Solved User file folder icon became small

biyakuga · Nov 28, 2023

Today morning after starting my pc I saw that for an unknown reason (just) my user folder icon became small.

I tried unpinning all desktop icons and then restoring them to default.
I went to Settings > Personalization > Themes > Desktop icon settings. Uncheck all icons then hit Apply.
Once done, I clicked on Restore Default and then select back the icons.

I tried rebuilding the icon cache using option two in the methods below.
https://www.elevenforum.com/t/rebuild-icon-cach...

I tried to clear the thumbnail cache.
https://www.elevenforum.com/t/clear-and-reset-t...

clear the thumbnail cache fixed the problem but it came became after a day and again I ran the script, and it keeps coming back.

Is there a way to find out what cause this problem and how to permanently fix it?

Here is an example of the problem.

I am on the latest official Windows 11 Pro version (not insiders).

zebal · Nov 28, 2023

Hello,

Right click on start button and select terminal to open console.

Copy the following code all at once and right click into the console to paste (or CTRL+V) then press enter:

Powershell:

Get-ItemProperty "HKCU:\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics" "Shell Icon Size"

Share the numeral value of "Shell Icon Size" here or take a screenshot, it should be 32.

I'm not sure though if this applies to desktop icons.

Step 2:

Powershell:

 Get-ItemProperty "HKCU:\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics" | Out-File "$($env:USERPROFILE)\Desktop\metrics.txt"

this will create a text file on your desktop called metrics.txt, share it here please.

biyakuga · Nov 28, 2023

zebal said:
Hello,

Right click on start button and select terminal to open console.

Copy the following code all at once and right click into the console to paste (or CTRL+V) then press enter:

Powershell:

Get-ItemProperty "HKCU:\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics" "Shell Icon Size"

Share the numeral value of "Shell Icon Size" here or take a screenshot, it should be 32.

I'm not sure though if this applies to desktop icons.

Step 2:

Powershell:

Get-ItemProperty "HKCU:\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics"

Take screenshot of this output (enlarge the console to grab all output) and share it here.

Here is the first image as you can see it is 32.

Second image

zebal · Nov 28, 2023

This all looks fine.

Let us know if the following link helps restoring desktop icon size?

Show, hide, or resize desktop icons - Microsoft Support

Customize the appearance of the Windows desktop by showing, hiding, or resizing icons.

support.microsoft.com

zebal · Nov 28, 2023

Powershell:

Get-ItemProperty "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\1\Desktop" | Out-File "$($env:USERPROFILE)\Desktop\iconsize.txt"

This will create a text file on your desktop called iconsize.txt, share it here please, attach to thread.

biyakuga · Nov 28, 2023

zebal said:
This all looks fine.

Let us know if the following link helps restoring desktop icon size?

Show, hide, or resize desktop icons - Microsoft Support

Customize the appearance of the Windows desktop by showing, hiding, or resizing icons.

support.microsoft.com

I tried it with no luck and like I said the only thing that helped me was to clear the thumbnail cache from this guide:
https://www.elevenforum.com/t/clear-and-reset-t...

But the problem keeps coming back after a few days.

zebal · Nov 28, 2023

Please see also my post #5
What's the icon size in that file?

wiganken · Nov 28, 2023

Try running this batch file (which is from this forum) and runs Windows commands sfc, DISM and ChkDSK run in a sequence. May take 10 minutes or more.

BrianInEngland · Nov 28, 2023

My user folder icon is smaller as well! Noticed it about a week ago
One is where my personal files are saved, on a different drive to C:
The other is C:\Users\ folder

Weird

zebal · Nov 28, 2023

BrianInEngland said:
My user folder icon is smaller as well! Noticed it about a week ago

I just set my user folder to desktop and it's not smaller, it's same size as control panel icon.

Perhaps it depends on Windows build version, mine is 22631.2715

BrianInEngland · Nov 28, 2023

zebal said:
I just set my user folder to desktop and it's not smaller, it's same size as control panel icon.

Perhaps it depends on Windows build version, mine is 22631.2715

Could it be OneDrive related? My folder (with the small icon) contains my OneDrive sync folder.

zebal · Nov 28, 2023

BrianInEngland said:
Could it be OneDrive related? My folder (with the small icon) contains my OneDrive sync folder.

That's a possibility because I use OneDrive but do not sync my user folder or any other folders.

biyakuga · Nov 28, 2023

zebal said:
Powershell:

Get-ItemProperty "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\1\Desktop" | Out-File "$($env:USERPROFILE)\Desktop\iconsize.txt"

This will create a text file on your desktop called iconsize.txt, share it here please, attach to thread.

zebal · Nov 28, 2023

it all looks fine, if tuneup.bat doesn't help then I suggest you to create a new user account and see if problem persist there too.
if not, you can switch your data to new user account and use it instead, when you're sure you not longer need old account delete it.

biyakuga · Nov 29, 2023

zebal said:
it all looks fine, if tuneup.bat doesn't help then I suggest you to create a new user account and see if problem persist there too.
if not, you can switch your data to new user account and use it instead, when you're sure you not longer need old account delete it.

Ok I think I fixed it once and for all.
It is important for anyone else have this problem change your power button settings.
By default, fast startup is enabled so if there is corruption shutdown it will not fix it because the ram does not get cleanup.
Right now, it seems everything back to normal.