Windows 7: Red X appears in place of shortcut symbol on desktop icons

bigcuedaddy · 11 Dec 2011

I have a client who suddenly got a red X to appear on her desktop icons instead of the shortcut symbol. Everything seems to work fine, its just annoying more than anything. Any ideas on why this happened? I would assume if I went and deleted the shortcut symbols, the Xs would go away as well.

Ztruker · 11 Dec 2011

Sounds like your client may have used a program to modify/change the link arrow on shortcut icons, or followed Brink's tutorial here: Shortcut Arrow - Change, Remove, or Restore

Imperfect1 · 13 Dec 2011

Did Brink's tutorial solve your problem? If not, here's another possible suggestion. Red X's often have something to do with Java. You might want to check with the Java (Sun) website to be sure your Java is working properly and that you have the latest version installed.

First, to see if you have a Java app currently working within your system, go to: Java + You Under the big red /Free Java Download’ button in smaller print is a link to a Java scan called: "Do I have Java?" Let Java scan your machine and see what the results are. If the scan says your machine doesn't have Java installed click the option to install the latest Java version. If the scan says you already have a previous version of Java installed, you can go to Control Panel, Programs and Features and Uninstall it.

Then, to find out if Java is working properly on your system visit: Test your Java Virtual Machine (JVM), and you can go to the Java website for the most recent Java downloads.

To check which version of Java you have, go to: Verify Java Version and Java Help.

Windows 7: Red X appears in place of shortcut symbol on desktop icons

Red X appears in place of shortcut symbol on desktop icons problems?