Office Icons are all missing/replaced by generic white icons

Anonymous
2010-08-03T08:01:12+00:00

For some reason all my office products (word, excel, outlook, access etc.) icons in the start menu and desktop task bar have all been replaced by the generic white icons.

I am unable to uninstall or repair this. I believe (from what I've read on the internet) that it is connected to the "C:\windows\installer" folder and the Office installer files.

Can this problem be solved without having to re-install windows ( as that is the only way I think its possible to be albe to reset the office suite).

Cheers,

Jurgens

Microsoft 365 and Office | Install, redeem, activate | For home | Windows

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2011-09-24T16:39:18+00:00

I had the same issue as everyone here and I think I've FINALLY figured out a solution!

Go to c:/Program Files/Microsoft Office/Office 14

Right click on each program icon individually and unpin from BOTH your Taskbar and/or Start Menu. (e.g. EXCEL.EXE, MSACCESS.EXE, MSPUB.EXE, OUTLOOK.EXE, POWERPNT.EXE, WINWORD.EXE, etc.)

Then right click and select  "Pin to Start Menu" (not to Taskbar).

Do this for each program you want to eventually make it onto your Taskbar.

Now go to Start and then for each program (that should now show in start menu with the actual Microsoft Office icon), right click and select "Pin to Taskbar".

You can then Remove each one from the Start Menu if you wish by right clicking again and selecting "Remove from this List".

Your icons should now be back to their original format.

I've rebooted my system several times so far and the icons have remained.

Hopefully this will work for everyone else as well!

Good Luck!!!

Was this answer helpful?

600+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments

123 additional answers

Sort by: Oldest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2011-12-20T23:26:06+00:00

    I have the exact same problem.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2012-03-27T16:17:11+00:00

    Thanks a lot for this post !!!!

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2012-04-25T23:55:42+00:00

    One very simple thing to check:

    Make sure you have not disabled UAC or the icons will go away.  Happened to me, and as soon as I set UAC back to default they all came back.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2012-07-09T08:25:49+00:00

    I had the same problem as described abobe.  The issue I found was the missing folders in C:\Windows\Installers.  The registry has references to these folders for the icons images and if you have any utilities that have deleted these files or folders, the icons will not appear correctly.  

    I restored these folders (e.g. - **C:\Windows\Installer{91140000-0011-0000-0000-0000000FF1CE} )**and the icons displayed correctly again.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments