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

 

[michaell369]

You don't have to restart after using Icon Cache Rebuild. Mine disappeared along with my taskbar and nothing was happening, so I hit ctrl+alt+del, then start task manager. Next click "File" then "New Task (Run) and type: explorer.exe then click ok. All my icons were restored.

 

[Brink]

Hello Michaell, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Restarting the computer is required to have the deleted %localappdata%\IconCache.db file recreated.

 

[f23948]

Can i do it in safe mode?

 

[Brink]

Hello f234948,

Yes, you sure can.

 

[f23948]

ok cool thanks for the reply Brink

 

[cdsJerry]

Thank you- it fixed mine

Thank you for the icon rebuild instructions.

I too was suffering from a never ending scan in Windows Explorer and icons with no pictures after I did a Windows update. Following the manual instructions posted solved my issue.

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Jerry. I'm glad it could help.

 

[f23948]

it gives me a error, i have tried everything like temporary disable antivirus, etc.,

 

[Brink]

Hello f23948,

That is normal for those few .db files, and nothing to worry about.

Did rebuilding the icon cache and restarting the PC help with your icon issue?

 

[f23948]

did restarted computer 3 times, and it's working now

 

[Brink]

Great news.

 

[econnerly]

How I have done this was as follows:
Save all current work as stated everywhere
alt cnt del to get to the task manager
go to the processes tab and right click on explorer.exe and choose end process tree

then again, alt cnt del to get to the task manager and choose file new task

type explorer and hit enter and that should do it. At least it does for me.

 

[Brink]

Hello econnerly, and welcome to Seven Forums.

That would be to only restart explorer.

Restarting explorer to refresh them could help if there's not any icon corruption. Otherwise, you would most likely need to rebuild the icon cache.

 

[econnerly]

Thanks for the welcome.

You are correct. Sometimes I forget to plug in my thumb drive before starting my office computer and the shortcut icons come up blank. My computer takes FOREVER to log onto the network, so thats why a restart is out of the question for me.

 

[Brink]

If you like, you could add a "Restart Explorer" context menu to make it easier to do as needed.

Explorer - Add "Restart Explorer" to Desktop Context Menu

 

[jacky99]

Desktop icons still wrong displayed

All tutorial on page one I've done it right, and the desktop icons displayed correctly.. that's good! But after restarting again there was incorrectly.. What's up?
To be clear, I mean this only applies to program icons that I've installed, while belonging to 'original Windows icon' all remains correct.
It's always wrong despite repeatedly run the option 2 (same for option 1), first repair is good, but the next restart incorrectly.. I'm confused why it cannot be permanently.

Could someone help to this problem, please

Screenshot attached

 

[Brink]

Hello Jacky,

Does refreshing (F5) the desktop help show the correct icon?

If this is a shortcut, does creating a new shortcut work properly instead?

If this is a shortcut does this happen to all shortcuts? If so, did you change the shortcut arrow overlay?

 

[jacky99]

If this is a shortcut does this happen to all shortcuts? If so, did you change the shortcut arrow overlay?

Ohh silly me.. Problem fix now, I forgot that I ever roll-back system restore where it's still active 'no shortcut arrow', then after restore to default now back to normal permanent display.
Thanks Brink has reminded me, and my problem solved now.

 

[Brink]

Perfect.

 

[f23948]

it gives me error, i am using windows 7