Windows 10 Alt+Tab can't switch to desktop

I agree that the Alt + Tab was a convenient way to get to the desktop, and it's hard to break old habits. Of course the Win + D is faster, and I think that may be my new Go to instead of paging through with Alt + Tab.

But another alternative is to add the Desktop to the Taskbar. Clicking on it gives you a list of everything in the Desktop plus some things that disappeared from Windows XP.

To get Desktop in the Taskbar, right click the Task bar and select Toolbars → then click Desktop to add it to the Task bar.

I hope some feel this is a reasonable alternative.

After being very frustrated with this problem myself I came up with a work-around using AutoHotkey. Here is the script:

#SingleInstance force
Loop
{
    WinWaitActive, Desktop.txt
    {
            Send, !{Tab}
        WinWaitNotActive, Desktop.txt
        {
            Send, #d
        }
    }
}

To use it create a text file named "Desktop.txt" and leave it open. When you alt-tab to that file the script will quickly alt-tab back to your original active application and then use Win+D to show the desktop. By doing this it effectively behaves the same as alt-tabbing to desktop did in prior Windows versions, even keeping the desktop shortcut in the expected order in the alt-tab menu. I put both the Ahk script and the Desktop.txt file in my startup folder so they start automatically when I turn on my computer.