How to Create Virtual Desktops in Windows 11
Honestly, dealing with a cluttered screen in Windows 11 was driving me crazy, so I decided to finally set up virtual desktops. It’s supposed to be straightforward, but it took me some messing around to actually get it working smoothly. Sometimes the options are kind of tucked away, or the shortcuts don’t work at first. Anyway, here’s what I ended up figuring out about creating and managing multiple desktops—so hopefully this saves someone else a lot of time.
The New Taskbar Icon and Its Role in Virtual Desktops
The first thing I noticed is, Windows 11 put a task view icon right on the taskbar. It’s that little rectangle overlapping another—looks simple, but it’s actually pretty powerful. Clicking on it opens up the whole virtual desktop view, so you can see all your open desktops at once, switch between them, or make a new one. Sometimes, I’d hover over the icon and get a mini-preview of all desktops, which was kinda nice to quickly check what’s where. If you don’t see that icon, try right-clicking on the taskbar and go into Taskbar Settings. Then, under Taskbar Items, make sure Task View is toggled on. Sometimes it’s just turned off for no obvious reason.
Creating a New Virtual Desktop
This part is pretty simple once you find the option: just click the “+” icon inside the desktops view—usually at the top or bottom of that pane that opens after clicking the task view. Or, if you’re quick with hotkeys, Windows key + Ctrl + D creates a new desktop instantly. I like that shortcut because I can set up a new workspace without clicking around too much. But I’ve had times where it didn’t work—probably because of keyboard layout settings or some weird language pack messing with shortcuts on my system. If that happens, I’d check your language and input settings, or try remapping hotkeys in third-party tools if needed.
Once the new desktop shows up, it’s like a blank slate. You can drag open apps onto it, or open new ones directly on that desktop. Sometimes, moving apps between desktops can be a little finicky if you’re multi-monitor setup is being stubborn or if your system’s a bit slow. I’ve definitely mis-clicked and accidentally closed a window instead of moving it. Save your work often, especially when rearranging stuff.
Rearranging and Moving Apps Between Desktops
If you want to reorder your desktops or organize your apps better, it’s doable. Open the task view with Windows key + Tab or the task view icon, then drag the desktop thumbnails left or right to change the order. Moving apps from one desktop to another is usually done by dragging the app window itself from one thumbnail to another within task view. That’s not always perfect—sometimes dragging can be sluggish or wonky, especially if you’re on multiple screens or have different scaling settings. But if drag-and-drop doesn’t cooperate, right-click the app’s title bar, hover over Move to, then select Move to another desktop. That works pretty reliably.
Customizing Each Virtual Desktop with Different Wallpapers
This was a game-changer for me — being able to set different wallpapers for each desktop makes it way easier to tell them apart. Just right-click on the desktop you want to customize and pick “Personalize”. You can select a different background image for each one. When you’re in the Personalize settings, go to Background, choose your image, or click Browse photos if you want something custom. Switch to each desktop and set a different wallpaper; it’s pretty quick once you get the hang of it. Just a heads up: setting a different wallpaper per desktop is a manual process—if you change the wallpaper for one, it doesn’t automatically sync across multiple desktops.
Note that setting a wallpaper here only affects that particular desktop. Themes tend to sync across all desktops unless you customize each one separately in Settings > Personalization > Themes. Personally, I find having different wallpapers helps me instantly recognize which workspace I’m in—especially handy if you juggle work stuff with personal stuff on the same machine.
On my older ASUS, for example, it was buried deep in Advanced options or hidden behind manufacturer-specific utilities, so it’s nice that Windows 11 makes it relatively straightforward once you know where to look. If you plan to assign different backgrounds, just switch to each desktop and do your thing—don’t forget to click Apply or it might not save.
Looking back, managing virtual desktops in Windows 11 isn’t just about reducing clutter. It’s about actually making your workflow smoother and giving each workspace a personal touch. It took me a while to figure everything out, especially the bit about customizing wallpapers — I thought it was more complicated than it is. So, if you’re just starting, keep experimenting with the shortcut keys, desktop reordering, and wallpaper settings. Double-check if your system is up to date, especially if certain options are missing or grayed out—sometimes an update or driver tweak can fix those issues. And if you have a laptop or a device with OEM restrictions, some features might be disabled by the manufacturer. In those cases, rolling back to Windows 10 or doing a clean install might be the last resort.
Hope this helped — it took me way too long to figure it out, honestly. Anyway, good luck wrangling your desktops, and hopefully this saves someone else a weekend of trial and error!