Icons missing their specialized image

Anonymous
2010-02-09T23:59:53+00:00

Some of the shortcuts on my desktop and start menu are missing their images. For example I have the Windows Live icon that is pinned to the taskbar but it is showing the default MS OS image (the one when the OS does not reconize the file the shortcut targets). Six out of 8 icons on my desktop are missing their images. The shortcuts work fine. No problems. The OS is up to date as far as downloads are concerned.

I turned off my computer Friday (2/5) and turned it on Sunday 2/7 and the icons were messed up. Like I said not all the icons are messed up. It is like the images the shortcuts pointed to were deleted somehow.

I would appreciate your help.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Accessibility

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Anonymous
2010-02-10T21:58:26+00:00

Hi tagger1961,

Have you recently installed or uninstalled any software or hardware?

I would suggest you to rebuild the icon cache and check if the issue is resolved.

Rebuilding the Icon Cache Database:

1.  Close all folder windows that are currently open.

2.  Launch Task Manager using the CTRL+SHIFT+ESC key sequence, or by running taskmgr.exe.

3.  In the Process tab, right-click on the Explorer.exe process and select End Process.

4.  Click the End process button when asked for confirmation.

5.  From the File menu of Task Manager, select New Task (Run…)

6.  Type CMD.EXE, and click OK

7.   In the Command Prompt window, type the commands one by one and press ENTER after each command:

CD /d %userprofile%\AppData\Local

DEL IconCache.db /a

EXIT

8.  In Task Manager, click File, select New Task (Run…)

9.  Type EXPLORER.EXE, and click OK.

If the issue still persist, I would suggest you to create a new user account and check.

To create a user account:

1.      To open User Accounts, click the Start button, click Control Panel, click User Accounts and Family Safety, and then click User Accounts.

2.      Click Manage another account. If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

3.      Click Create a new account.

4.      Type the name you want to give the user account, click an account type, and then click Create Account.

For further information, visit the below mentioned link:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/Windows7/Create-a-user-account

If the issue is solved in new user account, you may have corrupted profile.

Below is the link  to troulbleshoot a corrupted profile, you can follow the steps mentioned in the link.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/Windows7/Fix-a-corrupted-user-profile

 Hope this information helped!

 Thanks and regards,

 Fouzan – Microsoft support.

 Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum 

 http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-%20US/answersfeedback/threads and let 

 us know what you think.

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-04-04T21:44:56+00:00

    I would like to help you, but I can not understand what you wrote in cmd.exe. Fix It is really a tool that helps correct errors in Windows, and need administrator rights to run. About 75 years, do not worry because the Windows creators no longer have 50 years also.

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-04-04T00:14:32+00:00

    Hi, I did everything you said, but when I typed in CMD.EXE I got the Windows Fix-It pop-up asking permission and if I click on it I can't go any further. It stops it.  I can't run any security checks as  it pops up there too, and I can't open any Windows programs, also some of my icons.

    Please help me. I am 75 ys. old and not so smart about PC and don't know what else to do.

    Thank you very much for your help!!!

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-02-21T23:32:39+00:00

    Hi Edmundo, tried your Registry Settings and Entries, on Thursday 2/19 and none of them helped or worked at all.

    Only solution I could find, was to "Redo Windows 7," by formatting the hard drive and reloading Windows 7, which of course did fix the Icons

    So, this solved the problem, and I did notice that, that is the "only solution" to fix Icons, when they go blank.

    Thank you kindly for your help Edmundo, sure did appreciate your help a lot.

    Steve

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-02-19T17:38:26+00:00

    I'll give this a try Edmundo, but I'm thinking I'll just have to reload Windows 7 for this lady, since nothing seems to work for fixing the Icons (so far).

    I'll let you know what it does here. Thank you for your suggestion to try, I sure do appreciate it!

    Steve

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