How to move the desktop on the smartphone Xiaomi: all working methods

Moving the desktop on Xiaomi smartphones is a challenge that users face after updating MIUI, resetting or buying a used device. Unlike standard Android devices, Redmi, POCO and Black Shark phones have a unique shell where the location of the home screen can depend on the firmware version, regional settings and even the processor model. In this article, we will analyze all the current ways, from basic to hidden functions for experienced users.

It's important to understand that "moving the desktop" often means changing the home screen among several pages, moving icons to another screen, or even restoring a remote desktop after a crash. We'll look at all of these scenarios with MIUI 12-15 in mind (including the global and Chinese versions). If your smartphone is running on HyperOS (the new shell for 2026+ models), some methods may differ — this, too, we'll mention separately.

Why Xiaomi’s desktop might “disappear” or shift

Before you start settings, you should understand the causes of the problem, most often users are faced with the following situations:

• 🔄 Update MIUI: After installing a new firmware version, the system can reset the home screen settings, especially if the update was “dirty” (without first cleaning the cache).
• 📱 Factory reset: With hard reset, all custom screen settings are reset, and the main desktop may not be where you’re used to.
• 🤖 Launcher Conflict: Installing a third-party launcher (like Nova Launcher or Lawnchair) sometimes results in duplicate desktops or their accidental movement.
• 🔧 System errors: In rare cases, bugs in the MIUI (especially in beta versions, can cause the screen settings to “zero.
• 📦 Transferring data from another device: When you restore a backup through Mi Cloud or Google Account, desktops may not display correctly.

If you don’t fall into either of these categories, the problem may be hardware issues, such as some POCO F5 and Redmi Note 12 Pro+ models that have a bug with a floating desktop when using 90Hz/120Hz mode, where a forced reboot or rollback to a previous firmware version helps.

Method 1: Basic movement of the main screen in the MIUI settings

The easiest method is to use built-in shell tools, and it's suitable for most models, including the Redmi. 10/11/12, POCO X3/X4/X5 mi 11/12/13 The instructions are relevant to the MIUI 12.5–14:

1. Open the settings (the gear icon on the desktop).
2. Go to the Desktop section (or Home in some localizations).
3. Select the Desktop Settings item → Main screen screen.
4. Here you will see a list of all your home screens. Tap on the screen you want to set as the default (it will be highlighted in blue).
5. Confirm the choice by clicking Ready or Save.

If the Home screen is missing, then your version of MIUI is using a different approach.

• 📌 Fingering the free space on the desktop → select the settings → Change the main screen.
• 🔍 In the search for settings enter the “main screen” (without quotes) andfollow the suggestions.

Take a screenshot of the current location of the icons|Check the version. MIUI In Settings → The phone.|Close all background applications|Shut down. VPN (It can block system settings)-->

Important! On some firmware (e.g. MIUI EU or custom builds), this section may be called Default Home or Primary Screen. If you use unofficial firmware, check its compatibility with your model first on the XDA Developers forum.

Method 2: Drag and drop screen manually (for MIUI 13-15)

In newer versions of MIUI, developers have added the ability to move screens by drag and drop, a method that works on Xiaomi 13/13T/14, Redmi Note 12 and other devices with a HyperOS shell:

1. Make a pinch gesture (mixing two fingers) on your desktop to open editing mode.
2. At the bottom of the screen, you'll see a miniature view of all the desktops, and you'll hold the screen down and hold it.
3. Drag it left or right to change order. The main screen is the one on the far left.
4. Click Ready or tap on the free space to save the changes.

If screen thumbnails don’t appear, try an alternative way:

1. Press any icon on your desktop and drag it to the edge of the screen (left or right).
2. The system will automatically switch to the next desktop, repeat the action until you find the right screen.
3. To make it the main one, drag all the commonly used icons (e.g. Phone, Messages, Camera) onto it.

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If the screens “twitch” or do not react when dragging, try turning off animation in Settings → Special Features → Remove animations.

Method 3: Reset the launcher settings (if the screen is not moving)

If standard methods do not work, you may have a failure in the settings of the system launcher com.miui.home.

1. Open Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. In the search, type com.miui.home (or simply "home").
3. Select the MIUI (or MIUI Home) application.
4. Click Warehouse → Clear the data and Clear the cache.
5. Reset the device.

After this procedure, all widgets and folders on the desktop will be reset. Take screenshots in advance or write down the location of the icons to quickly restore them.

⚠️ Note: On some models (POCO F4 GT, Black Shark 5) a launcher reset can cause the themes to disappear. If you use a custom theme, pre-save it in Topics. → My subjects. → Exports.

Method 4: Using ADB to force a change in the main screen

For advanced users who have not worked previous methods, there is a way through Android Debug Bridge (ADB).It is suitable for all Xiaomi models, but requires a connection to a PC.

1. Turn on Developer Mode on your phone: go to Settings → About Phone → tap 7 times on the MIUI version.
2. Return to Settings → Additional → For developers and enable USB debugging.
3. Connect your phone to your PC, install Mi USB Driver drivers, and run the command prompt (or Terminal on Mac/Linux).
4. Enter the command to check the connection: Adb devices should display the name of your device.
5. Run the command to reset the main screen (replace X with the screen number you want, starting with the 0): adb shell am start -a android.intent.action.MAIN -c android.intent.category.HOME -n com.miui.home/.launcher.Launcher -e launch_default_screen X
6. Reset the device.

If you don’t know the screen number, check the current configuration first.

adb shell dumpsys activity activities | grep "mCurrentFocus"

⚠️ Attention: Misuse of the right ADB Do not change other settings through the adb shell unless you are sure of their purpose. For example, the adb shell pm clear com.miui.home command will completely reset all launcher settings, including widgets and wallpaper.

Method 5: Restore the desktop through backup

If the desktop is lost after a reset or update, it can be restored from a backup, both Mi Cloud and local storage are suitable:

• ☁️ Through Mi Cloud: Go to Settings → The phone. → Backup and reset. Select Restore from Mi Cloud and log in. Find a backup with the right date (note the size - it should be over 100MB). Check Desktop Settings and start recovery.

Local backup:

1. Connect your phone to your PC and find the MIUI/backup/AllBackup folder.
2. Copy the file with the.mbk extension to the same folder on your phone.
3. In the backup settings, select Restore Locally.

If there is no backup, you can manually restore the desktop:

1. Install any file manager with access to system folders (such as MiXplorer or Solid Explorer).
2. Cross the path. /data/system/users/0 and find the file. launcher_db.xml.
3. Copy it on your PC and edit it in your notebook by changing the defaultScreen parameter to the desired number (starts with 0).
4. Save the file and return it by replacing the original. Reboot the device.

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Local desktop backup in MIUI is created automatically once a week. To create a copy manually, use the command adb backup -f desktop.ab com.miui.home.

Frequent Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

When you move your desktop, you often have typical problems, and here's how to solve them:

• 🔄 Screens "jump" when switching: Turn off the swipe gesture up to open the menu in the launcher settings.
• 📵 No changes saved: Check if Guest or Private mode is enabled in the security settings.
• 🔒 Impossible to drag screen: Remove all third-party launchers via Settings → Annexes.
• 🖼️ Icons overlap each other: Reset the screen to Settings → Screen. → Text size and display.
• 🔋 After the reboot, the settings are reset: Update the firmware to the latest stable version (bug occurs in the MIUI 12.0.1–12.0.3).

If none of these methods worked, you may have a problem with corrupting your system files, and if you do, you can only flash it through the Mi Flash Tool or Fastboot, and you should save all the data before that, because the process will completely clear your internal memory.

FAQ: Answers to Frequent Questions