OT: Lost my Desktop Icons

[falcon409]

A corrupted icon cache will still show icons...but they'll lose specific images...and be as those on top in yor screenie.
Looks like the os has an issue trying to draw them twice.
Do you have any enhancements...or is you os install 'vanilla'?

It's a pretty basic Win7 installation.

[Jafo]

I added a bit...another possible fix....

[gradyhappyg]

You could also try to run the sfc/scannow file checker from the command prompt.

[falcon409]

You could also try to run the sfc/scannow file checker from the command prompt.

No idea what that is or how to call it up.

[falcon409]

I added a bit...another possible fix....

Yep, definitely made the icons bigger, also the display, cursor, everything. . .but the problem remains.

[gradyhappyg]

No idea what that is or how to call it up.

Open Task manager, click file, then click run new task when the dialog box opens type cmd in the box click ok. The command prompt window will open type sfc/scannow hit enter. It's supposed to check for file/system errors and if possible repair them. it can take a while to complete should tell you if it found and or fixed any errors. Good luck.

[Jafo]

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/w...5b3e292?auth=1

Link to likely solution....will require editing registry....make a backup FIRST.

[falcon409]

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/w...5b3e292?auth=1

Link to likely solution....will require editing registry....make a backup FIRST.

Nope, mine were both set correctly. Inching ever closer to a reinstall of Win7 now. Thanks Jafo.

[falcon409]

Open Task manager, click file, then click run new task when the dialog box opens type cmd in the box click ok. The command prompt window will open type sfc/scannow hit enter. It's supposed to check for file/system errors and if possible repair them. it can take a while to complete should tell you if it found and or fixed any errors. Good luck.

Running that now.

Nothing Found: "Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations".

[Seahawk72s]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5OV2EPpZIQ

[falcon409]

Here's a better view of what's going on with these stupid icons. I was successful in getting the true icon to enlarge while leaving the "other" icon smaller. This reminded me of the shortcut "arrows" that were always part of a shortcut and so I set out to remove the "arrows". No joy. . .that didn't work either so I really am at a stalemate here. As I said, the shortcuts work fine and I guess I could just accept that this is where I am with this and move on. Ughhh!

[falcon409]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5OV2EPpZIQ

Thanks but that has already been suggested several times and it doesn't have any affect on this. Not sure why, but this along with probably 5 other suggestions, which in a normal world would probably work fine, have failed to show any results at all. Pretty frustrating.

[Daube]

It seems to me, after seeing the enlarged picture of your icons, that the problem is not the icons, but more the little arrow indicating it's a link... and this arrow has somehow been replaced by the "default unknown" icon...
Could you check this page, which explains how to get rid of the little arrows, to see if this has any effect on your problem ?
http://www.windowscentral.com/how-ge...ows-windows-10
(it's for win10, but from what I understood in the text, it could work with previous Windows versions too... and the change is easy to revert anyways)

[Seahawk72s]

Can the smaller default icons be moved to a different location on the desktop, leaving the larger correct image icons in place.

[Seahawk72s]

This is an involved solution for VISTA but it sounds like what you may have going on.

Everything seemed fine except for the Desktop icons. This was something I’ve never seen before – each of the original icons had a generic icon laid over the top of it – like two layers of icons, and you could see the original icon a little bit around the edges of the generic one. I tried right-clicking on Properties to change the icons back to what they were, but no dice. Couldn’t change them at all.

Then I went to your Tutorial on deleting the icon cache, but it didn’t work. In fact, I did it twice and each time, the icon cache got larger! ( It went from 3,648kb, to 4,043kb, to 4,046kb.) I rebooted after each attempt and deleted the icon cache.db file from the Recycle Bin after each reboot.

The last thing I tried was changing the Display color setting from 32 to 16 and back again. I saw the icons move slightly as the changes were occurring, but the problem didn’t get fixed.

Problem:
http://www.vistax64.com/general-discussion/222173-help-ive-got-double-layer-desktop-icons.html

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/67...cut-arrow.html

[mal998]

Falcon,
what happens if you delete one of the offending icons and replace it on the desktop with a new one? Does it the new one still appear with the incorrect size?

[falcon409]

This is an involved solution for VISTA but it sounds like what you may have going on.

Problem:
http://www.vistax64.com/general-discussion/222173-help-ive-got-double-layer-desktop-icons.html
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/67...cut-arrow.html

It took several steps, but that program corrected the problem. I mentioned in an earlier post that this reminded me somewhat of the shortcut "arrows", but the programs I tried didn't have any affect. This one, "Vista Shortcut Manager" is one I used way back to originally get rid of the Arrows when I first installed Win7 (I just couldn't remember the name). Anyway, I first used the program to add the arrows to my icons. . .after rebooting the page icons had been changed to the arrows. I then selected the option to remove the arrows and that got the icons back to what they were before all this mess started.

Many Thanks Tony. . .and thanks to all those who offered suggestions. No idea how this ever got this way, but my best guess would be it was caused, somehow, during my attempts to get the PC out of hibernation.

[Jafo]

It took several steps, but that program corrected the problem. I mentioned in an earlier post that this reminded me somewhat of the shortcut "arrows", but the programs I tried didn't have any affect. This one, "Vista Shortcut Manager" is one I used way back to originally get rid of the Arrows when I first installed Win7 (I just couldn't remember the name). Anyway, I first used the program to add the arrows to my icons. . .after rebooting the page icons had been changed to the arrows. I then selected the option to remove the arrows and that got the icons back to what they were before all this mess started.

Many Thanks Tony. . .and thanks to all those who offered suggestions. No idea how this ever got this way, but my best guess would be it was caused, somehow, during my attempts to get the PC out of hibernation.

Ah...so what you're saying is you actually DID have a shell enhancer installed/running....the one that removed your arrows.
There are various proggies that can do that....I too have used one originally for Vista on my Win 7 ... but Stardock's proggies do it too [and better...and more besides...ie. 'Start 10' makes Win 10 more 'endurable'].

I've used [and coded] shell enhancements and alternate shells for yonks....ever since there was a GUI interface for Dos.
They can and often do create 'interesting' situations....

[falcon409]

Ah...so what you're saying is you actually DID have a shell enhancer installed/running....the one that removed your arrows.
There are various proggies that can do that....I too have used one originally for Vista on my Win 7. . . .

I can only attest to having used it to get rid of the original arrows. Once that was accomplished I deleted the program which has been several years ago now. I couldn't remember the name because it was no longer on my system.

[hairyspin]

A curious problem and an interesting solution! Must remember this one, it could probably happen on any version of Windows.

[falcon409]

A curious problem and an interesting solution! Must remember this one, it could probably happen on any version of Windows.

I suppose it could indeed Tom. Unfortunately I wouldn't be able to reproduce exactly how it happened since I was brain dead (with both monitors turned off, which I forgot) while hitting various keys and hotkeys to try to get it to come back up. What a mess.

[Lonewolfee1]

A rather Iconic Conundrum.

[Jafo]

A rather Iconic Conundrum.

A horrifying pun....
Someone hit that man...

Falcon....that arrow remover is a one-hit application...set and forget. Usually you wouldn't even notice/remember you'd used it until one day it borked and typically stopped fixing arrows on new icons. Then you'd remember to reload/run it again.

Stardock has a little proggy called 'Fences' which is a system for corralling groups of icons and hiding/showing them at will.....one feature of which is to also remove those arrows. Because it's a permanent-use proggy for the arranging...the arrow isssue doesn't recur...

[vortex]

Falcon409,
There is a little freeware desktop icon program called DesktopOK which, among other things, remembers the locations of the icons on the desktop. I use 3 monitors and switch the location of my desktop between them as needed. DesktopOK has rescued me a number of times when things have gotten messed up for one reason or another. Whether DesktopOK would have 'worked' in your case, I don't know.

http://download.cnet.com/DesktopOK/3000-2072_4-10912853.html

Al

Ark, does this program have to run at every start or is it a one-shot solution?

[UnknownGuest12]

Had this problem once.
I use Tweak 10 and used it also to remove those "arrows" from desktop icons. One time they were "doubled", just use Tweak 10, uncheck the no arrows mark and checked again...that solved it.
Good luck...