Hi
@Bug locker
I can't tell you exactly why those icons are blank, but there are 2/3 possibilities that I know of:
- OS Corruption (possible problem but check first)
- Profile Corruption (not likely your problem)
- Missing/Corrupt <pinned> file(s) (most likely your problem)
OS Corruption
I would first rule out OS corruption before proceeding. Based on the threads history, you may have already done that, but I'll add it here just incase:
- Run the Command Prompt as an Administrator
- sfc /scannow
If no integrity violations were found, then no OS corruption was detected. If you see "found and repaired", restart and run again.
Profile Corruption
This is an easy check and honestly I don't think this will be your issue; but worth checking and knowing about.
Open the registry and paste this path into the address bar:
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList
If you see any with .bak at the end, that profile is corrupt.
What profile is it? Select it in the list and in the Right Pane look at the value for the subkey ProfileImagePath.
If it's your profile that's corrupt, you will need to restart the computer and login with a different account with Admin permissions to repair it.
Just rename the profile key by removing ONLY the ".bak" from the end of the name. Log off and login with the repaired user profile.
Keep in mind this may not solve the issue with the blank icons, but it may allow you to fix the problem using the next method.
Missing/Corrupt icon file:
Those icons that Windows uses on the Taskbar (W10/W11) for your profile are located here:
%AppData%\Roaming\Microsoft\InternetExplorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\TaskBar
%appdata% and beyond are hidden, so the easiest way to get there is to Copy/Paste full path into the Run window.
In the earlier versions of W10, those files were actually icon files (.ico). I just noticed they are now using links (.lnk) instead; for both W10/W11 22H2.
If you hover your mouse over each hidden icon, you should still be able to see their names. Take note of them.
Go to the Taskbar directory and and look at the file properties for each of those programs; right-click Properties.
You can try changing the icon using the Change icon button, or replacing the shortcut altogether.
If you replace the shortcut file, be sure to take note of the values in the "Start in" field. There are some differences besides the obvious; see comments below.
Besides that, I noticed that some built-in Windows apps like the Calculator, Snipping Tool or Snip & Sketch will not show in that Taskbar folder.
If replacing the taskbar shortcuts manually, be sure to
Unpin them first then
restart explorer.exe. Add the shortcut, verify
Start in values are correct then restart
explorer.exe again to see if it shows correctly on the
Taskbar. Use that "
Open File Location" button in the file properties window to make it easier.
Repeat for each one and don't forget you always have the option to Change icon in the file properties; restart explorer and see if that does the trick.
I posted on this topic in the
tenforums 7 years ago if interested. Just not it was replacing icon files, not shortcuts which Windows is using now.
Last Resort:
Create a new Profile and pin all the programs that were showing blanks.
Logoff/on and see if they are still displayed properly.
If all good, migrate your profile over to the new one. Do not copy your %appdata% over, just the CONTENTS for each of your data folders... not the data folders themselves. The point is to start with a clean profile.
Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures, Videos
Once you've confirmed everything was safely moved to the new profile, you can purge the old one using these steps:
Run netplwiz > select the profile > Remove
WARNING:
* IF you are logging into your computer with your online Microsoft account... you're life just got more complicated with replacing your profile. You'll need to search for a solution online... I only use local accounts on my systems.
* If using OneDrive or any other cloud synchronization tools, be sure to look up how to safely preserve your data. You will likely just need to log out of the service after a final sync. This way when you login to your cloud service with your new windows user profile, everything will sync to the new profile and not the old one.
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Start in values:
For example, on my W10 system:
- Non-MS programs pointed to their respective program files directory. EX: VMware Workstation Pro has: "C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Workstation\"
- PowerShell ISE has: %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%
- All the MS programs are blank in the Start in field, except for Remote Desktop (%windir%\system32\)
