After a web search, these are some of the things I found:

Why does my computer keep deleting my shortcuts?
This can happen if the the System Maintenance troubleshooter detects the shortcuts as broken. The System Maintenance troubleshooter performs a weekly maintenance of the operating system. The System Maintenance troubleshooter either fixes problems automatically or reports problems through Action Center.

Alternatively you could also try a System Restore:
System Restore:
1. Right-click on Start menu > select Run.
2. Type rstrui.exe into the box > click OK to enter System Restore.
3. Click Next to continue.
4. Choose a restore point before your desktop icons disappeared > tap on Next.
5. Confirm the restore point you select > click Finish to start the system restore.
6. After the completion of system restore, your desktop icons will be hopefully restored.
More options for fixing missing icons are discussed here: https://www.cisdem.com/resource/how-...top-icons.html


(1) Graphics driver issues: Outdated or missing graphics drivers can cause icons to disappear or display incorrectly.
(2) Corrupted icon cache: The icon cache can become corrupted, leading to icons appearing distorted or not at all.

The following link discusses how to Rebuild the icon cache: https://www.ninjaone.com/blog/missin...ns-windows-10/


Be a little wary of the following one:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/an...hortcuts-addin
This one would prevent you accidentally deleting shortcuts. WARNING: BUT this would also prevent you deleting any kind of file from the desktop. For that reason you need to consider if that is what you want.