How to recover my .xml default icon?

Question

My XML files are showing the unknown programs icon.

Why can't I change the icon? I looked it up in the registry, but I found no error. Look at the following:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.xml] 
@="xmlfile" 
"Content Type"="text/xml" 
"PerceivedType"="text" 

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.xml\PersistentHandler] 
@="{7E9D8D44-6926-426F-AA2B-217A819A5CCE}" 

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\xmlfile] 
@="@C:\\Windows\\System32\\msxml3r.dll,-1" 
"EditFlags"=hex:00,00,00,00 
"FriendlyTypeName"=hex(2):40,00,25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,\ 
  00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,\ 
  32,00,5c,00,6d,00,73,00,78,00,6d,00,6c,00,33,00,72,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,\ 
  00,2c,00,2d,00,31,00,00,00 

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\xmlfile\BrowseInPlace] 

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\xmlfile\CLSID] 
@="{48123BC4-99D9-11D1-A6B3-00C04FD91555}" 

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\xmlfile\DefaultIcon] 
@="C:\\Windows\\System32\\msxml3.dll,0" 

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\xmlfile\shell] 
@="open" 

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\xmlfile\shell\edit] 

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\xmlfile\shell\edit\command] 
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\Common Files\\Microsoft Shared\\OFFICE11\\MSOXMLED.EXE\" /verb edit \"%1\"" 

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\xmlfile\shell\Open] 

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\xmlfile\shell\Open\Command] 
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\Common Files\\Microsoft Shared\\OFFICE11\\MSOXMLED.EXE\" /verb open \"%1\"" 

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\xmlfile\shell\Open\ddeexec] 
@="" 

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\xmlfile\ShellEx] 

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\xmlfile\ShellEx\IconHandler] 
@="{AB968F1E-E20B-403A-9EB8-72EB0EB6797E}" 

Can you find something wrong? Or can you paste your registry values?

I need default registry values about xml which is with the default associated exe.

Answer 1

Yes this time it has nothing to do with the icon cache. As this post correctly pointed out to me: http://www.sevenforums.com/microsoft-office/152972-no-icon-xml-files.html#post1315413

the problem is due to the IconHandler, apparently installed by some Office suite version. So it's enough to remove the IconHandler sub-key from xmlfile key, and leave a reasonable predefined string value in DefaultIcon key (like the one you already have).

Answer 2

Office uses a 32-bit Icon Handler, which breaks the XML icon on 64-bit systems.

To stop Office from trying to serve your icons for XML files, you can use this registry script:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\xmlfile\DefaultIcon]
@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\
  00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,6d,00,73,00,\
  78,00,6d,00,6c,00,33,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,2c,00,30,00,00,00

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\xmlfile\ShellEx\IconHandler]

This sets the DefaultIcon key's default value to %SystemRoot%\System32\msxml3.dll,0 and removes the IconHandler key.

Before using this registry script, ensure you want that default key (I think Windows Vista/7/8 use that value by default), and optionally back up your IconHandler key.

Answer 3

It should display the right icon, but you can try to rebuild the icon cache. A simple way is to delete the file IconCache.db witch is found in your user path under Local (in Win XP) or \AppData\Local (Vista/7). (you can restart after you delete this file)

Answer 4

I had the same problem and for me it worked to simply delete the registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.xml.