Refresh Icon Cache Without Rebooting

Question

Normally, to refresh the icon cache in Windows, we have to reboot.

Is there a way to refresh the icon cache in Windows 7/8 without rebooting?

Solution 1

Yes.

You can just run the following command to clear the icon cache:

ie4uinit.exe -ClearIconCache

For Windows 10, use:

ie4uinit.exe -show

Check this video for a demo.

[tip credit]

Solution 2

The following way has worked since Vista; It requires an Explorer restart, but no reboot.

Short version: Stop all explorer.exe instances, delete the user's hidden IconCache.db file, and restart Explorer.

Long Version (there are other ways as well):

1. Close all Explorer windows that are currently open.

2. Launch Task Manager using the CTRL+SHIFT+ESC key sequence, or by running taskmgr.exe.

3. In the Process tab, right-click on the explorer.exe process and select End Process.

4. Click the End process button when asked for confirmation.

5. From the File menu of Task Manager, select New Task (Run…)

6. Type CMD.EXE, and click OK

7. 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
   

8. In Task Manager, click File, select New Task (Run…)

9. Type EXPLORER.EXE, and click OK.

instruction steps source

Warning: It's important that Explorer.exe not be running when you delete the IconCache.db file. If explorer is running, it will simply write out the current (corrupt) icons the next time it is shut down (e.g. when you logoff, shutdown, or restart).

Solution 3

1. Open command console with admin privileges
2. taskkill /IM explorer.exe /F
3. CD /d %userprofile%\AppData\Local
4. DEL IconCache.db /a
5. start explorer.exe via Task Manager

Solution 4

Create a .bat file and paste the following lines in it and then run it.

taskkill /f /im explorer.exe
cd /d %userprofile%\AppData\Local
del IconCache.db /a
start explorer.exe

Solution 5

There's a clean way to close the Explorer.exe instance which shows the taskbar and the Desktop icons.

You have to popup the classic Shutdown dialog window. The only common way I found to accomplish this is:

1. Leave at least one pixel of Desktop background free of overlapping Windows, then click on it to focus on the Desktop itself (the one with the icons).

2. Press Alt + F4 keyboard shortcut: then the classic Shutdown dialog will appear.

3. Now, press and hold CTRL+ALT+SHIFT click on Cancel.

View more solutions

Comments

[Admin]

What have you tried? What happened? Why do you need it done? Are you talking about on Windows Explorer, Start Menu, task bar, where? Need more information

[Admin]

Yes I did... And that's why I'm asking for clarification. I saw this in the review queue, so I only read the answers now, but remember that this site is meant to also help visitors from Google or other search engines, as well

[Admin]

Normally, when we refresh the icon cache in Windows, we have to reboot, but my question and answer does it without a reboot. blog.stackoverflow.com/2011/07/…

[Admin]

Found this Q via Google in December 2017. Thanks for posting this. I liked the answer where it says to make the short batch file. So in the comments I included the process of doing so. Now my Win8.1 icons are fixed. THANK YOU. EXCELLENT QUESTION.

[Narcolepsy Khan]

Does not work on Windows 8.1. You have to delete IconCache.db as explained by @Techie007.

[Dean Meehan]

Why does this work? What does CTRL+ALT+SHIFT click on Cancel do?

[JasonXA]

@HelgeKlein it doesn't come with IE10... so only pre-IE10 OS'es have it. This includes Windows 7.

[Pharap]

Definately doesn't work on 8.1. It runs but it doesn't clear the icon cache.

[Fran]

Also this: open the Windows 7 start menu, hold Ctrl-Shift down and right click in the empty space above the Shutdown/Logoff/Restart button (whichever you have configured as the default). A menu appears with "Exit Explorer" as an option. Click it and Explorer terminates.

[Joris Groosman]

Doesn't seem to work for me in Windows 7

[mikl]

Awesome, it works for every windows icon, even configuration ones. Other methods only reset iconcs from files and folders

[deadfish]

working on windows 7 Pro

[Arvo Bowen]

If you use the Windows 7 startmenu trick it's important to make sure you close ALL File Explorer windows first! Then you can Exit Explorer from the Windows 7 start menu. First open command prompt. Next click on the start menu, hold Ctrl+Shift and right click right above the Shutdown button to expose the Exit Explorer sub menu option and click it. In the command prompt, type CD /d %userprofile%\AppData\Local then type del IconCache.db /a and last type explorer.

[w32sh]

For Windows 10, use the argument "show", mentioned in the same page (tip credit).

[CrazyMax]

If you want to refresh notification icons too you can use this app : github.com/crazy-max/IconsRefresh

[Elmo]

@Crazy Is it just a 1 liner? SHChangeNotify(SHCNE_ASSOCCHANGED, SHCNF_IDLIST, NULL, NULL);

[CrazyMax]

@Elmo Yes it is !

[Admin]

Does not work on Windows 8.1. Sorry.

[jaggedsoft]

To get your start menu back, ctrl+alt+del then file: new task and enter explorer.exe

[DavidPostill]

Please read the question again carefully. Your answer does not answer the original question.

[DavidPostill]

That's not enough. You have to delete the icon cache db as well. In any case killing explorer is already covered by the other answers.

[anre]

What I noticed lately is that the IconCache.db often not necessarily exists, but just restarting explorer.exe as described above solves the problem, too.

[Spike0xff]

worked for me, Win 8.1

[SDsolar]

That's cool. Works fine in Win8.1 Quick and easy. And with the "QuickEdit" and "Run as Administrator" settings in the taskbar CMD icon, I was able to create the bat file by simply copying your text above, then clicking on the CMD icon. Typed copy con clearcache.bat then Enter, then Right-click to paste it in. One more Enter then a Ctrl-Z finishes the job of creating the file. Then I typed clearcache to run it. WIndows blinked and all the icons came back fixed. Took a total of 30 seconds for the whole fix. THANK YOU. EXCELLENT ANSWER.

[cdlvcdlv]

Press Win and release it. Then twice Alt+F4. This way is faster and you needn't to see part of the Desktop to open the classic shutdown menu.

[cdlvcdlv]

It didn't work for me in Win 7 (though it seemed to make a refresh) but the kill-explorer-etc thing did.

[micsthepick]

This answer deserves all the upvotes and the accepted tick IMO

[Jez]

ie4uinit.exe -show worked for me in Windows 10, thanks! So much easier than most of the tutorials telling you to go around deleting a bunch of .db files!

[Joshua Boyd]

If you're fancy you can send the 'SHChange' notification with PowerShell too: stackoverflow.com/a/49818826/273668

[Dee]

superb command, tks!

[Tigerware]

Did not work for me with Win 10 Home 1909. The icons are still missing for some items in the start menu.

[Tigerware]

This worked for me with Win 10 Home 1909, while the accepted answer does not.

[Tigerware]

It stopped working after I closed the command console. The icons disappeared again. Tried it again, IconCache.db not found and more icons disappeared.

[Jason C]

There is no ie4unit.exe on Windows 7.

[DAG]

Note for those who are NOT running Win10 as admin... these instructions will delete the icons for your admin user, not a standard user.

[Elron]

This sometimes work and sometimes not. Usually after 3 minutes it loads the correct icon, but not immediately. (Win10)

[Elron]

I also had the problem that ie4uinit.exe didn't always refresh. I tried Nircmd as well and still no solid success. (sometimes works sometimes not)

[Mario Palumbo]

Doesn't work: Windows 10