Windows 7 Hard drive icon is missing...

[Craig]

[SOLVED] Hard drive icon is missing...

Hi, I just got a new laptop pre-installed w/ Windows 7. Everything works fine, but when I go into Windows Explorer I'm missing an icon for my hard drive. On the left side, there are five main categories: Favorites, Libraries, Homegroup, Computer, and Network. Some of the categories have subcategories underneath. Under the fourth category, Computer, my hard drive is listed as a subcategory. It is labeled HPLJP1000_1500(C). Just to the left of each category/subcategory, there is an icon that corresponds with each item. To the left of "Computer" there is an icon with a computer. But to the left of "HPLJP...", there is just the missing-icon icon. It's very small, but it appears that it resembles a white piece of paper with the top right corner folded over with a window in the middle with some icons inside of that window; just a generic placeholder icon I guess. I know this is vague, if you need more details let me know, but I would GREATLY appreciate it if anyone can help me out. It's driving me crazy!

Craig

 

[Craig]

Here's another picture. Hopefully it comes out more clear...

 

[Trouble]

Craig:
Have you tried rebuilding the icon cache database, if not, take a look at this article. Link Removed - Invalid URL

 

[Craig]

Hi Randy,
Yes, I did try that already. No luck...
Craig

 

[fjgold]

Hi Craig, see my post here below post #10

link Link Removed

This shows how to use Fresh UI a free applet to change your drive icons.

 

[Trouble]

If you are comfortable taking a look at the registry. Take a look at HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\DriveIcons and see if you have anything weird in there. I attached a screen shot from mine and the drive icons are displaying properly.

 

[Trouble]

Also in the registry you can check HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\DefaultIcon and see if there is anything weird in there it should have a value of %SystemRoot%\System32\shell32.dll,8 see attachment. Also make sure there is nothing called autorun.inf in the root of Drive C, I don't suspect there would be but it never hurts to look.

 

[Craig]

Hello again Randy,
I checked both of the registry entries that you referenced; and both appear the same as yours do. However, there IS an autorun.inf in the root of C; although it appears to reference my HP printer. Here's the text:

[autorun]
shellexecute=P1000_P1500.exe
icon=P1000_P1500.exe,0
label=HPLJP1000_1500

[Version]
Manufacturer=HP
ProductSeries=LaserJet P1000 and P1500 series
PreloadLaunchPad=hpzpad01.dat
PreloadRestingPad=%sourcepath%hpzprl03.dat

And Frank, thanks for the tip and I may end up using an applet like Fresh UI eventually, but I'm really curious to see what is causing the error beforehand. But I'll definitely keep it in mind.

Thanks again,
Craig

 

[Trouble]

You need to get rid of it. If you are uncomfortable deleteing it just create a new folder and put it in that folder. It just can't be in the root of the C drive

 

[Trouble]

It looks like that may in some way be responsible for the label that exists on your C drive. I agree about finding the actual answer before resorting to third party programs for tweaking. I use a lot of third party programs but, when something is wrong with the core operating system I, like you, prefer to find out it's cause.

 

[Craig]

Solved

Problem solved! I deleted the autorun.inf file from C as Randy suggested and not only did the correct icon show up, but it was renamed as well. Thanks to everyone for their help and ideas!

Craig

p.s. I attached a copy of the revised icon/drive name if anyone's interested

 

[Trouble]

Glad you were successful in resolving your issue. Thanks for posting back and letting us know

 

[fjgold]

Still though how did that autoruns.ini file get there in the first place?

I have a similar issue in that if I open up my printers and devices window my printers default overlay
has the same "unknown file" icon instead of the normal green arrow.

Not a big deal but the cause of this behavior is a tweak I performed.
I modified my imageres.dll file to change my startup sound and this odd behavior is the result.
I haven't found anything else affected by this tweak but restoring the unmodified .dll fixed the issue.
Unforseen consequences !

Glad you got it fixed.

BTW, you can rename your drive by simply right clicking and selecting rename.
It won't affect any programs looking for the drive because the program will search for the drive letter and not the volume name.
I named mine Win 7 Home Premium.

 

[JonCoffee]

I had searched EVERYWHERE for a solution to this problem. It wasn't a problem with the partition or anything. Simply a broken icon. I had tried everything from editing registry files to changing settings in safe mode.

Finally, I found the following solution on another forum (Link Removed

Originally Posted by Imbeciles
Now for an actual solution (well, three possibilities):

1. delete the autorun file in the drive root if there is one
2. delete desktop.ini in the drive root if there is one
3. follow Change Drive Name and Icon at Registry Guide for Windows and the icon you probably want is D:\Windows\System32\imageres.dll,27

Deleting the autorun file worked for me on the first try.

Please note: this was a solution posted by another user, not me.

 

[maxie]

Its impossible that above given solutions do not work for you. But if it still happens try the following:
1. Right click on the drive you have problem in and go to properties.
2. Go to Tools tab. You will see first option saying "This option will check the drive for errors." Click on "Check Now"
Your computer will check and correct the errors in the drive for you.

 

[BIGBEARJEDI]

Craig et al;

Have seen this problem before many times. Depending on the user's windows corruptions and assuming no viruses/malware are causing this problem, HP printer drivers can often cause this particular problem as you noted. As soon as I saw your hard drive icon label was renamed while reading the beginning of the thread, I thought to myself that stuff got written to the registry by your HP printer driver! There are a couple of causes of this, and one is if you installed the HP printer driver from a CD disc; if the disc is old or scratched, the HP install program doesn't work correctly and throws random information into places it shouldn't. Also, if your CD/DVD drive lens is dirty or scratched and hasn't been cleaned in a while, misreading of files and executables from the CD install disc can also cause this problem. And lastly, as HP has probably hundreds of thousands or even millions of drivers for their printers for all the different versions of windows, they don't always get to clean up broken or old driver files on their website; so it's best practice to uninstall the HP driver you have been running for that printer, and download and install the latest printer driver from their support.hp.com website. Pop in your Model number to their database, and select the Windows version you are running..download and install and you're good to go!

What's really cool is that HP is aware of this problem occurring with their older drivers on earlier versions of Windows (everything before Win10 is now considered "Older Windows" to Microsoft), and their NEW drivers can often repair that type of damage and perform some of the steps here as described by Trouble automatically. The first time I saw an updated driver do this--I was amazed!! But that's one of the reasons that HP is so good, and why they are still #1 worldwide in the printer marketplace. So, for other forum users reading this thread, this might be another way to get your drive icon to display correctly without having to go through Registry Editing, which can be high risk if you don't know what you are doing.

Cheers!
<<<BIGBEARJEDI>>>