

    Thnkx sir for ur kind help.I’m very much glad dt i’ve successfully done my work.

    Reply
  70. Jetin says:
    December 17, 2011 at 01:24

    Thanks for the solution. It worked

    Reply
  71. adam says:
    December 20, 2011 at 07:27

    step 3 isperfectly work for me, many thanks

    Reply
  72. පූසා says:
    December 24, 2011 at 00:59

    thanks a lot. solution 2 worked for me :)

    Reply
  73. azzedine says:
    December 25, 2011 at 06:29

    the solution 2 is helpfull thanks bro.

    Reply
  74. blueGuy says:
    December 28, 2011 at 08:37

    i tried the 3 solutions and none of them worked!!

    Reply
    1. Maureen says:
      January 3, 2012 at 04:13

      Maybe the method I used can help – posted Aug 23

      Reply
  75. Bintang says:
    January 3, 2012 at 03:51

    Thank’s a lot sir..
    Its worked.

    Reply
  76. ahmad jutt says:
    January 5, 2012 at 06:20

    thankkkkkkkkkk you boss for helped me.

    Reply
  77. virendra says:
    January 6, 2012 at 03:01

    thanxxxx helpd mw a lot

    Reply
  78. virendra says:
    January 6, 2012 at 03:01

    thanxxxx helpd me a lot

    Reply
    1. Anonymous says:
      January 7, 2012 at 12:16

      many many thanks,my solution done by only this site,lotttt of thanx …it is very simple to follow any one…again thankss…

      Reply
  79. Anonymous says:
    January 12, 2012 at 19:11

    thanks it worked

    Reply
  80. Hardy says:
    February 8, 2012 at 07:12

    Thanks alot for your support !!!

    Reply
  81. Bnond says:
    March 6, 2012 at 13:21

    thanks a lot. solution 2 worked for me :)

    Reply
  82. enock says:
    March 13, 2012 at 10:41

    thanks a milion, it works!!

    Reply
  83. Ammy says:
    March 17, 2012 at 00:21

    thanks it worked

    Reply
  84. Kim says:
    March 28, 2012 at 06:27

    Brilliant. Thank you so much.

    Reply
  85. Anonymous says:
    March 31, 2012 at 02:42

    thank you so much! it help a lot!

    Reply
  86. praveen sharma says:
    April 18, 2012 at 23:23

    thanx sir 3 solution is good for me

    Reply
  87. mustafa says:
    May 15, 2012 at 09:10

    thank you so much! it help a lot!

    Reply
  88. Julia says:
    May 16, 2012 at 05:00

    Thanks so much. I’ve just tried it too, and the second option worked perfectly!

    Reply
  89. Dentin says:
    May 20, 2012 at 10:41

    none of it worked

    Reply
  90. mayur jain says:
    May 24, 2012 at 04:26

    none of the solutions worked

    Reply
  91. Maureen says:
    June 9, 2012 at 00:57

    I’ve reposted the method I used, it might help someone

    depends on how we each put them there!

    ( I’m afraid none of the above worked for me. I eventually found that by right clicking on My Computer selecting Properties, this shows System Properties window; click on Advanced tab, on here select Performance/ Settings. On the Performance Options window that opens select Visual effects tab and then selecting ‘let Windows choose what’s best for my computer’ then OK
    I guess the method of depends on how we each put them there! )

    Reply
    1. Anonymous says:
      June 12, 2012 at 02:46

      It worked for me. The one that uses ‘let the Windows choose what’s best for my computer’. Thanks.

      Reply
  92. azhar says:
    June 20, 2012 at 07:17

    sir thank you so much for help us

    Reply
  93. Chiteri says:
    July 10, 2012 at 09:53

    Thanks a lot. After two days of trial and error, have managed to highlighter the icon on desktop.

    Reply
  94. Mohana says:
    July 17, 2012 at 00:11

    Thanks Solution is working.

    Reply
  95. ageema says:
    July 17, 2012 at 08:30

    thanks a lotttttttttt ….
    life saver
    works…..:)

    Reply
  96. ageema says:
    July 17, 2012 at 08:31

    thanks a lotttttttttt ….
    life saver
    works…..:)
    :P

    Reply
  97. Anonymous says:
    July 19, 2012 at 07:02

    thk u

    Reply
  98. Jay says:
    July 19, 2012 at 15:53

    In my case, the Drop Shadow setting was reversed: turning it on got rid of the blue and turning it off was making them appear in blue. This was a fresh install of Windows XP with SP3, straight off the disk & then performed all required updates. Nothing else was changed.

    Reply
  99. Kelly says:
    August 9, 2012 at 05:32

    Thank you so much! Solution 2 fixed me. I have been trying to get this fixed for a month.

    Reply
  100. Ajay gautam says:
    August 11, 2012 at 12:16

    thanxs ..second one working on my pc..thaxs alot..

    Reply
  101. dhanesh says:
    August 18, 2012 at 06:32

    thank You solution 2 is worked to my pc thanks a lot

    Reply
  102. ali hussain says:
    August 21, 2012 at 13:39

    MAN! THIS THING REALLY WORKS … WHO EVER DID THIS IS REALLY REALLY AWESOME ..THANK YOU SOOOOOOOO MUCH…..

    Reply
  103. Shamir says:
    September 13, 2012 at 09:06

    It works. Thank you very much.

    Reply
  104. dinesh says:
    September 14, 2012 at 11:31

    thank u man…2nd solution is best in my side..thanks a lot..it works on me

    Reply
  105. Anonymous says:
    September 22, 2012 at 10:01

    Thank you….Finally!!!!

    Reply
  106. R.N. Meena says:
    September 26, 2012 at 11:07

    IF YOUR DESKTOP ICON WILL HIGH LIGHT IN BLUE COLOUR THEN, KINDLY
    DO THIS “” (1)CLICK ON START (2) RUN AND TYPE sysdm.cpl click OK.
    (3) select Advance (4) performance (5) select ” use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop then ok/ Apply and again ok. remenber select custom & all box select. finally u will see desktop as before . kindly reply if your problem solved

    Reply
  107. Arif says:
    October 2, 2012 at 09:39

    Excellent !! it worked Thanx

    Reply
  108. Sandun lalanka says:
    November 3, 2012 at 02:01

    thnksssssssss

    Reply
  109. Scott says:
    November 7, 2012 at 07:41

    Thank you. It was solution nuber 2 that worked. Scott

    Reply
  110. whateverr says:
    November 7, 2012 at 08:27

    thankss

    Reply
  111. doraemon says:
    November 14, 2012 at 06:01

    thank you so much….=D

    Reply
  112. duncan says:
    November 19, 2012 at 16:03

    thanks, thanks, thanks!!

    at last!!

    Reply
  113. AC says:
    January 19, 2013 at 06:36

    None of these have worked so far. Please help totally frustrated !!

    Reply
  114. Bill Mathews says:
    February 15, 2013 at 13:23

    Still BLUE, have tried everything sggested:(:(

    Reply
  115. (^)ub@(^)@(-)? says:
    March 6, 2013 at 04:48

    Bill Try the above steps and the issue will be fixed keep me updated if the issue is not fixed.

    Thanks
    (^)ub@(^)@(-)?

    Reply
  116. Injured Party says:
    March 25, 2013 at 06:47

    Solution 2 did it. Thanks. How did the boxes highlight? I was trying to save an image on a word page as a picture on desktop as I have lost the original. Must be a glitch in XP.

    Reply
  117. arungoud says:
    March 31, 2013 at 23:06

    thanks you very much sir, i get rid of the default settings, keep it up dude………………

    Reply
  118. vrushabh patil says:
    April 3, 2013 at 22:18

    Nailed it……………..
    thanks buddy

    Reply
  119. dinu says:
    April 4, 2013 at 13:46

    thanx alot….3rd solution workout for me….

    Reply
  120. Rajvansh says:
    April 4, 2013 at 23:52

    Thanks A Lot

    Reply
  121. azej says:
    April 11, 2013 at 20:27

    tnx…

    Reply
  122. sadhu kokila says:
    May 23, 2013 at 01:59

    Thank you very much its of great help

    Reply
  123. dossarms says:
    May 24, 2013 at 00:12

    thanku … i was searchin for d answer iii finally i got it … it really works

    Reply
  124. Andrew says:
    May 30, 2013 at 14:40

    I have drop shadows unchecked, lock desktop items uncheck, My Current Web Page unchecked, and my background is a jpg file. The blue highlights are still there.

    Reply
  125. Harvinder says:
    June 9, 2013 at 15:05

    Thank you so much. It was a great help. I went through so many websites but none were helpful.

    Reply
  126. Prasad says:
    June 11, 2013 at 00:12

    Its working.. Thank u very much..

    Reply

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