What are these brown box icons in left bottom corner of my files??

Anonymous
2022-03-07T21:29:56+00:00

Does anyone know where these small brown box icons came from and what they mean?? I suddenly have these little brown icons (looks like a small file box) on most of my files, Word, pdf, photos, etc. I've googled the daylights out of this and apparently lots of folks have the same question but no one has an answer. I hasn't affected my ability to open files but it's really annoying! (see pic below) Does it have something to do with my upgrade to Windows 11?

Thanks!

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Performance and system failures

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Anonymous
2022-04-23T00:35:08+00:00

Had this exact same issue today. The resolution was quick no reinstall. I'm on Win11, so perhaps that was a plus in this scenario. Here's the fix that worked for me:

  1. Open windows explorer <windows-key + e>
  2. If you're using OneDrive you should see something like "OneDrive - Personal" within the left-hand pane. If so, Right-Click to access the context-menu.
  3. You should see the menu-item: "Always keep on this device", select this.
  4. Recheck your desktop; no more brown boxes, yay!

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-01-02T12:49:59+00:00

    I am wondering the same thing. I got up this morning and all my desktop icons have brown boxes. Did someone hack my computer last night? Did Microsoft make a change? I don't have OneDrive or Dropbox. Have never configured or used them so I don't understand where this is coming from.

    Barbara

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-01-03T00:15:33+00:00

    I thought that the brown box problem was related to OneDrive. I have tried most of the suggestions without success. It is interesting to note that some of my files with the brown box still open although most do not. Also, if I move one of the files that does open to Google the brown box travels with it.

    To make a long story short I have moved unaffected files from OneDrive to Google Drive. I have recoved files that don't open from my backup which is on another drive and appears to be unaffectied.

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-01-03T13:56:13+00:00

    Hi Bruce

    I don't use OneDrive or Google Drive so I don't know how this would apply to my laptop files. I store all my files locally on the hard drive and I do backups to an external Western Digital USB drive. I tried a solution recommended on another thread and it seemed to work, for now. I went to Task Manager, then right-click on Windows Explorer, then click Restart. The brown boxes went away. I don't keep the Acronis backup software running so I don't believe that was causing the brown boxes. I just think Microsoft is always changing stuff. I went to bed one night and woke up with the brown boxes. No rhyme nor reason.

    I'm glad you got yours fixed.

    Barbara

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-01-03T17:04:11+00:00

    Is anyone else losing important files and pictures after changing to Windows 11?

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