Icons disappeared all over Windows 10

[hetr94]

All of my icons, from the desktop to the file explorer, have disappeared. Only the name appears. I also can't check the properties of any file. When i right click anything, nothing happens. I already tried to Rebuild Icon cache via Command Prompt, and I can't do a system restore because there are no points to restore to. I used Avast, Malwarebytes and msert to check if it's a virus, but there's no virus.

The only icons I can see are windows related programs in the taskbar (like Edge and Mail). I can also see all the icons when I click the windows logo to see the menu.

Thanks for the help!

 

[gardenman]

Hi, have you used any utilities to remove the shortcut arrow on icons or to modify icons in any way? If so, restore those settings back to normal then reboot. Reference: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-3401030/icons-taskbar-desktop-explorer.html

Also run SFC /scannow a few times then reboot. [More info]

 

[Colif]

not sure ruining sfc a few times if it finds nothing wrong the 1st time will achieve anything

Instead of links, I just dump instructions below to sfc/DISM since you can use powershell now

right click start button
choose powershell (admin)
type SFC /scannow and press enter
once its completed, copy/paste this command into same window:
Repair-WindowsImage -Online -RestoreHealth
SFC fixes system files, DISM cleans image files, re run SFC if it failed to fix all files and restart PC

 

[gardenman]

not sure ruining sfc a few times if it finds nothing wrong the 1st time will achieve anything

The guy on the Microsoft forums says "You may have to run this up to 3 times to fix all the problems" so I agree if it's error free the first time there's no reason to run it again. I've also heard that running it in Safe Mode may help sometimes too but I've never really tested it myself.

The link also explained DISM which is why I gave it rather than explaining it all. I'm still old style with the command prompt, I need to experiment with and learn powershell sometime, I just haven't had the time to do it all.

hetr94, let us know if this helps or not as I'm sure there are other possible ideas that could help.

 

[hetr94]

Thanks for the quick replies!

I forgot to mention that I did the "SFC /scannow" command, and there was nothing wrong. I only did it once though, so I will run it again a couple of times. I will let you know if this helped or not. Thanks again!

 

[hetr94]

Hi, have you used any utilities to remove the shortcut arrow on icons or to modify icons in any way? If so, restore those settings back to normal then reboot. Reference: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-3401030/icons-taskbar-desktop-explorer.html

Also run SFC /scannow a few times then reboot. [More info]

Hey it worked!!! I installed the Ultimate Windows Tweaker a long time ago, and i forgot that I removed shortcut arrows, I completely forgot. Thanks to both of you for helping me out!

 

[Colif]

The change to use powershell only happened with Curators edition, and since not everyone has it still, for the last few months I have been showing the command prompt method anyway. I got it all from here anyway: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/7808-use-dism-repair-windows-10-image.html

My post above originally had the reset icon cache steps but OP said he already tried that. I didn't post this just to correct your actions