Microsoft Icons...?

Darkstrike · 31 Dec 2009

Hey all,

Not sure if this is the place to post it, and if it's not I apologize, but I have an interesting issue that has popped up since my last round of Win7 updates.

This problem is in no way affecting any of my programs from working, but it is a bit unusual. Since my last bout of updates, it seems all the icons for many of my Microsoft programs have all reverted to the "default icon" icon...? This is for programs like Office, SharePoint Designer, my Microsoft Lifecam software, Powerpoint, etc. in my Start Menu, in My Computer, in Explorer....even the icons for file types associated with Microsoft programs have disappeared. If I double-click on a *.doc file, for example, it'll still open in MS Word no problem, but the icon is the default icon.

I haven't changed any of the file-type or icon settings anywhere. Any ideas what could've caused this or how to solve it...?

Screenies of what I'm talking about:

http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/5114/startmenu.png

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/8021/filesa.png

Thanks for any help! Oh, I should mention it's Win7 Ultimate on a Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4ghz with 2gbs of RAM just to give you some context, not that any of that is really required for this, but to be on the safe side...:)

richc46 · 31 Dec 2009

Just one of our excellent tutorials, edited by one of our Administrators, Brink, that may help you solve the problem. Depending on your particular circumstances, however, the answer may lie in alternative solutions. But I wish you the best.

Icon Cache - Rebuild

I truly hope that it helps.

On behalf of everyone here at 7 forum, A Very Happy and Healthy New Year.

WindowsStar · 31 Dec 2009

At first I did not understand what you were asking because you kept saying that your applications were using the default icon. The screen shots help immensely. What you are seeing is NOT the default icon but NO icon. If you were seeing the default icon you would have what you want.

I have seen this problem before and sometimes it is an extremely easy fix and other times it is harder. Let’s hope yours is easy.

You can download a program from NirSoft - freeware utilities: password recovery, system utilities, desktop utilities that will help you fix all your file types and point them back to the correct icons. Download “FileTypesMan v1.56”.

The other time this happens when the icon file is missing because the folder that holds the icon has been deleted. For the most part the icons come from the application itself or a DLL for that application, however many applications don’t do that anymore and store the icon in the windows install folder. A good example of this is Adobe Reader v9.2 the icon for this application is stored at: C:\Windows\Installer\{AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A92000000001} If you delete this folder your PDF icon(s) will be gone and look like your screen shots. It is possible you may have deleted these folders by mistake or a cleaning software deleted them thinking they are just left over folders from an install. The easiest way to fix this is to access another computer with the same software copy these folders from that computer to the broken computer and reboot. If that does not work or you do not have access to another computer, reinstalling the applications typically fix the problem.

WindowsStar · 31 Dec 2009

Sorry for the bold in my other post. The system did that not me. <weird>

richc46 · 31 Dec 2009

WindowsStar said:

Sorry for the bold in my other post. The system did that not me. <weird>

All that matters is that we are all trying to help. Thanks for your suggestion, and mentioning the bold lettering. Thanks for helping. Happy New Year.

Darkstrike · 01 Jan 2010

Well, first off, thanks for the prompt, kind, and helpful responses! I had posted here once before and nobody had said a thing! Luckily I had solved that problem though :)

I haven't touched the Windows/Installer folder WindowsStar, so I don't think that's the case, although when I looked in it, it was empty except for one file...? I do periodically run a program called CCleaner which you may have heard of which may have something to do with it, but I haven't changed any settings in CCleaner of late and it has never done anything like this before.

I'll try Rich's guide suggestion first and if that doesn't fly, I'll try out that Utility. I'll keep you posted!

EDIT: I dloaded that Nirsoft Utility and looked at the icon associations....they are pointing to the Windows/Installer directory.....so that IS what did it. If memory serves, I don't have any computers at home that have Office '07 installed, I'd converted them all to OpenOffice some time ago, so I can't just copy over the directory.

DOUBLE EDIT: I also just remembered I don't have my Office '07 CD here (I am home from university for the break and my CD is back at my dorm) so I will just have to deal with this minor inconvenience for now and fix it when I get back in a few days.

Darkstrike · 01 Jan 2010

Sorry for the double-post, but it seems my issue has gotten drastically worse....I have NO idea what cleared out my Windows/Installer folder, but it wasn't me.....which means that I now cannot uninstall ANYTHING. MAJOR piss-off....Also seems to mean I cannot INSTALL anything either. I went to try to update to the latest version of VirtualBox and the installer stops saying it cannot find such and such a file...

Is there any way I can fix this...? A System Restore...? I'm at a loss short of formatting...which I really do not want to have to do

...

richc46 · 01 Jan 2010

Darkstrike said:

Sorry for the double-post, but it seems my issue has gotten drastically worse....I have NO idea what cleared out my Windows/Installer folder, but it wasn't me.....which means that I now cannot uninstall ANYTHING. MAJOR piss-off....Also seems to mean I cannot INSTALL anything either. I went to try to update to the latest version of VirtualBox and the installer stops saying it cannot find such and such a file...

Is there any way I can fix this...? A System Restore...? I'm at a loss short of formatting...which I really do not want to have to do

...

Get working again. Go back a few days with system restore. That will work.

When you are up and running again, make a sytem image and put it in a safe place, so you could always go back to that point in time. You may want to update the image once a month or so.

Darkstrike · 01 Jan 2010

Well, I just remembered what it was I did that probably fouled things up....also, I have system restore set to a low amount of space to save HDD space, and I don't think it goes back far enough....major bummer

I had changed the ownership of the Windows folder from whatever it's default is (if somebody also wouldn't mind tell me what it's default owner is, I'll prob just put it back) to the Administrators group, thinking it wouldn't mess anything up as my user is an Admin account. This was to edit Explorer.exe to change the Start Orb on the taskbar to match the visual theme I have going on....could this ownership change have done it...?

If my Sys. Restore doesn't go back far enough, is there any other method I could try, or am I S.O.L.?

richc46 · 01 Jan 2010

Darkstrike said:

Well, I just remembered what it was I did that probably fouled things up....also, I have system restore set to a low amount of space to save HDD space, and I don't think it goes back far enough....major bummer

I had changed the ownership of the Windows folder from whatever it's default is (if somebody also wouldn't mind tell me what it's default owner is, I'll prob just put it back) to the Administrators group, thinking it wouldn't mess anything up as my user is an Admin account. This was to edit Explorer.exe to change the Start Orb on the taskbar to match the visual theme I have going on....could this ownership change have done it...?

If my Sys. Restore doesn't go back far enough, is there any other method I could try, or am I S.O.L.?

Go to system image There should be a full HD back up, once a week.