The desktop icons are all generally stored in "user folders." In the normal case, when you add a new user at least a few default icons will show, and the user can then add whatever icons are wanted.

If a user is deleted, sometimes a blank user desktop can come up for that user, or even for all users. If someone has been trying to change users, it's possible that something of this sort has happened.

Depending on how changes were entered, with the "right mistakes" the original user (the deleted one?) might still be able to get in with the former password, or might get to the login page but be blocked from proceeding further.

The problem, relying on my own fuzzy memory, occurs most often if someone tries to "clean up" and deletes the "default user" identity, but the details are "unremembered." It's been some time since I encountered the info (at Microsoft Search) and digging it up again might take a while - if they haven't decided it's a "feature" and deleted the articles.

John