Windows Explorer icon over laying nearly all desktop icons 1

[ThamesTrader]

I have a W2K pc in a domain, 256Mg ram, patched SP3. That has all of a sudden developed an interesting desktop fault. When I first boot the machine the icons appear on the screen correct but about 2 minutes later the majority of the desktop icons have been overlaid with the windows explorer icon, but they still work properly. The icons that are not affected are My Computer, My Network Place, Recycle Bin, Internet Explorer & Microsoft Outlook.
I have tried recreating shortcut icons but they do the same as soon as you click OK, I have run a virus scan on the machine but can find nothing.
Has anybody come across this before, or can anyone make any suggestions on how to put it back.

 

[bcastner]

Start, run, regedit. Go to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer.

In the right-hand pane, find or create the DWORD value MaxCachedIcons.To enlarge the cache size, double-click on this value and change it to 4096 in decimal. If the problem recurs, try an even larger value.

Next, you must force Windows to reread all the cached icons. Right-click on the desktop, choose Properties, click on the Appearance tab in the dialog box that pops up, and click on the Advanced button on that tab. Select Icon in the Item list and increase the Size setting by 1 pixel (this will normally be from 32 to 33). Click on OK to dismiss the Advanced Appearance dialog, then click on the Apply button. The desktop will fade and then return back to normal. Now click on the Advanced button again, change the icon size back to what it was, click on OK, and click on OK again.

 

[aznluvsmc]

Or you can try using TweakUI from Microsoft's site which has an option to fix icons. It's probably an automated or similair version of bcastner's steps.

 

[bcastner]

I am using exactly the TweakUI steps to rebuild the icon cache. The reason I hesitated to recommend the TweakUI "Repair", "Repair Icons" is that it sometimes leaves the registry setting for color density on icons a mess. (At least the XP version is known to do this.)

As it would be silly to go this far without discussing how to repair the issue, and it might well be a factor in this thread problem:

After using the Rebuild Icons feature in Tweak UI, the icons may look ugly (such as the 16 color mode). This is a known issue, caused by an incorrect data assigned to Shell Icon BPP registry value. Re-setting the Shell Icon BPP value to 16 resolves the problem. Use the following steps:
Open Registry Editor and navigate to the following key:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics]

In the right-pane, double-click Shell Icon BPP and set it's value to 16.
Close Registry Editor.

You will need to restart Windows for the changes to take effect.

You will occasionally see DOS games and other programs that create the same issue. The solution for repairing the color depth of your icons is exactly as noted above.

 

[aznluvsmc]

Bcastner, just as a general question how do you know so much about the Windows registry? I'd like to gain that much knowledge also and was thinking about picking up the MS Press book on the Windows Registry but due to school haven't had the time to invest in reviewing it yet. Also the fact that I'm trying to move towards Linux more may play a factor.

 

[bcastner]

I absorb registry information by trying to solve problems that arise in my LAN practice.

But I do purchase a lot of books, and read them. If I had a choice about registry books I would select two: The XP Registry Guide by Jerry Honeycutt (I got mine used from Amazon.com for US $9.95; it looked brand new, but on the flyleaf was written: "I paid $40 for this, read the first three pages and new I was in trouble. I hope you enjoy it."

My second choice would also be by Microsoft Press: "Windows 2000 Scripting Guide", by the Windows Scripting Team.

But likely the most practical advice I recieve, and remember, about registry solutions is by using Google. For example, (and I have not tested this, but am fairly confident) if I would Google for the above issue: "windows registry color depth icons problem" I suspect I would find several sites discussing the registry locations of importance.

Finally, there are several Web sites I read regularly, this is obviously one. I have no hesitation leaving a post here knowing that one of the Forum MVPs will come up with an answer, or more likely gleefully correct mine.