Icons deleted - how do I get them back?

[sandhu7]

I read through a few disappearing icon issues on this forum but mine did not disappear mysteriously hence a new post. I installed apps as admin and this placed shortcuts with icons on users' desktop. I logged in as user and dragged the shortcuts to the taskbar. Then, once my favourite apps were in the taskbar, I wanted to remove their shortcuts from the desktop so I deleted them, still logged in as a user. At this point, Windows prompted me for the admin password which I happily provided. Windows obliged and deleted the shortcuts on the desktop but that also made the shortcuts in the taskbar lose their icons!

So for example, the firefox shortcut was originally on the desktop. I dragged it to the taskbar and then I deleted the shortcut from the desktop (using admin rights). This left the shortcut on the taskbar without an icon. I tried to manually stick icons on these defaced shortcuts by selecting an icon image for them but they just don't stick.

Short of uninstalling and re-installing the apps, I have tried everything else. I haven't tried uninstall/re-install in the hope that their is a more elegant way of restoring icons to their respective shortcuts. Am I right in my optimism? How?

Thanks for reading my rant and another thanks if you post a useful response.

 

[Zidane24]

Open the app->Right click the app on the taskbar->Choose "Pin this Program to taskbar"

I think it is still pulling the symbolic link from the shortcut you deleted...not the actual exe which is why you are losing details of the icon each time

 

[whs]

Go to All Programs > find the program > right click on it > send to desktop. You can also go into the "program files" on C: and right click on the .exe - same
PS: Just saw Zidane's post. That's even better if you want to pin it directly to the taskbar. My method is good if you want the shortcut on the desktop.

 

[sandhu7]

Neither options worked. Here's the funny thing. Logged in as the user, I cannot see any icon on the exe itself in C:\Program Files\Firefox. Logged in as administrator, I see all the proper icons over shortcuts and on the exe. Somehow, the icons have gotten stripped from everywhere for the user only.

 

[sandhu7]

Finally, this worked.
How to fix blank desktop shortcut icons in Windows 7 - Windows Registry Solution

The only modification is that location of IconCache.db is C:\Users\username\AppData\Local