Desktop & Program Icons are mussing.

3WAYsplit

3WAYsplit

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Sep 26, 2001
Messages
1,258
Yesterday my computer was running fine. The desktop icons were all there. When started my computer today
all the Desktop & Program Icons are missing The icon text is there for the icons. But the pictures are gone.
[see attached pic]

All the Program Icons work when L clicked. When I R click and select Properties nothing happens.
The programs opened in the taskbar show up as generic. In the attached pic I have two different browsers and Paint open.
All icons in folders are also missing icons. They just show as text.


The only changes I made to my computer was using Ultimate Windows Tweaker 4.2.2 to remove the
Icon Arrows. My computer was working fine before and after the change. Until today.
I've used that before for the same purpose without issues.


Yes I already checked and the setting to show icons is selected.

How do I get my icons back to normal?
 

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Last edited:
Completely remove your Start Menu replacement program and reboot.
 
Why should I remove it now? It has been on installed on my computer for almost a year without any issue. What would make it cause this kind of problem?

If I do remove it than reboot, should I reinstall it afterwards? Or would I be faced with the same problem again?

I was thinking of try this fix.

https://www.howtogeek.com/232779/how-to-rebuild-a-broken-icon-cache-in-windows-10/

But I can't find this location:
C:\Users\<your username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer

I don't have AppData in any of my Users.
What happened, and how do I fix this?
 
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It'll help you narrow down what's causing the issue

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer


You could try renaming/deleting
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Icons
 
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I went to:

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Icons

This is what I see:

Name Type Data
(Default) REG_SZ (value not set)
29 REG_SZ

What do I need to do?

_____________________________________________________

I uninstalled ClassicShell and nothing changed. The icons still look the same. Now the Start Menu looks like the hideous Windows 10 again.


More info:

If I Left Click on the Programs Icons that start up fine. It's like the icons are the text without pictures. If I Right Click any of them and click on Properties, nothing happens.


What else can I try?


Would a {gasp} repair install fix this problem? Will it mess up my files & programs? Can I do it with a Windows install disc?
 
3WAYsplit said:
I went to:

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Icons

This is what I see:

Name Type Data
(Default) REG_SZ (value not set)
29 REG_SZ

What do I need to do?

_____________________________________________________

I uninstalled ClassicShell and nothing changed. The icons still look the same. Now the Start Menu looks like the hideous Windows 10 again.


More info:

If I Left Click on the Programs Icons that start up fine. It's like the icons are the text without pictures. If I Right Click any of them and click on Properties, nothing happens.


What else can I try?


Would a {gasp} repair install fix this problem? Will it mess up my files & programs? Can I do it with a Windows install disc?
Click to expand...

Well, it was worth a shot. (Nothing wrong with the Windows 10 start menu so stop being over dramatic. :D ) Do you have a system restore point you can roll back too? Otherwise, just create the install media from the Media creation tool a usb drive, install from within Windows and see if that helps. (Are you on a hard drive or SSD?)
 
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I haven't done a restore before. What are the steps?

My Windows 10 is on a SSD.
 
3WAYsplit said:
What do I need to do?
Click to expand...
rename "Shell Icons" to "Shell IconsX" or something (and reboot).
3WAYsplit said:
Would a {gasp} repair install fix this problem? Will it mess up my files & programs? Can I do it with a Windows install disc?
Click to expand...
Wouldn't know for Win10, but probably programs will still be around, settings for those programs won't be.

So, I take it deleting IconCache.db didn't help?
 
@ ChoGGi I renamed "Shell Icons" to "Shell IconsX" then rebooted.

That looks like it worked. But the Icon Arrows are back. :(

I used Ultimate Windows Tweaker 4.2.2 to remove those arrows before. It seems like Windows Update keeps messing those settings.

Could I use it again, or is there an newer version to try.
 
stick this in a .reg file and import it
Code: 
REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Icons]
"29"="%SystemRoot%\\System32\\shell32.dll,50"

it assigns the shortcut arrow icon (29) to a blank ico, rather than blanking it out like that tweaker.
 
Doesn't that code just turn the arrows clear, and not remove them?

I'm not to sure how to do that. Please explain the steps to do it.

I did find a newer version Ultimate Windows Tweaker 4.3. The other version was working fine for almost a year. A Windows update
messed it up. When I reused it again Windows caused my recent problem. In the program notes it mentions the fixes to this issue
caused by Windows. So I will try this first. It's the only setting I change using it.

Thx for the help. :)
 
3WAYsplit said:
Doesn't that code just turn the arrows clear, and not remove them?
Click to expand...
Pretty much, if you want to get more drastic then head to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile
and change IsShortcut to IsNotShortCut (may cause unintended side effects).
3WAYsplit said:
I'm not to sure how to do that. Please explain the steps to do it.
Click to expand...
Save this to your computer and run it (make sure it's saved as ShortcutArrows.reg and not ShortcutArrows.reg.txt).
 
I’ve used a program called X-Setup Pro specifically for those shortcut arrows. The devs have ended support a long time ago. It works on W7 and earlier but I can’t vouch for W10. Look up x-setup.net for the official statement and serial.
 
Windows updates or new version installs almost always "undo" the changes I've made with Windows Ultimate Tweaker. Have to go back and remove shortcut arrows again. Also, I use something like the option in this article to reset the icon cache. It is option one using the .bat file and downloading to the desktop. The icons get corrupted from time to time and lose their pictures or use generic pictures. Has always worked for me. Quicker than messing in the registry or using the command prompt.

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/5645-rebuild-icon-cache-windows-10-a.html

I keep the .bat file on the desktop to reuse when the icons become corrupted again over time.
 
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