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

 

[Infinite]

A little bug spotted with Option One using the .bat.

When it asks if you want to restart your computer or not, pressing "N" will actually open an explorer window navigated to Libraries and restart your computer.

 

[Brink]

Ooops, thank you Infinite. All fixed and updated to be even better now.

 

[Infinite]

That looks a lot better, thanks, however it still opens the Explorer Window which doesn't matter too much.

 

[Brink]

What? It doesn't for me when I type n or N and press Enter.

It's suppose to restart explorer, and wait for you to close the command prompt window. At least it does for me.

 

[Infinite]

Oh nevermind, it was probably because even though I re-saved it to my Desktop, it probably didn't update or something. Downloading it to another location fixed it. Nice one

 

[Brink]

Ah, ok.

 

[rustylargo]

icons curruption

thank you for this, it worked for my malwarebytes and glary utilties icons. what i would like to know, is why? this computer is less than two weeks old, this is the first issue which i would consider to be a windows 7 issue, as with my old xp nothing like this occurred.

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Rusty, and welcome to Seven Forums.

There's a number of reasons for why the icon cache could have gotten corrupted. Anywhere from lost file associations to HDD corruption. It's usually nothing to worry though about unless it happens on a regular basis.

 

[endeavor]

..Rebuild_Icon_Cache.bat..
This makes it easy, thanks Brink

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome endeavor.

 

[DKhoi]

Thank you!!! I created this account just now to thank you for this solution, and I have never done that on other forums before. My default folder icons suddenly all changed to 16 bit versions, and I've been searching for a while to find a fix. This worked beautifully (I did the manual version). Thanks again!

 

[Brink]

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

 

[dwilkows]

Tried Rebuild of Icon Cache

After downloading and running Rebuild_Icon_Cache.bat I now have NO quick launch icons what-so-ever.

All I icons I want are in the folder at this location: C:\Users\ME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch


But none show on in the Quick Launch area. When I try to drag a shortcut icon to the quick launch a slashed red circle appears to its side which indicates it cannot be done. The taskbar is unlocked.


Any ideas?



Running Windows 7 Home Premium, Ver. 6.1 (Build 7601: Service Pack 1), Dell Inspiron desktop

 

[Brink]

Hello Doug,

It sounds like you have more serious issues since the rebuild icon cache only empties the icon cache to force it to reload. It cannot delete anything else.

As a test using the tutorial below, remove your Quick Launch and add it back. Next, check through the items listed in the yellow TIP box at the top of the tutorial to see if that may help if any items are still missing.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/888-quick-launch-enable-disable.html

 

[dwilkows]

Thanks for your prompt reply, Brink. Busy today but will work through your suggestions tonight or tomorrow. Thanks!

 

[Brink]

Okey doke Doug. Please let us know how it went and if you have any questions.

 

[dwilkows]

Okey doke Doug. Please let us know how it went and if you have any questions.

Brink! You are a genius! Thanks--everything in the Quick Launch section of the taskbar looks great.

However, as you say... I may have more serious problems going on. I've never been satisfied with Windows 7 on this machine. Dell promised it was "Windows 7 Ready" but as soon as I upgraded from Vista, it started crashing more and revealing little quirks like this problem you solved for me, not being able to add icons to quick launch. Just recently it has become more difficult to break out of the screen saver slide show--I've resorted to opening Task Manager and when it opens, the screen saver slide show quits so I just click CANCEL on the Task Mgr window. Kinda stupid, but it works and saves me time waiting and waiting I know many people say to disable screen savers, but I get a lot more people to watch my photos that way than if I sit them down and say WATCH! :huh:

I have come to peace with the antics of Windows 7 on this machine and will make do until I can get a Mac. Ooops... wasn't supposed to say that here!:devil:

Thanks again!

Doug

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Doug. I'm happy to hear that it's working again for you.

It may be some sort of issue carried over from Vista. Personally, I prefer to do clean installs instead of a upgrade install to avoid these type of potential issues. If you like, you might give a clean install a try when you have the time to see how that works to see if you may be able to avoid the cost of a new system.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html

or

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/31402-clean-install-upgrade-windows-7-version.html

 

[dwilkows]

What data, programs or settings will I lose by a clean Windows 7 install? I reinstalled (probably not cleanly) two years ago and remember spending the next month gathering everything back the way it was before the install.

Doug

 

[Brink]

A clean install is a fresh start, so you will loose everything and have to start from scratch with installing all programs and drivers, and setting your settings again. If you backup any files and data prior to doing the clean install, you could just copy them back afterwards.