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I wanted to change the icon showing for a shortcut on the desktop, which points to a .Net utility I created for myself. I rebuilt the exe after changing the icon used within the project.

In Windows Explorer the new icon shows in all size variations for the exe. In the 'Change Icon' dialog from the Properties option, the correct icon is showing as present, yet when I Apply it remains with the old icon?

Even when I delete the shortcut and create a new one pointing to the newly built exe the old icon somehow is assigned?

3 Answers 3

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Windows explorer keeps a cache of icons. You can try deleting the following file:

Vista/7: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\IconCache.db
XP: C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Application Data\IconCache.db

Also, killing explorer.exe and restarting it may help.

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  • Keep in mind, that is not the windows 7 path..... that's an XP path.
    – Brett
    Feb 11, 2010 at 21:52
  • I can't find an equivalent folder in Windows7, and restarting the machine didn't solve it.
    – Bill
    Feb 11, 2010 at 22:05
  • Edited to add Win7 path. If the restart didn't help, probably not a caching issue then.
    – heavyd
    Feb 11, 2010 at 22:15
  • Probably not a caching issue either because there is no IconCache folder in my AppData\Local folder. The problem is also not Win7-64 related because I get exactly the same behaviour on a Win7-32 laptop as well.
    – Bill
    Feb 12, 2010 at 5:50
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I had the same problem till I realised I had accidentally selected the .exe file instead of the .ico file for the icon - since the correct icon shows against the .exe file it is quite easy to make this mistake and you cna press the apply button without triggering a warning or error - the shortcut then of course will not display the correct icon and defaults to the Windows default.

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Windows explorer keeps a cache of icons. You can try deleting the following file: Vista/7: C:\Users<username>\AppData\Local\IconCache.db XP: C:\Documents and Settings<username>\Local Settings\Application Data\IconCache.db Note: The "AppData" folder is hidden folder, so you have to choose "Show hidden folder..."

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    This is not really a new answer, it largely repeats what has already been said. Consider adding a comment instead, or (when you have enough rep) editing that answer to add useful information.
    – AdamV
    May 7, 2021 at 9:33

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