Losing icons (shortcut and sometimes program) from programs in taskbar group


Buddy

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Location
Memphis TN
OS
Windows 11 22H2
I wanted a group on the taskbar for system functions and utilities. There are too many that I use regularly and they'd fill the taskbar. I want a clean desktop and don't like having stuff pinned in the start menu. So...

To do that, you put all the shortcuts you want in a folder somewhere. You then define a shortcut with the target as "explorer.exe c:\path to folder with shortcuts". Pin that shortcut to the taskbar and you've got a taskbar group. CIick it and you get an explorer window open to your shortcut folder.

About 4 or 5 days ago, I got tired of the regular old folder icon for the group and downloaded one that looks like a laptop. This may or may not be related to what's happening.

Yesterday, when I clicked on the group icon, one shortcut had lost its icon, reverting to a generic blank shortcut icon. Today, it's seven of them. If you go to the target folder in Program Files, File Explorer also shows a blank icon for the program itself. Open properties for the program, and the header still shows the correct icon. Open the program and it shows the correct icon at the top left of its window. Open properties for the icon and click "change icon" and it shows the correct icon. Selecting it and hitting Apply or OK sometimes doesn't change it until the 2nd try. Double clicking the desired icon almost always works on the first try.

The whole icon mess is odd and a PITA to recover, especially if it's going to be a frequent thing. Even so, I don't want to abandon the group, and I'm resisting going to a 3rd party taskbar customization program.

I'm tempted, of course, to revert to the old folder icon for the group. But how in the world is this happening?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 22H2
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon G10
    CPU
    i5-1240p
    Memory
    16gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    Whatever comes in it
    Sound Card
    Whatever comes in it
    Monitor(s) Displays
    No external monitor. Yet.
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1200
    Hard Drives
    Internal 512 GB SSD
    External 6 TB, 1 TB, 225 GB desktop HDD, 2TB portable HDD
    A whole army of USB flash memory sticks
    Mouse
    Logitech M317
    Internet Speed
    500 mbps
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    CalDigit TS4 dock for all my USB stuff, speakers, and connect to Android phone
    HP MFP M277dw laser printer/scanner
rebuild your icon cache
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 23H2 22631.3296
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Optiplex 7080
    CPU
    i9-10900 10 core 20 threads
    Motherboard
    DELL 0J37VM
    Memory
    32 gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    none-Intel UHD Graphics 630
    Sound Card
    Integrated Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Benq 27
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1tb Solidigm m.2 +256gb ssd+512 gb usb m.2 sata
    PSU
    500w
    Case
    MT
    Cooling
    Dell Premium
    Keyboard
    Logitech wired
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless
    Internet Speed
    so slow I'm too embarrassed to tell
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Defender+MWB Premium
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 22H2 19045.3930
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Optiplex 9020
    CPU
    i7-4770
    Memory
    24 gb
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Benq 27
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    256 gb Toshiba BG4 M.2 NVE SSB and 1 tb hdd
    PSU
    500w
    Case
    MT
    Cooling
    Dell factory
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless
    Keyboard
    Logitech wired
    Internet Speed
    still not telling
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Defender+MWB Premium
Update - I've gone into properties for all the shortcuts that lost their icons and fixed them, except one. Ookla Speedtest was an install from the MS Store and isn't easy to find. Not in Program Files. Then, I deleted and remade the shortcut to the icon directory, this time with a generic icon from Shell32.dll. Finally, I deleted (gone, not to Recycle Bin) the downloaded icon that I'd used previously for the group. Let's give it a couple of days and some boots to see what happens.

If it's still acting up, then I'll try rebuilding the icon cache, per @glasskuter post.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 22H2
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon G10
    CPU
    i5-1240p
    Memory
    16gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    Whatever comes in it
    Sound Card
    Whatever comes in it
    Monitor(s) Displays
    No external monitor. Yet.
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1200
    Hard Drives
    Internal 512 GB SSD
    External 6 TB, 1 TB, 225 GB desktop HDD, 2TB portable HDD
    A whole army of USB flash memory sticks
    Mouse
    Logitech M317
    Internet Speed
    500 mbps
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    CalDigit TS4 dock for all my USB stuff, speakers, and connect to Android phone
    HP MFP M277dw laser printer/scanner
For Store apps, look in shell:appsfolder

You can open that form the Run dialog, or by simply typing it in the address bar in an open Windows Explorer window.

As for the icons going wonky - did you save the icon image file to either your Pictures / Documents folder? And if so, is that folder shared via OneDrive? If so, is OneDrive set to remvoe files that ahven't been used in a while to save local storage space?

If so, a couple of possible fixes:

1) Set that file to be always available offline in OneDrive
2) Save the file in a location that is not shared to OneDrive
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 23H2 Current build
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HomeBrew
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 9 3950X
    Motherboard
    MSI MEG X570 GODLIKE
    Memory
    4 * 32 GB - Corsair Vengeance 3600 MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti XC3 ULTRA GAMING (12G-P5-3955-KR)
    Sound Card
    Realtek® ALC1220 Codec
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2x Eve Spectrum ES07D03 4K Gaming Monitor (Matte) | Eve Spectrum ES07DC9 4K Gaming Monitor (Glossy)
    Screen Resolution
    3x 3840 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    3x Samsung 980 Pro NVMe PCIe 4 M.2 2 TB SSD (MZ-V8P2T0B/AM) } 3x Sabrent Rocket NVMe 4.0 1 TB SSD (USB)
    PSU
    PC Power & Cooling’s Silencer Series 1050 Watt, 80 Plus Platinum
    Case
    Fractal Design Define 7 XL Dark ATX Full Tower Case
    Cooling
    NZXT KRAKEN Z73 73.11 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (3x 120 mm push top) + Air 3x 140mm case fans (pull front) + 1x 120 mm (push back) and 1 x 120 mm (pull bottom)
    Keyboard
    SteelSeries Apex Pro Wired Gaming Keyboard
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3S | MX Master 3 for Business
    Internet Speed
    AT&T LightSpeed Gigabit Duplex Ftth
    Browser
    Nightly (default) + Firefox (stable), Chrome, Edge
    Antivirus
    Defender + MB 5 Beta
  • Operating System
    ChromeOS Flex Dev Channel (current)
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Latitude E5470
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6300U CPU @ 2.40GHz, 2501 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
    Motherboard
    Dell
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel(R) HD Graphics 520
    Sound Card
    Intel(R) HD Graphics 520 + RealTek Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell laptop display 15"
    Screen Resolution
    1920 * 1080
    Hard Drives
    Toshiba 128GB M.2 22300 drive
    INTEL Cherryville 520 Series SSDSC2CW180A 180 GB SATA III SSD
    PSU
    Dell
    Case
    Dell
    Cooling
    Dell
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3S (shared w. Sys 1) | Dell TouchPad
    Keyboard
    Dell
    Internet Speed
    AT&T LightSpeed Gigabit Duplex Ftth
@johnlgalt
OneDrive is disabled. The downloaded icon was saved in a local directory. It's not the one that went missing. Those were the utilities.

I'll check the location for Ookla when I get back home to the computer.

Thanks!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 22H2
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon G10
    CPU
    i5-1240p
    Memory
    16gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    Whatever comes in it
    Sound Card
    Whatever comes in it
    Monitor(s) Displays
    No external monitor. Yet.
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1200
    Hard Drives
    Internal 512 GB SSD
    External 6 TB, 1 TB, 225 GB desktop HDD, 2TB portable HDD
    A whole army of USB flash memory sticks
    Mouse
    Logitech M317
    Internet Speed
    500 mbps
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    CalDigit TS4 dock for all my USB stuff, speakers, and connect to Android phone
    HP MFP M277dw laser printer/scanner

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win11 Pro RTM
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Vostro 3400
    CPU
    Intel Core i5 11th Gen. 2.40GHz
    Memory
    12GB
    Hard Drives
    256GB SSD NVMe
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro RTM x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Vostro 5890
    CPU
    Intel Core i5 10th Gen. 2.90GHz
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Onboard, no VGA, using a DisplayPort-to-VGA adapter
    Monitor(s) Displays
    24" Dell
    Hard Drives
    512GB SSD NVMe, 2TB WDC HDD
    Browser
    Firefox, Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender/Microsoft Security
I've followed @glasskuter 's suggestion and rebuilt my icon cache using the BAT file from the tutorial. Now giving it a couple of days and some boots to see if everything is happy again in icon-land.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 22H2
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon G10
    CPU
    i5-1240p
    Memory
    16gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    Whatever comes in it
    Sound Card
    Whatever comes in it
    Monitor(s) Displays
    No external monitor. Yet.
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1200
    Hard Drives
    Internal 512 GB SSD
    External 6 TB, 1 TB, 225 GB desktop HDD, 2TB portable HDD
    A whole army of USB flash memory sticks
    Mouse
    Logitech M317
    Internet Speed
    500 mbps
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    CalDigit TS4 dock for all my USB stuff, speakers, and connect to Android phone
    HP MFP M277dw laser printer/scanner
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