Folder icons aren't recognizing when folders have files in them

I noticed recently that when I make a new folder and put stuff in it, the folder icon doesn't change from the one that signifies that the folder is empty, i.e. new folders I make always have that single empty folder icon. I can still use Windows File Explorer like normal—I can open all the folders and access everything normally—but I was wondering why this small visual feature wouldn't work, and I can't find a solution anywhere.

Folders that I had already made before the issue retain their icons showing me what kind of file is inside, but if I add another file inside the old folder, it then changes the folder icon to the empty one, and I can't seem to convert it back.

If I right click a folder and go to Properties > Customize > Choose File (to show on this folder icon), nothing shows up to select even if there are files within the folder. Inner folders might show up, but going into those inner folders reveals none of their files.

Even when I make a folder with nothing but other folders in it, the outer folder's icon won't change (it used to show the original icon but with an extra folder inside of it).

It seems like Explorer or whatever manages the default icons isn't recognizing when folders have things in them. Anyone encounter this before?


P.S. I have already tried pretty much everything I found on Google when I typed different abridged versions of my title for this thread, but the issue behind all of the fixes I found seemed to be that users couldn't see icons at all, or all their icons were blank.

Brink said:

Hello ymwing, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Here's a list of things to check to see if they may help:

1) Refresh (F5) the window the folder is in to see if that may update its icon.

2) Make sure thumbnail previews is enabled.

Thumbnail Previews - Enable or Disable

3) Clear and reset the thumbnail cache in case it may be corrupted.

Thumbnail Cache - Clear and Reset

1) and 3) I have tried to no avail. With 2), I tried options 1-3 and nothing, but I was wondering about option 4. Since I only have Home Premium, do you think I would be able to do something similar in the registry? If so, would it even work?


Thanks

Brink said:

Option 4 wouldn't apply to you for this issue, so no need to worry about it.

You might also see if rebuilding the icon cache may help in case it is corrupted.

Icon Cache - Rebuild

Option one didn't fix it. For option two, the first time I tried, it was able to find the first directory ("%localappdata%\IconCache.db"), but not the second one, "%localappdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer\iconcache*". I tried again after restarting and then it couldn't find either of them.

Brink said:

That would be normal if it had already been deleted. No worries.

Well, thanks for the quick replies. Any other ideas? It's such a minor issue, yet it's driving me insane

Brink said:

I suppose if this has just recently started, you could try doing a system restore using a restore point dated before this started to hopefully fix it.

That worked. Not sure what the hell was going on, but thanks.