How do I switch my Windows 10 desktop *out* of list view?

I'm running Windows 10 (Enterprise, 21H1), and, for unknown reasons earlier this morning, the desktop began displaying in list view. I understand that many people love this, and so the general advice being sought is how to enable it (apparently this feature was removed at some point in Windows 10?). I, however, am looking to disable it.

My desktop now has a bar running across the top (of all three monitors) with column headers (Name, Size, Item type, Date modified) that I can click on to sort the icons. Furthermore, the icons all have checkboxes (though this is not the case on any other Explorer window or folder), and folders do not show up on the desktop (though they do if I open the Desktop folder in an Explorer window).

I can change the view to large icons, medium icons, small icons, etc, and this has no effect (other than to hide the icons unless I choose "tile" mode). The bar across the top and the checkboxes remain in all modes.

I have run the sfc tool, and while this found minor issues (mainly some ACL overlaps and a problem with a start menu link), it did not correct the problem.

How in the world do I get my desktop back to "normal" view?

Additional information:

I rebooted in safe mode to see if the behavior happened there, and while the checkboxes were present there, the sort bar across the top was not. I then rebooted in normal mode, and the behavior from safe mode has persisted into normal mode, with the additional change that the OneDrive status icons are now present (green checkmarks in the lower left corner). Overall, this is an improvement, but we're not totally there yet.

Solution 1:

Sounds like the FolderFlags value for the Desktop view has been corrupted. Open regedit & navigate to:
HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\1\Desktop
and check the value of "FFlags". It should have a value that's unique to the Desktop: 0x40000224 (1073742372).

If it doesn't, do the following:

1. Start Task Manager
2. Start an Admin PowerShell console
3. Locate Windows Explorer in Task Manager (far down the list)
4. Select > right-click > End task
5. Alt+tab to regedit and delete the Desktop key
6. Alt+tab to PowerShell, type explorer<Enter> to restart the shell.
7. Hopefully the Desktop is back to normal.