Desktop and Taskbar icons show up as a generic blank icons in Windows 7

Hi,

This could be either due to some virus or malicious software infection on the computer or some issues with the Icon Cache Database on the computer. I would like to have these information for a better understanding:

1)       Did you run a scan using Registry Cleaner software on the computer recently?

2)        What happens when you click on these generic blank icons on the Taskbar and the Desktop? Does it open the respective programs without any issues? If not, do you get any error message?

I would first suggest you to run a complete security scan on the computer using Microsoft Safety Scanner and let’s know the result.

Method 1: Run Microsoft Safety Scanner and check if there are any infections on the computer.

You can download and run the Microsoft Safety Scanner from this link:

***Download Microsoft Safety Scanner***

Important: When running a scan using an Anti Virus program, any data files that are infected may be cleaned by deleting the file entirely, which means there is a potential for data loss.

If the issue persists, then try rebuilding the Icon Cache Database by following the next method.

Method 2: Rebuild the Icon Cache Database

Please follow these steps and check if that resolves the issue.

a)       Close all folder windows that are currently open.

b)       Launch Task Manager using the CTRL+SHIFT+ESC key sequence on the keyboard.

c)       In the Process tab, right-click on the Explorer.exe process and select End Process.

d)       Click the End process button when asked for confirmation.

e)       From the File menu of Task Manager, select New Task (Run…)

f)        Type CMD.EXE, and click OK

g)       In the Command Prompt window, type the following commands one by one and press ENTER after each command:

CD /d %userprofile%\AppData\Local

DEL IconCache.db /a

EXIT

h)       In Task Manager, click File and the select New Task (Run…)

i)         Type EXPLORER.EXE, and click OK.

j)         Now, check if the icons are back.

Hope this is helpful. Please get back to us with the result.

Hi MCTOURO,

Thank you so much for getting back to us with the updates. We are glad to know that the above suggestions were helpful to you in fixing this issue.

Hope this is helpful for all the others as well. If you need any further assistance with Windows Operating System, please post your query on Microsoft Community Forums and we’ll be glad to assist you with it.

Was a third-party desktop theme or installed and then removed (partially)? Try swiching to a default Windows theme and see if that helps. Clearing the icon cache is a good idea anyway.

worked like a charm. thanks.