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How to reset Windows icon cache

Published on June 10, 2011 Last reviewed on July 30, 2020

When the desktop icons gets messed up, you probably don't need to reinstall the programs (or Windows!) - you just need to reset the iconcache file. It's a fairly easily process too - easier than reinstalling the applications.

  1. Close all Windows Explorer windows that are open. It's highly recommended that you close all Windows, especially if using Windows 8/8.1
  2. Right click on task bar and choose Task Manager
  3. Switch to Processes tab and right-click on the Explorer.exe process and select End Process and confirm.
  4. Task Manger, Process dialog

  5. On File menu of Task Manager, select New Task (Run…)
  6. New Task (Run) command in Task Manager

  7. Type CMD.EXE, click OK
  8. In the Command Prompt window, type or copy and paste these commands one by one, pressing Enter after each command:

Windows 8, 8.1, and 10:

CD /d %userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer
DEL IconCache*
DEL thumb*
explorer
EXIT

Windows 7/Vista:

CD /d %userprofile%\AppData\Local
DEL IconCache.db
explorer
EXIT

Windows will rebuild the iconcache and all icons should look normal again.

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Bob Nemo
July 29, 2017 1:01 pm
#286

"Windows will rebuild the iconcache and all icons should look normal again."

This did not happen on my PC running Vista Home Premium. I deleted the cache without any problem, but it stayed deleted after the restart, and the white-out icons were unchanged.

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Anthony
January 10, 2017 12:17 pm
#278

This worked.

0
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PD
April 10, 2015 12:18 pm
#145

If you can't find the file, type ATTRIB -H IconCache.db to remove 'hidden' attribute and make it visible.

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