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Some icons appear as default win icon

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by johnnyextreme 1 view

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On a couple of our NT 4 SP6 machines, ones without the Active Desktop installed, some desktop icons appear as the default windows icon. Some of these are files, others are shortcuts to programs. For instance, there are 4 .oft files (outlook message templates), and sometimes 1, 2 or all three will appear as the default windows icon. The standard icons like My Computer or Neighborhood Network appear OK. When I hit F5 some are fixed - I have to hit F5 3 or 4 times to get all the icons back. Itried deleting the ShellIconCache file, even by stopping explorer.exe using Task Manager, then opening a command prompt and deleting it, then restarting. I can find nothing helpful in the Microsoft KB.

2 replies

by curlergirl

This typically happens in NT when the machine can't find the original source of the shortcut or the link to the program that opens the file. If the links are to files that are on network drives, this could indicate that the machine has lot network connection or at least connection to a mapped drive. Often, the NT desktop will refresh itself with the correct icons when it is able to contact the server again. If this persists, I'd suggest checking the components of your network connection likethe NIC, NIC drivers, patch cables, junction boxes and patch panels/hubs/switches. Hope this helps!

by johnnyextreme

The machine is having no network difficulties. Hitting F5 refreshes the desktop - hitting it several times restores the icons. The icons are not all links, some are files that are actually stored on the desktop. For the ones that are shortcuts the proper icon is displayed in the shortcut properties, and sometimes after viewing the shortcut properties then closing that dialog the proper icon is displayed.

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