Shortcut arrow icons gone after Windows 8.1

Anonymous
2014-04-26T20:52:31+00:00

Hey all,

I know it's something minor but ever since I have upgraded to Windows 8.1 I noticed that the little shortcut arrow icons that appear on shortcuts are gone. They appear again only if I hover my mouse over the shortcuts or if I refresh the desktop or folder where the shortcuts are in. However, after a reboot the issue comes up again and I have to redo the mentioned actions.

Things I have tried:

  1. I did a SFC/ scannow and it didn't find any integrity violations.
  2. I have tried 3 different nvidia WHQL drivers without any result.
  3. A reformat also didn't fix the issue.

My specs:

Windows 8.1 Pro 64x with Media Centre (Update 1 installed along with all latest updates)

i5 3570K CPU

nVidia GTX 660Ti with 335.23 WHQL driver (not OC'ed)

8 GB RAM and 1 TB HDD

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Accessibility

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-06-08T00:20:14+00:00

    Im having the same annoying issue on both my laptop and computer.Microsoft better fix this soon cause it has been happening since upgrading to 8.1. :/

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-05-28T07:23:19+00:00

    Same issue here... Shortcut icons shown at icon properties dialog, but not in desktop. See attached image: 

    https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/27828517/snap003.jpg

    OS Name:                   Microsoft Windows 8.1 Pro

    OS Version:                6.3.9600 N/A Build 9600

    OS Manufacturer:           Microsoft Corporation

    OS Configuration:          Standalone Workstation

    OS Build Type:             Multiprocessor Free

    BIOS Version:              American Megatrends Inc. UX32VD.214, 2013.01.29.

    My installed updates: 

    https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/27828517/updates.txt

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-05-13T06:18:47+00:00

    Hi Johnny,

    I tried to reproduce the issue on Windows 8.1 with latest update installed, the desktop icons are working fine. Did you check if you can reproduce the issue on another Windows 8.1 computer?

    This issue could also occur if shell32.dll is corrupted. Let's re-register it and check if it resolves the issue.

    1. Press Windows key + X
    2. Click on Command prompt(Admin)
    3. Type regsvr32 shell32.dll and press enter.
    4. Restart the computer and check.

    Hope this helps.

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-05-10T18:00:51+00:00

    Rebuilding the icon cache didn't help.

    I already stated that I tried sfc/ scannow but it didn't find any integrity violations.

    It seems to be a Windows 8.1 bug since I found 5 threads (each with >1 users) reporting the same problem. Maybe if you could try to reproduce the bug by following the steps I mentioned? (see post of April 29, 2014)

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  5. Anonymous
    2014-05-10T09:07:44+00:00

    Hi Johnny,

    I would suggest you to follow these steps and check if it helps.

    Step 1: 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

    1.  In Task Manager, click File, select New Task (Run…)
    2.  Type EXPLORER.EXE, and click OK.

    Step 2: I would suggest you to run System File Checker tool (SFC.exe) and check if it helps. The System File Checker tool (SFC.exe) scans for missing or corrupted system files and repairs them.

    Run System File checker to see if you have any corrupted system files.

    Use the System File Checker tool to repair missing or corrupted system files

    **http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929833/en-us**

    Hope this helps.

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