How can I increase the width of the Show Desktop button in Windows 7/8/8.1/10?

I'm using Windows 8.1 on a Surface Pro 2, and my Show Desktop button is 8 pixels wide (that's not even a millimeter), making it near unusable with touch, and even difficult with the mouse. I have the same problem on my desktop, where my multiple monitors make it hard to use without the cursor straying into the next monitor.

How can I increase the width of this button?

I'm assuming there's probably a registry value, but I couldn't find anything about which one to change after a long session of Google-Fu (it's all about peoples' aero peek button being too big, and to disable pen-and-touch input, which I have enabled).

A screenshot of the issue

Supuhstar

Posted 2013-08-30T13:55:36.920

Reputation: 446

In Control Panel / Turn Windows Features On or Off, is "Tablet PC Components" checked? – harrymc – 2015-03-24T16:43:50.843

@harrymc that doesn't appear to be an option: http://i.imgur.com/jdhaMRN.png

– Supuhstar – 2015-03-25T16:39:37.223

FYI: The width you are seeing is the intended width... – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 – 2015-03-25T18:33:23.127

@Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 As... stupid as that is... There still has to be some way to make this button wider. – Supuhstar – 2015-03-25T18:39:03.543

Sister question on Answers.Microsoft.com: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows8_1-desktop/how-can-i-increase-the-width-of-the-show-desktop/7bb6a810-79d9-4f33-9cdf-491d390c5922?tm=1427315560219

– Supuhstar – 2015-03-25T20:33:42.620

1If you don't mind, you can use WIN+D to show the desktop (key combination). Or if you are using a mouse, just drag your mouse as far right/down as it can go and then click twice to use the button – InterLinked – 2016-04-26T19:32:36.197

@InterLinked Of course! But as I said, my issue is with using it on a touchscreen. :P – Supuhstar – 2016-04-27T00:24:03.750

I don't know honestly how to directly solve this issue. After doing some research, I found a few alternatives. You can use 7+ Taskbar Tweaker, a third party solution. Or you can use this link - http://www.howtogeek.com/180552/5-tips-for-navigating-the-windows-8-desktop-with-touch/ - to look at some tips for making tablet mode more usable, such as making the icons and items bigger. Finally, look at this link - https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/190355 - and scroll down to where it says 'Fix it myself' and copy the code listed to an easily accessible location. It just might work :)

– InterLinked – 2016-04-27T12:56:32.187

@InterLinked methinks you didn't even scroll down the page; those are all proposed solutions right here :P – Supuhstar – 2016-04-28T00:21:41.437

Answers

I'm aware of no registry (or otherwise) setting you can change in Windows to affect the width of that button.

There are 3rd party utilities that can adjust the size (as long as the program is running).

One I've tested on Windows 7 and 8.1 is Show Desktop, and it works as advertised.

By opening the right-click menu, you can disable the "Peek at Desktop" option, select a shutdown preference (e.g. switch user, log off, lock) and configure some desktop properties. Thus, you can adjust the button width and opacity, make Show Desktop toggle the desktop instead of minimizing all windows, as well as disable the peek effect and enable the fading one.

An alternative (which I have not tested) is 7+ Taskbar Tweaker:

7+ Taskbar Tweaker allows you to configure various aspects of the Windows taskbar. Most of the configuration options it provides can’t be tweaked using the taskbar properties or the registry. The tweaker is designed for Windows 7 and Windows 8.

In their FAQ they also mention that there's no registry setting that can be changed to affect the width (and other options they provide):

Q: Which registry keys does 7+ Taskbar Tweaker modify? I don’t need extra processes in my system.
A: The only registry keys the tweaker modifies are its own settings. There are no registry keys for the options it provides. The tweaker does that by injecting a DLL to explorer, hooking/subclassing/some other methods of the dark side.

Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007

Posted 2013-08-30T13:55:36.920

Reputation: 103 763

Show Desktop "works"... but it also pushes application icons further and further to the left of the taskbar until they're gone altogether, which is, obviously, much more annoying than a small button. – Supuhstar – 2015-03-25T19:05:45.143

I'm not sure what you mean exactly, but did you try check-marking the "Prevent System Tray form Overlapping with Button" option? Regardless, the point is that you need a 3rd party utility, and there's a few out there to try, one of which will probably tick most of your requirement boxes I'm sure. ;) – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 – 2015-03-25T19:10:18.160

Yes, that was the first thing I tried. Every time I applied settings, it increased the distance between the Touch Keyboard button and the Show hidden items (Show Notification Tray) button. – Supuhstar – 2015-03-25T20:03:22.433

2I'm using 7+ Taskbar Tweaker and it works fine, you can set any width for the Show Desktop button. Has a ton of other useful options as well. – beatcracker – 2015-03-25T20:36:47.190

6I can confirm that 7+ Taskbar Tweaker works on Windows 8.1. I've been using it for a while now and it's a pretty useful little utility to have. The relevant setting (show_desktop_button_size) can found under Advanced Options which is accessible by right clicking on the program's tray icon. The default value is 0 and can be changed to a custom value (of width in pixels, I assume) by double-clicking on the Data column and entering a custom figure. – Vinayak – 2015-03-26T00:39:15.477

Also, it did not push the other tray icons further left until they were hidden away but that's probably because I've set their respective behaviors to Show icon and notifications. – Vinayak – 2015-03-26T00:40:44.683

1@Supuhstar If you'd like to adjust the size of Show Desktop button to what it was on Windows 7, set it to 15 pixels. – Vinayak – 2015-03-26T00:48:23.070

@Vinayak 1: thanks! That works perfectly! 2: no, it pushed them farther to the left every time I pressed Apply. 3: Thanks! – Supuhstar – 2015-03-26T01:02:39.680

@Supuhstar Maybe you'd like to adjust the value for tray_icons_padding too? The default on Windows 8 is 8 pixels. Changing to 7 is hardly noticeable and will pack those icons a little tighter and hopefully will fix the pushing of tray icons farther to the left issue. – Vinayak – 2015-03-26T01:13:56.597

@Vinayak I think you don't understand my new problem :P – Supuhstar – 2015-03-26T01:19:00.417

@Supuhstar could you elaborate on that? Or maybe create a screen recording GIF using LiceCAP so I can understand better? – Vinayak – 2015-03-26T01:22:12.140

@Vinayak nah, I've already found a working solution. If it bothers me enough, I'll ask a separate question. – Supuhstar – 2015-03-26T01:34:21.447

@Supuhstsr Sounds good :-) – Vinayak – 2015-03-26T01:36:45.500

I don't mind the Shorter Width.
The Problem is my Mouse drifts off to my Right-Hand Monitor and it's a pain to click something so thin.
I moved my Right-Hand Monitor up an Inch to block/catch my Mouse when dragging it into the corner:

Right-Click on your Desktop and select "Display Settings" to Rearrange your Displays.

MikeTeeVee

Posted 2013-08-30T13:55:36.920

Reputation: 484

The Surface Pro 2 may be different, but 8 pixels for the "Show desktop" pseudo-button is the norm in Windows 8, and only becomes 16 when "Tablet PC Components" is present. Unfortunately, in Windows 8.1 "Tablet PC Components" is now abolished and replaced by the new touch keyboard that has always 8 pixels for "Show desktop".

"Show desktop" on Windows 8.1 is not even a real button. It is just an 8-pixel gap the is left on the taskbar, which looks to me more like an after-thought than a real usability feature.

One solution is to revive the old Quick Launch Bar, which will contain a real "Show desktop" icon and is fully customizable. Full instructions can be found in the article :
How to enable Quick Launch in Windows 8.1.

harrymc

Posted 2013-08-30T13:55:36.920

Reputation: 306 093

Note: the "show desktop"/"aero peek" button is 8px on all DPI scales. – Supuhstar – 2015-03-25T19:49:27.847

@Supuhstar: Thanks for the comment. The situation is even worse than I thought. I deleted my above advice on Changing the DPI Scaling Size.

– harrymc – 2015-03-25T20:01:01.000