In Windows 7, the Show Desktop icon is no longer a susceptible shortcut on a Quick Launch bar. It has been superseded by a button permanently located on the extreme RHS of the taskbar. That will mean it can never go missing again. It took Microsoft 11 years to come up with that simple much-needed fix.
Be that as it may, since you are reading this page, it is probable you are using a version of Windows earlier than 7. In which case, if it is your complete Quick Launch bar which is missing, you should go to our separate article about the QLB. Or, if your QLB is present and correct, and just your Show Desktop icon is missing from it, please read on.
The single most important icon on a Quick Launch toolbar is, without doubt, the Show Desktop icon. One click on this shortcut icon instantly minimises all open windows down to buttons on the taskbar. This is very useful anytime you want to get to a standard shortcut on the desktop which is obscured behind opened windows. Another click on the Show Desktop icon will unminimise the minimised windows. Hence, if the Quick Launch bar is in place, but the Show Desktop icon is missing from it, this is a serious inconvenience.
If the Show Desktop icon cannot be seen, that does not necessarily mean it has completely gone from the computer. The icon may still be lurking on there somewhere. The checks in items 1, 2 & 3 next will establish if that be the case and, if so, will explain how to return the icon to where it belongs on the QLB. However, if going though items 1, 2 & 3 establishes the icon really has gone for good, or you already know that for a fact, then subsequent item 4 contains instructions for creating a brand new replacement icon. Whatever your problem turns out to be, you will find it is, fortunately, in every case, quite easy to fix.
(1) The absent icon might merely be hiding somewhere. If you can see a double chevron at the right-hand edge of the Quick Launch bar, that means there are hidden icons on it. Click the chevron and check if the Show Desktop icon is one of the hidden ones. Icons can, unfortunately, be shunted from their normal, visible position on the QLB if a newly-installed program has inserted its own icon on the toolbar, or if a user has moved the icons about. If clicking the double-chevron revealed the Show Desktop icon to be there, use the left-hand mouse button to drag the icon to its historical position next to the Start button. If the icon is definitely not there, move on to item 2 next.
(2) If the Show Desktop icon was not revealed by clicking the double-chevron, or there was no chevron anyway, the next possibility is that somebody might have accidentally dragged the icon off the Quick Launch bar onto the desktop. Look carefully through all the icons on the desktop. If you see the icon there, use the right-hand mouse button to drag it back on to the Quick Launch bar > when you see a vertical insertion bar appear, drop the icon > from the context menu, choose Move Here. If you have trouble moving the icon see tip 1 in the tips' box in the RH column.
(3) If the icon was not hiding, nor residing somewhere on the desktop, the next possibility is that somebody might have accidentally or maliciously deleted the icon and, with luck, it may still be in the Recycle Bin. Double-click on the Recycle Bin icon to open the bin and look through the contents to see if there is a file in there called Show Desktop. If there isn't, jump down to the next item (4). If there is, right-click on it and click Restore. This will move the icon back to whichever folder it was in at the time somebody deleted it. Look to see if it has been restored directly to the Quick Launch bar. If you can't see it there, click the chevrons as it may be hidden behind them. If you see the icon there, use the left mouse button to drag it to its rightful place next to the Start button. If the restored icon is nowhere to be seen on the Quick Launch bar, look on the desktop for it. If it's not there either, do a normal file search of your computer's C: drive for 'Files and folder' named Show Desktop and, provided such a file is found, and is in a folder other than the Windows directory, use the right-hand mouse button to drag it onto the Quick Launch bar.
N.B. You should choose to unhide system files for the above file search to be effective. If a file named Show Desktop was found, but it was inside the Windows directory, ignore it and jump down to Method B below to continue.
(4) If, after carrying out the above checks, you are still minus the Show Desktop icon, that means the corresponding file has somehow been erased from your hard disk. The icon is not an ordinary (.lnk) shortcut file but something called a 'Windows Explorer Command' (a .scf file). The command file requires a special process in order to restore it. It is no use looking in Windows' local Help for assistance either, as there is no mention in there of how to restore the icon. An inexcusable omission.
We actually know of five different ways to restore a permanently erased Show Desktop icon and we cover the four most intrinsic ones in this article. The four methods are quite varied in their means of approach, so we suggest you simply use the first one you come to that suits the way you personally like to go about things on Windows. If you like using Notepad, Method A is good. If you like downloading zip files, Method B is good. Methods A and B will work for all versions of Windows from Windows 98 thru XP and Vista. Methods C & D are only available to users of Windows 98 or Me. The difference being, in the case of NT-based systems e.g. XP, you will have lost the icon's original file, so a new one will be needed. But, in the case of DOS-based systems e.g. Win 98, the icon's original file will not have been erased, only a replica of it, so a replacement replica is all that is required.
Method A involves recreating the missing file from scratch. But it only needs Windows Notepad to do so, and is really easy to do. With Method B, we have already created the icon file (using Notepad) in a zip file - so it merely needs downloading from here. Ideal if you like the really easy life! Method C (98 or Me only) works by substituting a normal shortcut for the missing Windows command, but the end result will look and work just the same as if you had used Method A or B. Also, Method C uses routine Windows' procedures that anyone except a complete beginner should find familiar. Method D© is unique to this website (but 98 or Me only). It is a super-fast variation on Method C which can have a substitute shortcut in place in 25 seconds flat.
Continued from LH col. 
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Method A - Use Notepad to recreate a 'Show Desktop.scf' file - Windows 98 thru XP & Vista
1. Open Notepad and either type in or paste in the five command lines you can see in Fig 2. The text needs to be exactly as shown - except that the capital letters are optional. If you are using Vista, and prefer to have Vista's new icon design, change the middle line of text, after pasting it into Notepad, to read...
IconFile=shell32.dll,34
2. Save the Notepad file to your desktop as Show Desktop.scf. To do so, click File > Save As... > at 'Save in', choose Desktop > at 'File name', type in Show Desktop.scf * > at 'Save as type', choose 'All Files (*.*)' > Save > close Notepad.
* The file has to be named exactly as shown, including the white space and the capital letters. This is because the name part (extension excluded) also serves as the hover label (tool tip) for the new icon.
3. After step 2, you will have acquired an icon on your desktop, the same as or similar to the example in Fig 1 right. Using the right-hand mouse button, drag the icon over the Quick Launch bar, release the mouse button only when you see the insertion bar and, at the context menu which appears, left-click on Move Here. If you have trouble moving the icon see tip 1 in the RH column. Finally, use the left mouse button to drag the icon so it is next to the Start button, and that's it, finished.
N.B. If you use Windows XP or Vista, you may find that adding a new shortcut to the Quick Launch bar causes the taskbar to double in height. If this happens, right-click on the taskbar, untick 'Lock the Taskbar', and then you should be able to drag down its height.
