.Docx files are not showing word icon but only white plain icon (Windows 10)

This worked for me. Thanks!

This worked for me. Thanks!

Mine 'NO WORD ICON SYNDROME' happened when I installed Office ProPlus. I also upgraded my Visio and Project to 2019.

It not only turned the Word files white but also grayed out links to many Microsoft products.

When I try to change default icon the only option I get is Word selection.

Fix for Blank Docx icon  with Office 2016 and Office 2019

I tried all suggested solutions with no luck. Deleted icon cache, Reinstall office ,fix office none worked. 

So I looked at the Docx registry settings in a working computer using office 2019 .

I copied the files I listed below  and this worked 100% and now my Docx files have a word icon 

Good luck be safe back up your docx registry key just encase 

I wanted the 2019 docx of office 2019 functionality Using Window 10. After upgrading from Office 2013 to 2019 .

I have found out what I had to do to get back the Right-click New Microsoft Word Document function of Office 2019 in Windows Explorer and on the Desktop.

I found that four keys were missing in the registry in comparison with my other computer’s installation of Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2019.

Remember to back up the .docx key by exporting it to a safe folder so that you could have it if necessary.

I opened the registry to – HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.docx

Steps creating keys are done on the left window pane in the registry.

1)     Below the .docx key I create the first key that was missing by right clicking on the “.docx” key then go down to New, then left click on Key and name it “OpenWithList” without the quotes.

Inside of that key is the automatically created String Value (default)  REG_SZ   (value not set)

2)     Inside of the “OpenWithList” create the second key. Right click on the “OpenWithList” key then go down to New, then left click on Key and name this new key “WordPad.exe” without the quotes.

Inside of that key is the automatically created String Value (default)  REG_SZ   (value not set)

3)     Right click on the “.docx” key then go down to New, then left click on Key to create the third key and name it “Word.Document.16” without the quotes.

Inside of that key is the automatically created String Value (default)  REG_SZ   (value not set)

4)     Right click on the “Word.Document.16” key then go down to New, then left click on Key to create the fourth key and name it “ShellNew” without the quotes.

Inside of that key is the automatically created String Value (default)  REG_SZ   (value not set)

The next thing to do is to create a string value newly created “ShellNew” key but this is done in the window on the right side.

5)     Left click on ShellNew in the left window to select the key. Now in the window on the right side; Right click in the empty space go to New then select String Value. Name the new string “NullFile” without the quotes, Type is REG_SZ Leave the data empty.

6)     Lastly, in the left window left click on key .docx, In the right side window make sure that the data of the (Default) string is Word.Document.16 – To change it, doubleclick on the string named (Default) , a window will open up and you change the data value to Word.Document.16 (My data value was “docx_auto_file”)

You are done. Close the registry.  Test the right click context menu now.

I hope that this will help some people.  

Thanks @Rdmaster!

This is truly a simple fix, and worked flawlessly for me. So instead of changing the .docx key to Word.Document.16, I changed mine to Word.Document.12 (this varies depending on the version of MS Office that you have I think!!). The Word.Document.12 folder already exists for me, and hence I made the update accordingly.

After updating the keys, the icons will not display automatically. I "refreshed" it by right-clicking and opening the file with WordPad, and then changing it back again to Word 2016 as the default.

Hope this may help others!

Thank you to both Rdmaster and Sm0othch1ck! I started having this problem after one of many Windows 10 updates in Sept./Oct. 2019 with my Office 365 installation. I already had all of the registry keys in Rdmaster's reply, but had Word.Document.12 instead of 16 (like Sm0othch1ck). So all I had to do was left click on the .docx key and then change the Default key data value, which, like Rdmaster's, was docx_auto_file, to Word.Document.12. And then refresh the icons by changing the default opener to WordPad and then back to Word.

Registry Editor fix by export/import from an existing (working) user's machine. 

Export HKCR.docx reg key from existing (working) user's machine.

2. Remove his key
3. Import new key from step 1
4. Open with... set default to Wordpad
5. Open with... set default to Word