Windows 7 - Icon went missing in Windows 7? Here's a Fix

Young Hype · 08-19-2009

Icon went missing in Windows 7? Here's a Fix

After installing the latest and greatest Mozilla Firefox 3.5 in Windows 7 (RC Build 7100 32-bit) I noticed that after a while the icon went missing. Firefox was still working correctly, and when I checked the icon properties, and the icon was still present. But for some strange reason it wouldn’t show up in on my Desktop, my Start Menu, or my Taskbar, I would just see a broken icon.

The resolution? Rebuilding the Windows 7 Icon Cache.

Follow these directions:

1. Close all folder windows that are currently open.

2. Launch Task Manager using the CTRL+SHIFT+ESC key sequence, or by running taskmgr.exe

3. In the Process tab, right-click on the Explorer.exe process and select End Process

4. Click the End process button when asked for confirmation.

5. From the File menu of Task Manager, select New Task (Run…)

6. Type CMD.EXE, and click OK

7. In the Command Prompt window, type the commands one by one and press ENTER after each command:

Example:

CD /d %userprofile%\AppData\Local
DEL IconCache.db /a
EXIT

8. In Task Manager, click File, select New Task (Run…)

9. Type EXPLORER.EXE, and click OK.

Your icons should be as good as new!

Phil Pendlebury · 10-23-2009

Thank you very much for this. It worked perfectly.

Lots of people around having this problem too.

Cheers,

:-)

JordSignature7 · 10-23-2009

Thanks, I never knew how to fix this!

paulavalencia12 · 10-29-2009

THANK YOU SO MUCH!! This worked perfectly!

Phil Pendlebury · 10-30-2009

I am finding this happens quite regularly. So I have written a little script to do it automatically. I will post links to it later once tested properly.

:-)

**rsvr85** · 10-30-2009

Thanks for sharing this very handy tip Young Hype. If i have this issue i usually delete the iconcache.db in Explorer an then reboot, this takes the reboot out of the equation i assume?

Quote:

I am finding this happens quite regularly. So I have written a little script to do it automatically. I will post links to it later once tested properly.

:-)

That would be extremely handy Phil. I look forward to the link

The Dragon Mask · 11-23-2009

Thanks a lot man, I just installed Windows 7 Premium, and got all my programs installed using Ninite, then some of my beautiful taskbar icons reverted to generic form. I looked around for a while but only this one helped, thnx! =)

hughfraser · 11-24-2009

Hi I tried this, the icon is still missing for me!, I have taken a screenshot for any help.

Many Thanks
Hugh

**rsvr85** · 11-25-2009

Quote: Originally Posted by hughfraser

Hi I tried this, the icon is still missing for me!, I have taken a screenshot for any help.

Many Thanks
Hugh

Hi hughfraser & welcome,
Have you tried this tutorial?
Icon Cache - Rebuild

hughfraser · 11-25-2009

Thanks rsvr85, In the end I had to uninstall Firefox, I never lost any passwords or bookmarks as I use Roboform and Xmarks. Thanks.

Hugh Fraser