Icons no longer produce image

[Drake]

I have a folder of Icons that I obtained years ago. I use these icons to
create shortcuts for various programs. Recently, I discovered that the icons
no longer have their original "image". In place of the "image" is a generic
system icon. This has affected all the icons in that folder (about 200).

I have the same folder of icons on another machine. They work fine on that
machine. The properties of the icon are the same on both machines. I tried
renaming the icon folder on the problem machine and recopying the the icon
folder from the "working" machine to the problem machine. The newly copied
files behave exactly the same: Broken. I also tried the Repair icons
function in TweakUI. No go. I also tried copying to another partition. Still
no go.

All other icons (the normal windows icons) are fine. I'm at a loss. Any
ideas?

Thanks,
Drake

 

[Drake]

Win XP Pro SP2. SP2 was installed long before problem occurred.

 

[Guest]

Same thing happened on my machine. Generic icons for all program folders on
start menu except for windows icons. I don't get it either.
DG

 

[Kelly]

Depends....

1. Which viewer are you using?
2. Which editor are you using?
3. Is this a typical temp folder issue?

More info needed.....

--
All the Best,
Kelly (MS-MVP)

Troubleshooting Windows XP
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com

 

[Drake]

Depends....

1. Which viewer are you using?

Perhaps an example: I have several quick launch shortcuts. Say I change the
"W" icon normally associated with MS Word to an "M" out of my "third party"
icons. Everything is fine for years, but one day, the "M" is gone, and in
its place is a generic windows icon (somewhat similar to the old Program
Manager icon in win 3.1). In fact, the entire third party icons folder has
been effected in the same way. None of the icons are what they're supposed
to be (as in the example, "M", or a coffee pot, or a TV, or a clock...you
get the idea). They are all now the "generic" icon I described previously.

2. Which editor are you using?
N/A

3. Is this a typical temp folder issue?

No, it's an icon display issue, but only my third party icons are affected.
All the normal windows icons are fine.

More info needed.....

I hope this suffices.


Thanks!
Drake

 

[Alex Nichol]

I have a folder of Icons that I obtained years ago. I use these icons to
create shortcuts for various programs. Recently, I discovered that the icons
no longer have their original "image". In place of the "image" is a generic
system icon. This has affected all the icons in that folder (about 200).

In regedit.exe check HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.ico

You will probably find its default in the right pane is set to icofile,
so go to
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\icofile\DefaultIcon
Highlight and in the right pane double click on Default and set to "%1"
(include the quotes). That will make each Icon file act as its own icon

 

[Guest]

Ok, changed the DefaulIcon to "%1". The folder icons changed to another
generic type. Still not using the icons of the programs as installed.
Thanks for trying.
DG

 

[Guest]

Sorry....they didn't change, but stayed the same.

 

[Drake]

In regedit.exe check HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.ico

You will probably find its default in the right pane is set to icofile,
so go to
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\icofile\DefaultIcon
Highlight and in the right pane double click on Default and set to "%1"
(include the quotes). That will make each Icon file act as its own icon

Thanks Alex, for putting me on the right track. As it turns out, the default
in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.ico was PV85.image. Scrolling down to the PV85.image
folder in RegEdit showed that the culprit was ULead Photo Explorer, a
program that came with my Pioneer A08XL DVD burner. I installed it to try it
out and immediately removed it, as it was junk. Unfortunately, I failed to
remove all the reg entries. Still, I would have had to change the default
entry in HCR\ico even if I had, and your help in that area was invaluable.

I changed the default value HCR\ico to icofile, as you specified. I then
logged off and back on and "bingo!", all icons were back to normal. I
deleted the PV85.image folder and all seems well (all this after backing up
the pertinent reg keys, of course).

Thanks again for your help, as it was dead on. If I may impose yet once
more, I am considering using a Registry editor to make finding these issues
simpler. HoverDesk's "RegSeeker" was recommended to me. Have you had any
experience with this program, or do you have a better recommendation?

Thanks again,
Drake

 

[Drake]

Ok, changed the DefaulIcon to "%1". The folder icons changed to another
generic type. Still not using the icons of the programs as installed.
Thanks for trying.
DG

Did you check to insure that H_C_R\.ico's default value was indeed
"icofile"? The value in my registry had been changed to another file type (I
should write ULead a nasty letter...). Changing it back to icofile and
logging off and back on resolved my issue.

 

[Guest]

Glad to hear someone has it fixed. I checked the HCR\.ico and yes, it's set
to icofile. When I go to icofile\DefaultIcon it's set to %1. Adding quotes
"%1" makes no difference. Any other ideas anyone?
Thanks,
DG

 

[Alex Nichol]

Thanks again for your help, as it was dead on. If I may impose yet once
more, I am considering using a Registry editor to make finding these issues
simpler. HoverDesk's "RegSeeker" was recommended to me. Have you had any
experience with this program, or do you have a better recommendation?

Glad it works. I'm against using third party registry tools; anything
you really need can be done with regedit

 

[Drake]

Glad it works. I'm against using third party registry tools; anything
you really need can be done with regedit

What is it that you have against them?

 

[Malke]

What is it that you have against them?

Just do a Google Groups search for "registry tools" and you'll find a
great deal of posts about that subject in this newsgroup.

Malke