Taskbar icons not showing after reset and cache clear (tried all fixes)

Question

Taskbar icons not showing after reset and cache clear (tried all fixes)

Katie Jane Németh 0

Hi there!

I’m having an issue where some of my Microsoft taskbar icons are not displaying (they appear blank), even though the apps themselves open normally. Other apps like Adobe and Canva appear not to be affected by this issue.

This started after I reset my laptop. Before noticing the issue, I also deleted a large amount of cache files to free up space, which I suspect may have triggered the problem.

Since then, I’ve worked through a lot of troubleshooting (with Copilot), including:

Deleting and rebuilding the icon cache multiple times
Restarting Windows Explorer
Running ie4uinit.exe commands (ClearIconCache and show)
Unpinning and re-pinning all taskbar apps
Restarting multiple times

Despite this, the issue is unchanged. Icons are still not showing, even for system apps like Copilot (see screenshot):
User's image

I don’t have admin access (school-managed device), so I’m limited in what I can try. Have you seen this before or know what might be causing it? Could this be a corrupted user profile or a policy issue?

Thanks in advance.

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Answer 1

Emma1-N 12,285 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Welcome Katie Jane Németh,

Thank you for providing the detailed troubleshooting history. From your description, I can see you have already tried the common icon-cache repairs, so repeating those steps would likely not help.

Before we go further, I need to clarify one point:

Is this laptop signed in with a school account and managed by your school's IT department, or is it your personal Windows device using only a personal Microsoft account?

I ask because you mentioned that you do not have administrator access and the device is school-managed, which may place the device under organizational management rather than a personal Windows setup.

Looking forward to your reply.

Emma1-N 12,285 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-20T03:50:58.9966667+00:00

Hello Katie Jane Németh,

Could you please let me know if your issue has been resolved or if you are still experiencing the difficulties?
Katie Jane Németh 0 Reputation points

2026-08-20T05:52:25.62+00:00

Hi Emma,

Thank you for taking the time for reading over my query. The laptop is signed in with a school account and managed by my school's IT department. However, if you have suggestions for our IT team to try I’m sure they’ll be happy to. They have just done all they can do within their knowledge.
Emma1-N 12,285 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-21T03:56:11.9933333+00:00

Hello Katie Jane Németh,

Because the device is managed by the school, I'm unfortunately unable to provide further troubleshooting here. Your IT team would be the appropriate point of contact, as they have access to the administrative tools, policies, and support resources required to diagnose this type of issue.

I hope your IT department is able to identify the cause and get the missing icons restored. Thank you for your understanding.
Katie Jane Németh 0 Reputation points

2026-08-24T22:09:02.3666667+00:00

Hi Emma,

Thank you so much for your time. I guess I was wondering if there was anything further you could suggest for my IT team to try, as they have tried everything they can.

Really appreciate it!