Icons Randomly Change to Different Icons

• Microsoft Windows 95
• Microsoft Windows 98

SYMPTOMS

Some icons in My Computer or Windows Explorer, or on the desktop or the Quick Launch toolbar, may randomly change.

CAUSE

This behavior can occur if the icon cache is not properly updated.

RESOLUTION

WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Changing Keys And Values" Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) or the "Add and Delete Information in the Registry" and "Edit Registry Data" Help topics in Regedt32.exe. Note that you should back up the registry before you edit it. If you are running Windows NT, you should also update your Emergency Repair Disk (ERD).


To resolve this behavior, use one or more of the following methods:

• Press the F5 key to refresh the icons in the current folder.



• Close and then reopen a window that contains incorrect icons.



• Restart your computer.



• Delete the ShellIconCache file. This file is re-created automatically when you restart Windows. To delete this file, use the following steps:
  
  
  1. Restart Windows in Safe mode. To do so, follow the steps in the appropriate section below:
     

     Windows 95

     Restart your computer. When you see the "Starting Windows 95" message, press the F8 key, and then choose Safe Mode from the Startup menu.
     

     Windows 98

     Restart your computer, press and hold down the CTRL key after your computer completes the Power On Self Test (POST), and then choose Safe Mode from the Startup menu. For more information about Windows 98 startup, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

     ARTICLE-ID: Q178548
     TITLE : No "Starting Windows 98" Message at Startup

  
  
  
  2. Use Windows Explorer to delete the ShellIconCache file from the Windows folder. To do so right-click the ShellIconCache file, and then click Delete.
     
     NOTE: You need to be able to view hidden files to see the ShellIconCache file. To view hidden files in Windows 95, click Options on the View menu in Windows Explorer, click Show All Files, and then click OK. To view hidden files in Windows 98, click Folder Options on the View menu in Windows Explorer, click the View tab, click Show All Files, and then click OK.
  
  
  
  3. Restart your computer
  
  
  



• Using Registry Editor, add the "Max Cached Icons" (without quotation marks) string value with a value data of "2048" (without quotation marks) to the following registry key
  
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
  
  
  and then restart your computer. If the icons are still incorrect, delete the ShellIconCache file.

MORE INFORMATION

For more information about this issue, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Article-ID: Q133733
TITLE : Icons Displayed Incorrectly in Control Panel

Additional query words: change replaced changing

Keywords          : kbui win95 win98 
Version           : WINDOWS:95
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbprb 

Last Reviewed: March 13, 1999