Windows 7 Icons not appearing for some apps

StevenD

New Member
Icons not appearing for some apps (solved)

This just happened today. Icons for three applications are all of a sudden not appearing in the task bar. The only thing that shows is a generic icon that doesn't represent the application. I have gone into the program folders for each of these application and the icon doesn't appear there as well. It may be a silly thing but this is just bugging me.

When I right click on the task bar and select Properties I uncheck the Use small icons check box and click Apply the icons are displayed correctly for two of the apps but not the other one. When I check the Use small icons check box again the icons go small but change back to the generic Icon

What can I do to get all of the icons to show up like they did when I installed the apps. I'm not a tech sort of person and I hope someone can help me figure out what to do.:redface:

StevenD
 
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Hello Steven,

i don't mean to blow you off, but this has been a common problem and I don't think a resolution has Bent found other than re-installing.

Please look over the similar threads at the bottom of this page.
 
i don't mean to blow you off, but this has been a common problem and I don't think a resolution has Bent found other than re-installing.

Please look over the similar threads at the bottom of this page.

That's okay. At least you responded. On some forums I post to no will say anything even just to say they don't know. I have looked at some other threads here and on other forums but I wasn't sure if I was experiencing the same thing. I guess I am.:redface: I'll just have to live with it in the mean time. As long as I know there is no known solution yet it won't bug me as much. At least clicking on the icons do what they are supposed to do and open the apps. As long as they are placed between recognizable icons I can keep them straight.

I assuming by re-install you mean Windows 7. I tried on the off chance that it would work to uninstall one of the apps and reinstall it and that didn't work. Everything else seems to work well so I think I will leave it for the time being.:)

Anyway thanks again for responding.

StevenD
 
Before you do a clean install try this:

Click "Start" and type and enter "ap" to enter the appearance menu. Click "best performance" then go back
to "Let Windows choose.." It restored some quirks for me and restored aero when I once had turned it off.
 
Before you do a clean install try this:

Click "Start" and type and enter "ap" to enter the appearance menu. Click "best performance" then go back
to "Let Windows choose.." It restored some quirks for me and restored aero when I once had turned it off.

Unfortunately it didn't work.:frown: Thanks for the suggestion though.:)

StevenD
 
I was messing around today customising some icons and a bit later ran 'sfc /scannow'.. Doh! This turned my custom icons back to normal so I wonder if it will do the same for you? Just right-click on command prompt, run as administrator and type in the above minus quotes.. You'll probably have to reboot after...
 
Have you tried unpinning the icons then going to the program directory for the actual progam .exe file and selecting "pin to taskbar?"

You might also right click on the offending icon, then right click on the program from the drop down list and select properties. Check if the target directory is correct and possibly use the "change icon" button to re-establish the correct icon.
 
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Have you tried unpinning the icons then going to the program directory for the actual progam .exe file and selecting "pin to taskbar?"

You might also right click on the offending icon, then right click on the program from the drop down list and select properties. Check if the target directory is correct and possibly use the "change icon" button to re-establish the correct icon.

Yes I tried unpinning the icons and going to program directory and trying to pin the icon to the task bar with not luck. It seems the the icon for the app in the program directory has a generic icon and not the icon the represents the app. Only these three apps are doing this.

I have also right clicked on all the icons and change the icon buttons to re-establish the correct icon and that didn't work. I don't know much about working under the hood and I haven't worked with the command prompt before. I just don't want to screw anything up to seriously. But I am willing to learn.

Thanks to everyone for the interest.

StevenD
 
I was messing around today customising some icons and a bit later ran 'sfc /scannow'.. Doh! This turned my custom icons back to normal so I wonder if it will do the same for you? Just right-click on command prompt, run as administrator and type in the above minus quotes.. You'll probably have to reboot after...

I have not used command prompt before and I don't want to screw my machine up because I input something the wrong way so what is this line supposed to do? Also what would happen if I didn't run this line of code in the command prompt not as administrator?

StevenD
 
I have not used command prompt before and I don't want to screw my machine up because I input something the wrong way so what is this line supposed to do? Also what would happen if I didn't run this line of code in the command prompt not as administrator?

StevenD

It just checks the integrity of your core files and if need be fixes them. If you didn't run as administrator it might not work as well (short answer)...
There's very little to go wrong but if you don't believe me why not ask google?

SFC Scannow - How to Use SFC Scannow to Repair Protected Windows Operating System Files
 
Thanks that is I guess what I was looking for. An explanation. I just asked it in a clumsy way. I will give it a try this evening when I get home from work.

StevenD
 
Cheers bud... It worked for me so hopefully it'll do the same for Steven..
 
My icons started getting that generic icon for some reason but I just rebuilt the icon cache.. If the other suggestion doesn't work try the fix given on this page here:

I'm back in business. :):) The 'sfc /scannow' didn't work nor did the first option in the document of the link you posted that has you manual delete the IconCache.db file. However the second option that uses the command prompt worked great. I'm a happy Windows 7 user again (not that I wasn't pleased anyway).

Thanks everyone for the help and suggestions. I really appreciate it. I don't know what caused them to go screwy in the first place. At least if it happens again I have a solution.

StevenD
 
That same fix worked for me also... Glad you got it sorted..:D
 
Excellent. Glad to see there is a fix for this. I have had a couple users with this problem specifically with Office 2007. In all of the cases, the icons on the desktop got messed up, but replacing them with the icons from the Start Menu seemed to correct the problem. I would have been interesting to see if this fix would have helped me here. I will keep my ears open and I will post back if I come across this problem again. ;)

Thanks guys...good find kemical!
 
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