File icons on the desktop and file explorer are missing.
File icons on the desktop and file explorer are missing.
Yesterday I started my computer and noticed all my icons disappeared. The taskbar now displays pinned items as default applications, except for a few programs. This problem has happened before, so I went ahead with a new Windows installation, but I’d prefer not to do that again. I’m trying to figure out the cause to avoid it in the future. Details: clicking the Properties button on any file doesn’t work, no icons appear in File Explorer, Start Menu icons remain normal. Other Windows Explorer features seem fine. My system specs are: Windows 10 Home 64-bit, Asus Prime B560-Plus (BIOS 07/05/2022), 2x Kingston FURY Beast 8GB RAM, Intel i5 10600K (4.1GHz), Crucial BX500 500GB SSD, Corsair CX600M, Intel Arc a750 GPU. I’ve tried several fixes so far: rebuilt icon cache, ran sfc /scannow, checked the registry for explorer.exe, used DISM, restarted Explorer via Task Manager. Attached screenshots of File Explorer and taskbar are included. Any advice would be appreciated! Updated May 22, 2023 by hnry
Execute the rebuild icon cache using sfc /scannow. Verify integrity issues are absent. Confirm the path 'Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Shell' exists and points to 'explorer.exe'. Proceed with updating Windows 10 to the most recent version.