Firefox Icon went missing in Windows 7? Here’s a Fix

After installing the latest and greatest Mozilla Firefox 3.5 in Windows 7 (RC 64-bit) I noticed that after a while the icon went missing. Now Firefox was still working correctly, and when I checked the icon properties the icon was still present. But for some strange reason it wouldn’t show up in on my Desktop, my Start Menu, or my Taskbar, I would just see a broken icon.

The resolution? Rebuilding the Windows 7 Icon Cache.

Follow these directions:

Close all folder windows that are currently open.
Launch Task Manager using the CTRL+SHIFT+ESC key sequence, or by running taskmgr.exe
In the Process tab, right-click on the Explorer.exe process and select End Process
Click the End process button when asked for confirmation.
From the File menu of Task Manager, select New Task (Run…)
Type CMD.EXE, and click OK
In the Command Prompt window, type the commands one by one and press ENTER after each command:CD /d %userprofile%\AppData\Local DEL IconCache.db /a EXIT
In Task Manager, click File, select New Task (Run…)
Type EXPLORER.EXE, and click OK.

Your icons should be as good as new!

By Heeren

Comments

Shahid N. Shah August 4th

This was very helpful and fixed my problem, thanks for taking the time to write it up!
Jase August 7th

Thank you very much for this. That was quite annoying.
Jeremy August 10th

Thank you!
Young Hype August 17th

Your a fuckin genius!!!!!!!!!!!!
oozee October 22nd

Thanks it worked!!!!
SaNTi October 23rd

Worked like a charm!

Thanks dude!
m November 1st

simple and effective. Thanks!
Steve November 3rd

This worked for me as well. Thanks!
sarakit November 9th

Wow! It worked!! Thanks for solving this headache!!
Nuno Silva November 11th

Nice! Finally I found this solution!
Nuno Silva November 13th

Hello! I really loved this solution and found out I had to use it often after installing a new application.
So I created a BATCH file in my desktop to do the job with only a double-click.
In the same sharing spirit, just download it if you want.
Rodrigo November 27th

Thanks a bunch! It worked perfectly. I can see my icon is back again. Damn you Windows 7 for playing tricks on us!
Dave December 3rd

You rock!
Dave December 3rd

You rock! Thanks!
Heeren December 4th

Thanks guys for all of the comments! I’m glad this fix has helped!
Lee December 15th

Awesome! Thanks for the help!
greyskull December 17th

well done that man
Loo December 30th

Awesome! Your a fuckin genius!!!!!!!!!!!!
Angelo January 1st

I LOVE YOU!!!
Rudolf January 12th

Could you also point out how the command prompts for CMD.EXE need to be typed in Windows XP please???
Kurbits January 14th

I had this problem not with Firefox but with Mozilla Thunderbird.
This solution made the icon for Thunderbird return. Thanks
I am using Windows 7 professional x64.
J Buzo III January 16th

Wow this worked great!
Although i had to put parenthesis around the Change Directory command:
“CD /d %userprofile%\AppData\Local”
Command Prompt didn’t accept it the other way.
I have Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit
Thanks!
Dave January 19th

Pure awesome! Worked perfectly for Win 7 Pro 64.
Melissa January 21st

Thank you so much! I’m a real newb when it comes to these things but this made it very easy =)
ihuit January 22nd

buy a mac…
Ryan January 23rd

Thanks! I’ve had problems with a couple other icons doing the same thing and this worked for them too!
holy_ February 2nd

It works!
Nice info and thanks a lot =)
Psiho February 2nd

thx mate, your are the king, solved problem …
Divya February 5th

thanks a lot, it worked! could you explain what was it that caused the icon to disappear?
Emmalee February 16th

Thanks a lot that was so annoying. Thanks again
spooky March 8th

Another thanks here
Markie March 8th

Youre good man
Kiki March 12th

Thank you so much for posting this, Hereen! You’re a life saver. I don’t know how I lost my Firefox & Skype icons, but your fix worked and brought them back. Thank you, much appreciated!
Vin March 17th

Very very helpful! Thanks!
Fernando April 10th

Thank you! I’ve been searching and finally found this! For such a small problem it sure gets annoying.
Chrissy April 13th

wow thank you so much! worked completely! firefox over IE anyday!
mcbain April 13th

Thanks heaps for this. It didnt work through the CMD prompt but i got it by going From “computer> local disk> users> *my username*> AppData> Local, and simply deleting the “iconcache” file. Then i used task manger to delete explorer.exe. Then i straight away reopened explorer.exe and all was good.
Mountianwizard11 April 14th

TGIW (Thank God It Works)
Joel April 14th

WOW! Ill join the chorus…worked perfectly!! Thanks!
Alicia April 15th

Thanks so much for that!
ben April 17th

merci!
victoria ct April 18th

muy bueno jajaj. it was very good thanks (^^)
Rich April 19th

Works like a charm – Many Thanks
Frank April 21st

It worked great!!!

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!
gabe April 22nd

FANTASTIC!
James Robertson April 25th

Perfect. Thanks
Jason April 30th

God I love you!
FF user April 30th

This was very helpful and instand fixed my problem, thanks for sharing your expertice.
Trauma May 3rd

Very fast and Simple Thanks much man, worked a like a charm.
David May 14th

WHY do we have to do this? I have to do this ever time the icons disappear, which is almost every day. Is there a permanent fix?
spamdetester May 21st

This fixed my issue of missing firefox icons in win7 x64.
Thanks a lot for your help
Dev June 1st

THANKS MATE!!
Teresa June 6th

¡¡¡ g r a c i a s !!!
Yaarik June 7th

Brilliant thanks man
Joe June 9th

Worked for me! Thanks.
Alex June 14th

Thank you very much! This was great help!
Brian June 14th

thanks! worked perfectly =)
Matt June 17th

love ya, thanks

-m
Lex Talionis June 19th

I can’t believe how many people have had this problem. I’m seriously glad I didn’t give up looking for a solution to this. Thank you for figuring it out and sharing it with us. I just got my brand new laptop yesterday and that was the ONLY thing about it that was disappointing.
DeJa June 20th

wow thank you so much, worked! it even works for other missing icons.
D3luSi0n4L June 25th

just like everyone else, this worked flawlessly! Thanks a bunch!
Tiagosarj June 26th

HURhuuuu! thanks!
Bruno June 29th

Superb!! Thanx a lot!!
tnx June 30th

Thank youuuu!!
KP July 3rd

thank you! worked…hope it doesnt come back
jadon July 7th

duuuuuude twas an awesome fix
e.raban July 8th

Helped me out. Thanks a lot, dude!
Jonathan July 11th

Niiiiiiicccccceeeeeee…thank you.
benedict1 July 13th

You are a genius! You’d think MS might just fix this one, wouldn’t you?
Thank you
Carl July 16th

This restored my missing Thunderbird icon in Windows 7. Perfect! Thank you!
doubi July 16th

worked like a charm GOOD LOOKING OUT !!!!!
JoJo July 19th

Great stuff!!!! Worked like a charm. Thanx!!!
Steph A July 23rd

Ahh, thank you.
Adam July 28th

Thanks!
Bayu August 8th

It’s work!… thanks
Adam August 16th

You’re awesome.
ali August 17th

Thanks.
usmc74 August 17th

thanks…..worked like a charm
Zach September 3rd

YOU ARE A GOD, THANK YOU!
aquadonia September 4th

That was AMAZING!!! THANK YOU!!!! *worships the ground you walk on*