A Guide to Rebuilding the Icon Cache on a Windows PC

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Fix the icons on your Windows computer

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Last Updated: December 10, 2024 Tested

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• Manually Deleting the File
|
• Using Command Prompt
|
• Video
|
• Warnings

|Show more |Show less

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 rebuilding 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

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Manually Deleting the File

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1. 1
   Press the Start button at the bottom-right corner of your screen.
2. 2
   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.
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3. 3
   Go to the View tab.
4. 4
   Scroll down under Advanced settings: and click the circle next to Show hidden files, folders, and drives.
5. 5
   Click or tap the OK box to save your changes and close folder options.
6. 6
   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.
7. 7
   In the address bar of File Explorer, type %userprofile%/AppData\Local.
8. 8
   Scroll through all of the files until you find a file named IconCache or IconCache.db.
9. 9
   Right-click or hold (for touchscreen devices) and select Delete from the menu that appears.
10. 10
    Confirm deletion if prompted by pressing Yes.
11. 11
    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.
12. 12
    If the Recycle Bin is already empty, there's nothing you need to do. Proceed to the next step.
13. 13
    Clear the thumbnail cache if you're seeing problems with thumbnails (previews of files).
14. 14
    Restart your PC. The icons should now be fixed.
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Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Using Command Prompt

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1. 1
   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.
2. 2
   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
3. 3
   Restart your PC. The icons should now be fixed.
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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.
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