Some of my Desktop images have turned into globes

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Some (but not all) of the icons on my desktop lost their image The ones that have lost their image look like globes now.

Before, when I set the image by right-clicking on the icon, selecting Properties, then pressing the button for ‘Change icon’, then selecting a xxx.ico file from a folder where I keep .ico files for some of my desktop icons, clicking OK on the ‘Change icon’ screen, clicking ‘Apply’ on the Properties screen, and ‘OK on the Properties screen, the new image would appear. Here is an example of one:

Now when I go through that procedure, the icon doesn’t change. It’s still the globe.

How can I get the right image back?

P.S. I’ve tried Settings > Apps > Apps & features > Default Apps > Choose default apps by file type > .URL > Internet Browser, but that doesn’t bring them back

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Unusual issue. I’ve never come across it.
You may have already tried this…
Test the windows user default common icon sources and see it they work.

%SystemRoot%\System32\SHELL32.dll
%SystemRoot%\system32\imageres.dll

I like to source icons from various unrelated exe files. Example:

I have an icon sourced from this exe file used for a on my desktop for an ordinary folder.
“C:\Windows\SysWOW64\cmmon32.exe”

Desktop mobo Asus TUF X299 Mark 1, CPU: Intel Core i7-7820X Skylake-X 8-Core 3.6 GHz, RAM: 32GB, GPU: Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti 4GB. Display: Four 27" 1080p screens 2 over 2 quad.

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Just a thought, but have you tried rebuilding your Icons Cache?

Some instructions here: here (WindowsReport Site), or just search for “Corrupted Icons” or similar

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WCHS

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Had that happen to me a few times and used Leo Davidson’s Clear Icon Cache program to fix it.

It’s basically a “complied” version of the cmd commands mentioned in the instructions @NaNoNyMouse linked to.

FYI, I also use Jamie O’Connell’s Desktop Restore add-in for Windows 7, 8, 8.1 & 10 that allows you to save/restore your Desktop icons/layout in case any of my Desktop icons change after a Windows/3rd part program update.

1 user thanked author for this post.

WCHS

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+1 for Jamie  O’Connell’s Desktop Restore.

Zig

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n0ads wrote:

FYI, I also use Jamie O’Connell’s Desktop Restore

It’s an HTTP:// address. Is it safe?

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HTTP is not unsafe, it is not encrypted. Potentially, your data could be read and personal info / passwords stolen. This is generally not an issue when downloading files.

You should always check files you have downloaded before running them.

cheers, Paul

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WCHS

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n0ads wrote:

FYI, I also use Jamie O’Connell’s Desktop Restore add-in

I use the free Portable DesktopOK

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The post by @TechTango <above> prompted me to try changing the shortcut image to one that was available in SHELL32.dll. It worked. This led me to believe that something was wrong with the .ico file. So, I tried this fix and the globes on the shortcuts changed to their intended images.

1. I used Irfanview to open the .ico file I had been using. It was an .ico file that had previously been made with Irfanview.
2. I then saved it in Irfanview as an .ico file with a different name.
3. I clicked on the globe shortcut on the desktop to open the website and dragged the URL to the Desktop.
4. The image on the new shortcut was whatever image the website determined it should be. And its name was very long. I renamed it with a much shorter name, different from the name that the globe icon had.
5. I used the Properties of this new shortcut to change the icon image, selecting the new .ico file that Irfanview had just saved.
6. The newly created, renamed shortcut appeared with the new .ico file image (i.e., no longer a globe image).

Note: I discovered that if I did step 5 (change the icon) before step 4 (rename the shortcut), then the image reverted to a globe.

Comments:

• I have no idea why the old .ico file created by Irfanview didn’t work, but the one newly created by Irfanview did. The file had the same contents, just a different name.
• I also have no idea why the order of “rename, then change” the icon worked, but the order of “change, then rename” didn’t.
• Maybe, this was a round-about way of selectively rebuilding the icon cache.
• Anyway, this method worked. I had only four or five globe icons to fix, so it didn’t take much time. It might have been more onerous, if I had had a slew of globes to get rid of.

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