All Desktop icons AND Explorer Icons are missing.

BackSpace · 2025-07-13T03:47:18-0400

Dear Gurus,

I was downloading a large file that was running unusually slow. Also, copying to USB chips was more sluggish than usual. Finding nothing obvious, I aborted the download and did a fresh re-boot.

That's when all desktop icons became none-existent (although their titles are displayed). In explorer, all Disk and Folder icons and all icons in the Quick Launch have vanished. Within folders (that contain images) there are no thumbnails nor any default icons of the executables. There's not even the icon normally associated with "missing icon". Small icons DO show up in the START menu and the Taskbar. A right-click/properties on disks and/or folders brings up NOTHING at all. Also, many "hot-keys" are no longer responding and I can't run "TaskMgr" (even with a right-click + run as admin on C:\Windows\System32\Taskmgr.exe).

Besides all the usual "show desktop icons", etc, etc, I also ran ...
SFC /scannow
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth
DISM /Online /Cleanup-image /RestoreHealth
SFC /scannow
No errors reported.

I did a ie4uinit.exe -show (nothing happened)
and DIR /a/s/o IconCache.db = File Not Found
C:\Users\%USERNAME%\Local Settings\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer has about 15 iconcache_xxxx.db but no iconcache.db

NOW . . . for the biggest head scratcher of the day:

I completely overwrote drive C:\ with a virtual clone-backup that I had made three days earlier. The problem is STILL THERE! - What the ...? Thinking it may be a hardware related problem, I booted the computer using Hiren’s BootCD Windows 11 PE x64. All icons look normal. In short... HELP!

Thanks for reading
Peter
DELL OptiPlex 9020 (Intel Core i7-4770)
Win'11 - Version 23H2 (OS Build 22631.5624)

abactuon · 2025-07-13T04:40:00-0400

Win+x
Terminal (Admin)
Make sure that PowerShell is running.
Copy this into the terminal and press Enter.

Powershell:

function Update-ExplorerIcon {
<#
Source: https://community.idera.com/database-tools/powershell/powertips/b/tips/posts/refreshing-icon-cache
#>

    [CmdletBinding(ConfirmImpact='Low')]
    [Diagnostics.CodeAnalysis.SuppressMessageAttribute('PSUseShouldProcessForStateChangingFunctions','')]
    param()

    $code = @'
private static readonly IntPtr HWND_BROADCAST = new IntPtr(0xffff);
private const int WM_SETTINGCHANGE = 0x1a;
private const int SMTO_ABORTIFHUNG = 0x0002;
 
[System.Runtime.InteropServices.DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError=true, CharSet=CharSet.Auto)]
 static extern bool SendNotifyMessage(IntPtr hWnd, uint Msg, UIntPtr wParam,
   IntPtr lParam);
 
[System.Runtime.InteropServices.DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
  private static extern IntPtr SendMessageTimeout ( IntPtr hWnd, int Msg, IntPtr wParam, string lParam, uint fuFlags, uint uTimeout, IntPtr lpdwResult );
 
[System.Runtime.InteropServices.DllImport("Shell32.dll")]
private static extern int SHChangeNotify(int eventId, int flags, IntPtr item1, IntPtr item2);
 
public static void Refresh() {
    SHChangeNotify(0x8000000, 0x1000, IntPtr.Zero, IntPtr.Zero);
    SendMessageTimeout(HWND_BROADCAST, WM_SETTINGCHANGE, IntPtr.Zero, null, SMTO_ABORTIFHUNG, 100, IntPtr.Zero);
}
'@

    Add-Type -MemberDefinition $code -Namespace MyWinAPI -Name Explorer
    [MyWinAPI.Explorer]::Refresh()

} Update-ExplorerIcon

BackSpace · 2025-07-13T05:50:33-0400

Hello abactuon,
Thanks for stopping by.

Re: Win+x ---> Terminal (Admin)
Windows cannot find 'C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\wt.exe'.
Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again.

So I used a link to PowerShell in the START menu ...

PowerShell returned its prompt without complaint but without a cure as well. Re-Boot showed no change. It was worth a try.
Extra observation: Other application, when offering a choice of files WILL display thumbs of image files but explorer.exe on its own won't.
I'm completely surprised that the problem shows up even after the total restoration of C:\ from virtual clone backups.
I went back 3, then 5 and then 7 days ago and STILL the icons are invisible.

Peter

abactuon · 2025-07-13T10:01:02-0400

I would do a clean install of Windows, but I have few programs that need to be reinstalled.
Actually, the main icons are stored in shell32.dll and imageres.dll

and you should have access to them

Associations are recorded in the Windows registry, for example for the Recycle Bin:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\DefaultIcon
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\DefaultIcon
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\DefaultIcon
and can be overridden by the user:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\DefaultIcon

Have you tried creating a desktop.ini file?:

gunrunnerjohn · 2025-07-13T10:43:23-0400

Why not do a repair install of Windows, that will retain your applications and data. I do recommend you have a backup anyway, but it won't hurt to try that before reinstalling everything.

BackSpace · 2025-07-13T15:37:11-0400

Hi guys,
Re: Get-ACL C:\Windows\System32\imageres.dll | fl

Re: shell32.dll and imageres.dll

Are alive and well and full of icons.

Re: DefaultIcon(s)

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\DefaultIcon
does not have a \DefaultIcon. The remaining keys look as expected.

Re: Have you tried creating a desktop.ini file?:

Yes. Most of my root directories have icons of my own design or were acquired from other sources. I keep them all in a \ICONS folder and never had a problem doing so in the past.

Re: Why not do a repair install of Windows ...

I may do that soon. First I'm disconnecting all drives except #0 (partitions C:\ and D:\) and doing full virus scans and reversing recently installed application.

Thanks for all your suggestions. The fight continues.
Peter

Re: sfc
Corrupt file: C:\Windows\System32\drivers\BthA2dp.sys
Repaired file: C:\Windows\System32\drivers\BthA2dp.sys
Corrupt file: C:\Windows\System32\drivers\BthHfEnum.sys
Repaired file: C:\Windows\System32\drivers\BthHfEnum.sys

Results: No change.

All Desktop icons AND Explorer Icons are missing.

BackSpace

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abactuon

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My Computer

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BackSpace

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My Computer

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abactuon

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My Computer

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gunrunnerjohn

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BackSpace

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