Download ArticleDownload ArticleHow.com.vn is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, volunteer authors worked to edit and improve it over time.
The How.com.vn Tech Team also followed the article's instructions and verified that they work.
This article has been viewed 48,511 times.
Learn more...
Are the icons on your Windows PC incorrect, slow to load, distorted, or missing? Your Windows icon cache may be corrupted. But don't worry—rebuilding your icon cache should restore your icons and clear up the glitches. We'll show you how to fix your broken icons by deleting and rebuilding the icon cache in Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10.
If you're using Windows 8.1 or 10 and these steps don't work, see the article How to Completely Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows 8.1 and 10.
Things You Should Know
- Find and delete the file named IconCache or IconCache.db on your PC to begin rebuiding the cache.
- You may also need to delete the file related to your Thumbnail Cache if you are experiencing thumbnail display issues.
- Empty your Windows Recycle Bin and restart your PC to complete the restoration.
Steps
Press the Start button at the bottom-right corner of your screen.
Type folder options and select the result that matches your search. This will allow you to change file viewing settings so that you can see hidden files like IconCache.Advertisement
Go to the View tab.
Scroll down under Advanced settings: and click the circle next to Show hidden files, folders, and drives.
Click or tap the OK box to save your changes and close folder options.
Open File Explorer. File Explorer lets you see all the files on your computer, including system files like IconCache.- Note: In Windows 7 and earlier, it is called Windows Explorer.
In the address bar of File Explorer, type %userprofile%/AppData\Local.
Scroll through all of the files until you find a file named IconCache or IconCache.db.
Right-click or hold (for touchscreen devices) and select Delete from the menu that appears.
Confirm deletion if prompted by pressing Yes.
Open the Recycle Bin and empty it. We have a guide on how to do that (just click on the green sentence before this). You can quickly open it by launching the Start menu/screen and searching for Recycle Bin.
If the Recycle Bin is already empty, there's nothing you need to do. Proceed to the next step.
Clear the thumbnail cache if you're seeing problems with thumbnails (previews of files).
Restart your PC. The icons should now be fixed.
Open the Command Prompt. The quickest way to open the Command Prompt in any version of Windows is to:- Press the ⊞ Win+R at the same time.
- Type cmd.
- Click/tap OK or hit ↵ Enter.
Type the commands in. Type the commands below into the Command Prompt, hitting enter after each line of code is entered. You can also highlight and copy them (either by right-clicking and pressing Copy or by pressing Ctrl+C. Right-click in the Command Prompt and select Paste. Ctrl+V won't work.- cd /d %userprofile%\AppData\Local
- attrib –h IconCache.db
- del IconCache.db
- start explorer
Restart your PC. The icons should now be fixed.
Expert Q&A
Video
Tips
Warnings
- Make sure to only delete the IconCache or IconCache.db file. Deleting any other system files can mess up your PC and possibly render it inoperable.Thanks
About This Article
Is this article up to date?
⚠️ Disclaimer:
Content from Wiki How English language website. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License; additional terms may apply.
Wiki How does not encourage the violation of any laws, and cannot be responsible for any violations of such laws, should you link to this domain, or use, reproduce, or republish the information contained herein.
- - A few of these subjects are frequently censored by educational, governmental, corporate, parental and other filtering schemes.
- - Some articles may contain names, images, artworks or descriptions of events that some cultures restrict access to
- - Please note: Wiki How does not give you opinion about the law, or advice about medical. If you need specific advice (for example, medical, legal, financial or risk management), please seek a professional who is licensed or knowledgeable in that area.
- - Readers should not judge the importance of topics based on their coverage on Wiki How, nor think a topic is important just because it is the subject of a Wiki article.
