How to Fix the Spread Apart Desktop Icon Issue in Windows

Last Updated on April 28, 2026

The Windows desktop is where most people keep their most commonly accessed files, folders and program shortcuts. In fact, some people use it so much that they sometimes fill it up completely! If you were to right click on the desktop and choose View, you would have options to do things such as auto arrange the icons or align them to the “invisible” grid, so they stay in line with each other.

You may have an issue where you made a system change or your computer crashes or hangs and then you notice that all of your desktop icons are spread apart. Then when you try to move them closer together and back in order, they move to random places on the desktop or even on top of each other. This can be frustrating and in this article, we will be showing you how to fix the spread apart desktop icon issue in Windows.

The image below shows an example of how the spread apart desktop icon issue can look like. As you can see, this doesn’t leave much space for additional icons if they have to be this far apart from each other.

Before You Begin: Back Up Your Registry

Because this fix involves the Windows Registry, it is always a good idea to create a quick backup before making changes. While the steps below are safe, the Registry is the “brain” of your computer, and having a backup ensures you can easily revert changes if you make a mistake.

To do this, simply open the Registry Editor, click on File in the top left corner, and select Export. Save the file to your desktop as “RegistryBackup.” Now you are ready to proceed with the fix.

Step 1: Open the Registry Editor

Press the Windows Key + R on your keyboard to open the Run dialog box. Type regedit and hit Enter. If a User Account Control prompt appears, click Yes.

Step 2: Navigate to WindowMetrics

Once the Registry Editor is open, you need to find the specific folder that controls how your desktop looks. Use the left-hand sidebar to navigate to the following path:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics

Step 3: Adjust IconSpacing and IconVerticalSpacing

Look for the value named IconSpacing in the right-hand pane. This controls the horizontal distance between icons. Double-click it and change the value to the Windows default of -1125.

Next, find IconVerticalSpacing. This controls the distance between the top and bottom of your icons. Double-click it and change this value to -1125 as well.

How to Make the Changes Take Effect

You will notice that your desktop icons don’t move immediately after you click “OK” in the Registry. To see the results, you need to refresh your user profile. You can do this in three ways:

1. Restart your computer (The most reliable way).
2. Sign out and sign back in to your Windows account.
3. Restart Windows Explorer: Open Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc), find “Windows Explorer” in the list, right-click it, and select Restart.

Once you do this, your icons should return to their standard, compact grid layout.

To restart Windows Explorer, right click on the taskbar and choose Task Manager. Then scroll down the list until you find Windows Explorer. Then right click on it and choose Restart. You will then see your taskbar disappear and then come back. If you have any File Explorer windows open, you might have more than one entry in Task Manager so you might want to close File Explorer first.

After restarting your computer or Windows Explorer, you should now have your icon spacing back to normal and can rearrange your files, folders and shortcuts as needed.

Windows Desktop Icon Value Reference

If you want to customize your icons further rather than just using the defaults, here is a quick guide on how the numbers work:

• Default Value: -1125 (Standard spacing)
• Closer Together: Use a number closer to zero (e.g., -900)
• Further Apart: Use a larger negative number (e.g., -1500)
• Minimum Spacing: -480
• Maximum Spacing: -2730

Here is another video that shows an app you can use to fine tune your desktop icon spacing.

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