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When I am in Explorer on Windows 7 and I create a new folder it does not show up in the right hand pane until I refresh the listing by pressing the F5 key. I have tried creating a new folder using right click\new folder and using the New folder option in the menu bar at the top.

Also, once I have refreshed the screen by hitting F5 and renamed the new folder using right click\rename, the old name (New folder) shows up until I hit F5 again.

This same behavior occurs for files as well. I have other systems running Windows 7 where this is not an issue. Is there a configuration setting to fix this?

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2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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Deleting the ShellIconCache usually does the trick (Vista and lower). Locate C:\WINNT\ShellIconCache (it's a hidden file), delete it and reboot.

In Windows 7, this file seems to have been renamed to IconCache.db and is found under C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local.

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  • +1 Thanks. Your answer, which applies to older versions of Windows, lead me to the right answer for Windows 7 which was a different file. It was renamed to IconCache.db. It has also been moved to a different location in Windows 7.
    – Matt Spradley
    Nov 17, 2009 at 18:00
  • Hmm... it was this file for Vista. Must have just changed in 7. Thanks for the info! I've added it to my answer for completeness if you don't mind.
    – user1931
    Nov 17, 2009 at 19:12
  • +1. Weird quirk, what does IconCache.db have to do with this?
    – Jay Wick
    Aug 18, 2010 at 2:49
  • Oddly the only time I can get my folders to be "instantly created" when I click the New Folder button is to delete that file. I'm actually thinking maybe I'll just write a script to delete it when windows-7 boots. Is that a safe thing to do?
    – leeand00
    Feb 26, 2011 at 17:50
  • I think it's actually the reboot that fixes it not deleting IconCache.db
    – Matthew Lock
    Jul 31, 2016 at 5:53
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Using Windows Explorer to delete the hidden file IconCache.db in %localappdata% which is usually C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local works in Windows 7.

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  • John's answer lead me to the solution for Windows 7.
    – Matt Spradley
    Nov 17, 2009 at 18:01

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