Solved Certain Programs Have No Icon. Rebuilding IconCache.db No Help

[Mulsiphix]

A couple weeks ago the power went out. When I turned the PC back on some icons for certain file extensions were no longer showing up. I did a quick search, came across a 7forums article (Icon Cache - Rebuild) and followed it (downloaded the .bat). But the problem persists.

If I change the default program for opening one of these file extensions, the icon will change to that of the new program. But if I change it back to the program normally associated with that extension, the icon reverts to the standard Windows "no default program assigned for this extension yet" icon.

Double-clicking on the file still opens the file in the program currently associated with the extension. Any ideas on what I might do to fix this?

 

[Mellon Head]

There is a setting under "Personalization" in the Control Panel that will allow you to change icons. Find this screen:



Choose "Change Desktop Icons". The following screen will pop up:



In this window, tick "User's Files", and then click the "Change Icon" button. A new window will open:


On the next screen (below), select Browse and locate the executable with the wrong icon. Once you select it, you'll be given a choice of icons to use for the program. Select the appropriate one and choose "Apply" or "OK"



There ya go. You're done. Repeat as necessary.

 

[Mulsiphix]

I did this and the icon for the extension I tried it on didn't change. Maybe I need to reboot? I can't at the moment but will let you know if that does the trick. Thank you very much for taking the time to write all of this out for me. I sincerely appreciate it.

 

[Mulsiphix]

Alright I have rebooted. I tried what you suggested on two extensions and I tried using FileTypeMan to change the icon for two additional icons. So four icons in total, two different methods, zero change after the reboot. No recent restore points, sadly . Any thoughts?

UPDATE 1
Just to make sure it worked, I tried FileTypeMan on an extension that is already working and it changed that icon just fine. Looking at the affected files it looks like they all draw their icons from a folder in the Windows Installer folder (i.e. C:\Windows\Installer\{91140000-0011-0000-0000-0000000FF1CE}\xlicons.exe,29), that is no longer there. I would think that resetting the icon to a new location, like the associated programs EXE file (i.e. assign .xlsx to EXCEL.exe) would do the trick, but no luck. I even tried extracting the icon from Acrobat.exe and using that, but still no luck. This is both weird and frustrating .

UPDATE 2
I went back to the FileTypeMon SevenForums guide and tried the method that described editing the registry. I did what it said and it still didn't work. So I rooted around for other acrobat entries in the registry, added DefaultIcon values, edited other locations that seemed like it could be related to the PDF file extension, rebooted, and now the icon works. Just about all the other icons and shortcuts were editable using FileTypeMan or via the Change Icon choice in the shortcut properties window. I assume FileTypeMon just wasn't accessing the right Registry key for that extension. I found seven potential locations in the registry and FileTypeMon only provided a single entry. Just glad to have figured it out :shock:!

 

[Mellon Head]

Glad you got it working. A very weird problem indeed.