You're here because you have a file that has a file extension ending in .desktop. Files with the file extension .desktop can only be launched by certain applications. It's possible that .desktop files are data files rather than documents or media, which means they're not meant to be viewed at all.

There are different types of miscellaneous files, and DESKTOP files are categorized as such, though are more commonly called desktop entry files. These DESKTOP files are appended with the .desktop extension and are used by some Linux programs as reference data when a user accesses the menu items in an application. The data stored in these DESKTOP files consists of plain text information integrated with XML-based encoding specifications, and these plain text entries are pieces of data relevant to the corresponding application menu item on focus. Specifically, the name of the menu item and the associated code to initialize and run the corresponding application are some of the pieces of code implemented into these DESKTOP files,. This means when a user of a Unix-based application clicks on an item in the menu toolbar of the application window on focus, the software on focus locates the data stored in the corresponding DESKTOP file. It then references the data in the DESKTOP file and displays the corresponding details of the menu toolbar item on focus.

Launch a .desktop file, or any other file on your PC, by double-clicking it. If your file associations are set up correctly, the application that's meant to open your .desktop file will open it. It's possible you may need to download or purchase the correct application. It's also possible that you have the correct application on your PC, but .desktop files aren't yet associated with it. In this case, when you try to open a .desktop file, you can tell Windows which application is the correct one for that file. From then on, opening a  .desktop file will open the correct application. Click here to fix .desktop file association errors

Be careful not to rename the extension on .desktop files, or any other files. This will not change the file type. Only special conversion software can change a file from one file type to another.

A file extension is the set of three or four characters at the end of a filename; in this case, .desktop. File extensions tell you what type of file it is, and tell Windows what programs can open it. Windows often associates a default program to each file extension, so that when you double-click the file, the program launches automatically. When that program is no longer on your PC, you can sometimes get an error when you try to open the associated file.