Open Application Toolbar and Context Menu Icon - Fix

xxxdannyxxx · Feb 19, 2012

Achilleus said:
xxxdannyxxx said:

Okay

Just to check.
- You didn't rename the .ico file did you and it is unblocked
- For sure its in C:\Windows\System32
- You merged the .reg file and rebooted/Logged on-off

You could manually check in regedit that the key is there and is identical to the manual method in Shawns tutorial. If all the above is correct rerun the icon cache rebuild just to be sure.

To be honest I'm out of suggestions. Brink may be able to add something when hes online later as he created the tutorial.

Sorry mate I see no reason why it wouldn't have worked for you.
Double check the above and let us know.

Click to expand...

At last, it worked like a charm.
I knew it, I had done this fix many times on my 32bit OS, but I stumbled when I found I can't fix it as before. It was tricky. I was using Tera Copy as my Copy handler. I thought I copied Application_icon.ico to system32, when I was rechecking the file by pasting the file again, Tera Copy shows that the file already exists in System32 and asks me whether it wanted to overwrite it. So, I was sure, the file really exists there. But, when I checked System32 folder manually, the file doesn't exist! I was & ! Then I disabled Tera Copy and used the default Windows file copy handler & the file copied without any prompt to overwrite it.
Then I killed the Explorer.exe process and started it again. Voila!!!

The problem solved. But, I'm still confused with Tera Copy's response. Why it didn't copy the file and asks me to overwrite the file which in fact the file doesn't exist.Unusual!

Thanks to Danny & Brink for helping me.
Again, Brink, you're doing a fantastic job as Microsoft Valued Pro & being Site's Admin.

Take Care

Thats good news not only for you but for my sanity also

drugo · Apr 3, 2012

wow
thanks
but why does it happen ?
i mean no icon for exe
is normal? or my w7 is not healthy

i asked here http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/222558-explorer-open-exe-without-icon-normal.html

Brink · Apr 3, 2012

Hello Drugo,

It's just that way by default in Windows 7. It's a minor little bug.

The first icon in the icon library of the default file that Windows 7 uses for this icon just happens to be that one. The tutorial uses a workaround to change this so that it will use the "Application_Icon.ico" instead.

drugo · Apr 3, 2012

Brink said:
Hello Drugo,

It's just that way by default in Windows 7. It's a minor little bug.

The first icon in the icon library of the default file that Windows 7 uses for this icon just happens to be that one. The tutorial uses a workaround to change this so that it will use the "Application_Icon.ico" instead.

thanks Brink, you are number one! :thumbsup:

microsoft should pay you gold

do you think future hotfixes would fix it?

for now i use your great fix!
again can't give you reputation

thanks

Brink · Apr 3, 2012

You're most welcome Drugo. It might get fixed one day by an update.

hexaae · Dec 3, 2012

Alternative version with empty context-menu (just "Open") and program icon for the toolbar. More standard look

Copy dummy_icon in C:\Windows and set it as

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\open]
"EditFlags"=hex:00,00,00,00
"Icon"="%WINDIR%\\dummy_icon,-17"

Brink · Dec 3, 2012

Thank you for the addition hexaae.

modernmaid · Jan 26, 2013

Add path to .ico file in registry key

Brink (or anybody else who knows)

When adding the path to an .ico file (or to an icon in an .exe or .dll file) in the registry key; for example in step 8 of the tutorial it says something like:

NOTE: If you like, you could also enter the full path of a different icon (.ico file) that you would like to use instead with ",-1" (no quotes) at the end like below.

%Windir%\System32\Application_Icon.ico,-1,

or you might use

%Windir%\System32\imageres.dll,-15

Why do you put a minus sign ("-") in front of the number that is the icon number in the file?

I've used IconViewer to look thru many .exe and .dll files in search of icons and — while the icons almost always have a number (some just say mainicon instead of having a number) — I've never seen an icon number with a minus sign in front of it.

Also, I've seen other Icon entries in the registry that have a positive number, or 0, or no number at all.
For example:

Icon............. REG_SZ......... explorer.exe,9
(Default) ..... REG_SZ......... C:\Program Files\WinRAR\WinRAR.exe,0
Icon............. REG_SZ......... regedit.exe

So....... Why the minus sign ?

Thank you.

Brink · Jan 26, 2013

Hello modernmaid,

I just like using the minus to specify the icon to use. Usually not specifying to use the main (default) icon of the file is fine though. Just a personal preference.

KiraXD · Jul 27, 2013

Holy... ive had this stupid little nagging problem for over a year now... just chalked it up to being broken and tried to move on... thank you, thank you!

Brink · Jul 27, 2013

You're most welcome Kira, and welcome to Seven Forums.

geekrawk · Jan 14, 2014

I know this is WAY WAY WAY late, but I was testing out (for fun) the Win7 64bit and it has the same missing icon (no surprise there). Anyway I tried the fix as outlined in this thread, but it didn't work for me. I finally found the missing icon in C:\Windows\SysWOW64 and changed the registry entry appropriately. Hope this helps with other 64bit users, because I couldn't find anything about it online.

Edit: And I guess I was a little lazy and frustrated, leading me to skip most of this thread, which might have already contained the fix. I basically used Everything to search for the 'missing' icon and edited the path accordingly. But thanks for all the hard work for putting the initial guide together.

Brink · Jan 14, 2014

Hello geekrawk, and welcome to Seven Forums.

The tutorial should have worked for you in 64-bit Windows 7 as well.

Did it not work in anything specific, or not at all for you?

geekrawk · Jan 14, 2014

Hello Brink and thanks for the welcome

For all of the 6 or 7 attempts, there was no 'improvement'. The icon didn't stick. I rebooted and even (amateurishly) used a registry cleaner between attempts.

I forgot to mention the 'open' icon was already on my machine. something suddenly 'made' me do a search on my local drive and lo and behold, there it was like magic. then it was just the simple matter of pointing the registry entry to the new location.

Brink · Jan 14, 2014

Ah, ok. You just needed to adjust the registry for where you saved the icon file at then.

geekrawk · Jan 14, 2014

That's the thing.. I don't remember putting the .ico file in C:\Windows\SysWow64 in the first placel. I followed the tutorial step by step, putting the .ico file in the correct folder.

Ah well, probably not a good idea to reformat and tweak your PC while your going through a manic phase and the meds aren't working, except the one that makes your forgetful

Brink · Jan 14, 2014

Yeah, forgetting can be a good thing sometimes.

Brego · Apr 6, 2015

Adding the icon to system32 and then altering the registry file had no effect.
Finally I ended up using the explorer.exe,-251, and works well.

I think the author should edit his original post to include the imgress.dll/explorer fix

Again the number wouldn't matter, because you would get the cascade windows icon always

Anyhow, Thank you Brink and Greg S, you guys are amazing

Open Application Toolbar and Context Menu Icon - Fix

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