garrett_187 Posted September 10, 2006 Report Share Posted September 10, 2006 Most of my icons have turned to the generic icon (i.e. white with a blue strip at the top). This has happened everywhere - on the desktop, in the start menu and even when i right-click a file an select 'Open With'. I've tried every fix i could find on the internet and nothing has worked. Any suggestions? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bearskin Posted September 10, 2006 Report Share Posted September 10, 2006 have you tried refreshing your desktop?just a thought as I know nothing about xp. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
garrett_187 Posted September 10, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2006 yup Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TheTerrorist_75 Posted September 10, 2006 Report Share Posted September 10, 2006 Desktop icons change to generic iconsQuestion:My Desktop icons have all changed into generic icons. How can I get the original icons back?Answer:You can try resetting the icon cache by making a change to the cache and then changing it back. Here's how:1. Right click an empty area of your Desktop2. Select Properties3. Select the Appearance tab4. Choose the Advanced button5. In the "Item:" drop down menu, click the entry titled 'Icon'6. Using the up or down arrows, change the number displayed 7. Click OK8. Using the above instructions, change the value of step #6 back to its original position. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bearskin Posted September 10, 2006 Report Share Posted September 10, 2006 well I've never had that happen with winme so I just took a wild guess...wrong again bear. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JDoors Posted September 10, 2006 Report Share Posted September 10, 2006 In the old days you would change your screen resolution then change it back. This would load different icons, then reload the ones you actually wanted. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
garrett_187 Posted September 11, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2006 i've tried that already - here r some of the things i can remember trying:- registry fixes off internet (i.e. Kelly's Korner etc)- resizing the icons- deleting the icon cache- making the icon cache bigger- changing the resolution of my screen- refreshing the desktop (even though this problem goes beyond just the desktop)that's about all i can remember for now. Any other suggestions? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bobbynichols Posted September 11, 2006 Report Share Posted September 11, 2006 i've tried that already - here r some of the things i can remember trying:- registry fixes off internet (i.e. Kelly's Korner etc)- resizing the icons- deleting the icon cache- making the icon cache bigger- changing the resolution of my screen- refreshing the desktop (even though this problem goes beyond just the desktop)that's about all i can remember for now. Any other suggestions?... System Restore?... back to another restore point ? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JDoors Posted September 11, 2006 Report Share Posted September 11, 2006 i've tried that already - here r some of the things i can remember trying:- registry fixes off internet (i.e. Kelly's Korner etc)- resizing the icons- deleting the icon cache- making the icon cache bigger- changing the resolution of my screen- refreshing the desktop (even though this problem goes beyond just the desktop)that's about all i can remember for now. Any other suggestions? Wait a minute ... You did all that and you still have what you call "generic" icons? There is something wrong with your current video driver then -- there MUST be. Download and install the latest drivers for your video card/chipset. OK, another possibility is a "tweak" program that's changing them no matter what you do. If you know what to look for run a startup utility (that'll list everything that starts with Windows) and turn off any such utility. If you can't find it you should try posting a HiJackThis log and allow someone else to investigate what's going on. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Chappy Posted September 25, 2006 Report Share Posted September 25, 2006 That's not a Generic icon, but it's the standard .exe icon that doesn't have a proprietary icon image in place.The only way I can see this happening is if you were playing around with an exe file and somehow changed all exe's to the standard icon, or all your icons, even for proprietary programs, are corrupt.The "Generic" icon is the one you see when Windows doesn't know what the file extension belongs to. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
newbie000007 Posted October 1, 2006 Report Share Posted October 1, 2006 I have exactly the same problem since I have installer Visual Studio 2005.I have just discovered that I have a new directory in Program file :C:\Program Files\Common\Data\C_\Program FilesI don't know what to do, maybe uninstall visual studio... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
newbie000007 Posted October 1, 2006 Report Share Posted October 1, 2006 Maybe I got the answer..."NO NEED TO REFORMAT OR REINSTALL ANYTHING!!!THIS IS HOW TO FIX IT!!!Deletedllhost32.exedll6wise.dlldotnetfix.exeInterop.Shel32.dllop32.exefrom c:Turned off restore on my c:and copied all the original exe files back to their original locationsc:\program files\common\data\c_ is where the original exe files are stored.Reboot.Works like a charm now... even still using VS2005 " Quote Link to post Share on other sites
newbie000007 Posted October 1, 2006 Report Share Posted October 1, 2006 Actually was it really a virus or a bad installation of Visual Studio 2005 ? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Besttechie Posted October 1, 2006 Report Share Posted October 1, 2006 Hmm, you might have messed up some file assocations... try running these two fixes:ICO Files Fix:http://www.dougknox.com/xp/fileassoc/xp_ic...e_assoc_fix.zipEXE Files Fix:http://www.dougknox.com/xp/fileassoc/xp_exe_fix.zipBtw, if that happens to any more types of files here's fixes for a bunch of them:http://www.dougknox.com/xp/file_assoc.htmGood luck! B Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Besttechie Posted October 1, 2006 Report Share Posted October 1, 2006 newbie000007,I suggest you go to the malware removal forum and post a HijackThis log for analysis, just in case.Follow the directions on how to post a HJT log here:http://www.besttechie.net/forums/How-To-Po...-Log-t5672.htmlB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
andy009 Posted January 2, 2009 Report Share Posted January 2, 2009 After years of annoyance about generic icons (mostly media files) I decided to figure out this problem during the holidays. I spent two days researching the internet. Normally you can find there any solution to any Windows problem within a blink but for this topic there are only a few people who took the time to bring this to question. The most articles in the internet describe a slightly different problem about generic icons at the desktop and advice to delete the iconcache.db, temporarily change the icon size or style, increase the Max Cached Icons key in the registry, using utilities to repair the iconcache.db like Tweak UI, using the Windows file protection or simply advise to reinstall programs like Winamp but nothing did help in my case until I looked to the HKCR\mp3file\DefaultIcon entry and doublechecked its content with dir /x. I got it.When I backup and restore my Windows XP I did this via Windows Explorer or with xcopy commands and that's the problem because both of them DO NOT PRESERVE the short file names which are so heavely used in the registry, they just generate them new beginning with ~1 then ~2 and so on. So I was looking for an xcopy parameter to take them over as well instead of creating them. Guess what: There is no such parameter for xcopy and even not in robocopy from the MS resource kit.The final solution for me was to use xxcopy. It needs a kind of install (sucks) but it seems there is no other freeware cli tool available to do this job. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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