First of all, you should find handle of the window, which are the desktop. And after that, you may work with it like with any other window.
// Hide icons on the Desktop procedure TForm1.Button2Click(Sender: TObject); begin ShowWindow(DesktopListViewHandle, SW_HIDE); end; procedure TForm1.FormCreate(Sender: TObject); begin DesktopListViewHandle:=FindWindow('ProgMan', nil); DesktopListViewHandle:=GetWindow(DesktopListViewHandle, GW_CHILD); DesktopListViewHandle:=GetWindow(DesktopListViewHandle, GW_CHILD); end; // Show icons on the Desktop procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject); begin ShowWindow(DesktopListViewHandle, SW_SHOW); end;