Icon Cache - Rebuild

How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows​

   Information

If one or more of your icons are not displaying correctly, or that your icon cache is corrupted, then you might consider rebuilding the icon cache to reset and reload the icon images into the icon cache in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8.

   Note

This will not help with any of the following icon issues:

• A shortcut's icon that is not displayed properly due to the source of the shortcut being moved or deleted. You may need to recreate a new shortcut directly from the source (ex: program's exe) file to replace it instead.
• All icons for a specific file extension display the wrong icon. This may be due to setting the wrong association for what program to open the file extension instead. You can restore the default file extension's associations to fix this icon instead.

OPTION ONE

Automatically Rebuild the Icon Cache

1. Click/tap on the download button below to download the file below.
Rebuild_Icon_Cache.bat

Download


2. Save the file to your desktop, and run it.

3. Click/tap on Run when prompted.

4. Follow the instructions in the command prompt to rebuild the Icon Cache. (see screenshot below)

5. Restart your computer to generate a new IconCache.db file.

6. If the icons are still not displaying properly, then download and merge the ICO option in this tutorial for Windows 7 or Windows 8 to restore the default associations of .ico (icon) files.

OPTION TWO

To Manually Rebuild the Icon Cache using the Command Prompt

1. Close and save anything that you are working on. This command will kill explorer and restart the computer when completed.

2. Open a command prompt in Windows 7 or Windows 8.

3. In the command prompt, Copy and paste each command line below exactly as is one at a time and press enter after each command.
:warn:WARNING: The last command will restart the computer, so be sure to close and save anything that you are working on first.

• ie4uinit.exe -ClearIconCache
• taskkill /IM explorer.exe /F
• DEL "%localappdata%\IconCache.db" /A
• DEL "%localappdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer\iconcache*" /A
• shutdown /r /f /t 00

4. The IconCache.db file has now been rebuilt.

5. If the icons are still not displaying properly, then download and merge the ICO option in this tutorial for Windows 7 or Windows 8 to restore the default associations of .ico (icon) files.

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Change the Icon Cache Size in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8
• How to Clear and Reset the Thumbnail Cache in Windows 7
• Restore Default Windows 7 File Extension Type Associations
• How to Change or Restore Default Windows 7 Desktop Icons
• How to Restore Windows 7 Default User Folder Icons
• How to Change the Default Icon of a File Extension in Windows 7
• How to Reset the Favorites Favicons in Vista and Windows 7

 

[Brink]

PvtMatter,

With all of the different issues you are having, you might consider backing up anything that you do not want to lose while in Safe Mode, then do a clean reinstall of Windows 7.

 

[PvtMatter]

icons

Shawn:
before I do a reinstall can I delete all user accounts except the original one I had, Larrry-PC\Administrator and try that?

 

[Brink]

If you have access to the Larry-PC account, then sure you can delete the other accounts while logged in the Larry-PC account if you like. Hopefully that will work for you.

 

[BDani]

Thank you thank you thank you!!!!!!!!!
Just fixed my problem!!

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome BDani.

 

[need4steer]

Great tutorial. Thanks a lot.

 

[brianzion]

hope you dont mind me posting this here brink i found a program **Rebuild Icon Cache version 0.7b** that does the same as your tutorial see what you think http://screeny05.deviantart.com/art/Rebuild-Icon-Cache-v0-7b-164152806

 

[Brink]

No problem Brian.

 

[maxviwe]

System is in danger.

After the last step of restart, all of my computer's icons have been gone.Help me.There are no icons.Even, start menu isn't opening.

 

[brianzion]

After the last step of restart, all of my computer's icons have been gone.Help me.There are no icons.Even, start menu isn't opening.

try this program i posted **Rebuild Icon Cache version 0.7b**

:ar:Rebuild Icon Cache v0.7b by ~screeny05 on deviantART

 

[brianzion]

Perform a SFC Scan

1. Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator. If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Allow

2. Type the following command, and then press ENTER:

sfc /scannow

A message will appear stating that 'The system scan will begin'. Be patient because the scan may take some time

3. If any files require a replace SFC will replace them. You may be asked to insert your Windows 7 DVD for this process to continue

4. If everything is okay you should, after the scan, see the following message "Windows resource protection did not find any integrity violations"

5. After the scan has completed, close the command prompt window, restart the computer and check.

more information here :ar: How to use the System File Checker tool to troubleshoot missing or corrupted system files on Windows Vista or on Windows 7

 

[Brink]

After the last step of restart, all of my computer's icons have been gone.Help me.There are no icons.Even, start menu isn't opening.

Hello Maxviwe,

It sounds like you have a more serious issue than just about icons if the Start Menu will not open. You might consider doing a system restore using a restore point dated before you had these issues to see if it may be able to fix them for you.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[oneday1001]

SUCCESS story!
I didn't see my issue here, so this is for others who are searching...

While updating iTunes, I moved a few icons from the desktop to the taskbar. After iTunes finished, the icons blinked and bam! the icons were replaced with Windows default icon (when no icon is chosen).
The links worked, but the icon was wrong.

After finding this great site, I followed the instructions (Option #2), and everything is back to normal...

Evil iTunes. Always got to mess with Windows.

Thanks Admin!

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome oneday1001, and welcome to Seven Forums. I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted.

 

[Donna R]

I am having a similar problem. I had to do a re-install of Windows 7 64 bit and it is working great now. But I discovered my Seagate external hard drive wasn't backing up so I re-formatted it, uninstalled the software, disconnected the unit and was going to re-install it. BUT I can not get rid of the My Replica icon in the My Computer/Other folder. I have contacted Seagate twice with no satisfaction. They told me to right click and delete it and reboot. Of course, I had tried that numerous times. You can't drag it to the recycle bin, I have checked and there is no Seagate/My Replica, etc. under Programs. The right click choices are Open/Open in New Window and Create Shortcut.

I am not going to re-connect the unit and install the software until the icon is gone. Does anyone have an answer to how I can get rid of this icon?

If I can't delete the icon the Seagate unit is going to be returned...unhappily.

So will the Rebuild_Icon_Cache.bat (download from above) remove this icon?

 

[Brink]

Hello Donna, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Rebuilding the icon cache is only for when you have a file or files that are not displaying the correct icon due to the icon cache being corrupted.

In your case, you might see if you may be able to use the free program Unlocker to remove it.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[JadeEagle]

Hi all.... I just wanted to say, that I was having this exact same issue with my Win7 x64....

My mp4's were showing thumbnails, but my avi's were not. I downloaded the Rebuild_Icon_Cache.bat on the 1st page of this thread, ran it as Administrator, and restarted....

This fixed my problems quickly, and beautifully.... Thanks to everyone for their respective input....

 

[Brink]

Hello JadeEagle, and welcome to Seven Forums. I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted. Thank you for posting back with your results.

 

[dgonline]

Thanks for the download!!! It worked and I am relieved.

 

[Brink]

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