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Help!

The icons for my Trusted Microsoft Store apps are missing from my start menu when I search for them. They are also missing from my tasbar. I alo notice that icons are missing for files that are associated with these apps are missing.

Any idea on how to solve this?

When Using Search

Searching in the start menu won't show the icon for Trusted Microsoft Store apps. Other app icons are visible in the search.
Slack icon missing Setings icon missing Calculator icon missing, other icons showing


In start menu

The icons for the store apps are visible in the menu when not searching: Not missing when not searching


Not visible in taskbar either

Here you can see that both the Slack and Store app icons aren't visible on the taskbar:
Slack Icon missing on taskbar


No file icons for associated apps

My images are associated with Windows Photos (also a Microsoft Trusted Store App). The aren't showing their icons. PNG icons not visible


What I've done so far

I've been searching Google and the MS fora for hours now. What I've tried so far:

  • Running all Windows Updates
  • Upgrading to Windows 10 Fall Creators Update
  • Clearing the general icon cache by deleting C:\Users\[snip]\AppData\Local\IconCache.db
  • Clearing Explorer icon cache by deleting C:\Users\[snip]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer\IconCache*.db
  • Re-reregistring all Windows store apps with PowerShell by running: Get-AppXPackage | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}
  • Running Disk Clean Up and choosing Clean Up System Files
  • Running WSReset.exe

All to no avail. I hope you guys know a solution.

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5
  • I have the exact same thing, its happening on a domain account so the only answer here isn't viable for me.
    – Nate
    Commented May 17, 2018 at 15:25
  • @Nate Try this: superuser.com/questions/1283165/uwp-icons-are-missing
    – user477799
    Commented May 21, 2018 at 5:06
  • I have the same problem. The easiest "fix" is to create a new account.
    – T Nierath
    Commented May 24, 2018 at 8:50
  • If you are facing the issue for Google Drive File Stream then, I've already posted a fix here: superuser.com/a/1441161/250676
    – iSaumya
    Commented May 25, 2019 at 16:59
  • One discovery I've made is that when adding a never-installed app from the store, I get the icons in search, but if I uninstall, then reinstall a 'corrupt' app the icons still don't appear
    – Schneider
    Commented Mar 21, 2021 at 10:29

5 Answers 5

Reset to default
17

I don't know why this worked, I read it somewhere (I forget the exact source) but someone suggested removing the Google Drive File Stream application. I got fed up with this issue, and tried it on a whim not expecting much, and it actually fixed the situation and the icons came back during the installation.

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11
  • Yep... works! Amazing...
    – Kees C. Bakker
    Commented Jun 27, 2018 at 13:28
  • Its not ideal, but it seems to fix the issue. Go figure, whatever that app is doing is causing some problems.
    – Nate
    Commented Jun 28, 2018 at 15:41
  • 1
    This may be your source: answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/… No solution still for us who don't have Google Drive File Stream.
    – Nurp
    Commented Feb 15, 2019 at 13:27
  • 3
    This worked for me too. My mind is blown. Well done Google for breaking something
    – Schneider
    Commented Feb 23, 2019 at 1:08
  • Worked for me too - but why?
    – Manuel Martinez
    Commented Nov 19, 2019 at 3:17
2

Google Drive File Stream was/is the culprit for me. Uninstalling this app brings the icons back. I don't have the option of removing the app so I live with this fix until I get Windows reinstalled and the dice gets rolled to see if the problem comes back.

What can temporarily work (day by day) is by removing the following Registry Key:

Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.png\shellex\{E357FCCD-A995-4576-B01F-234630154E96}

And then restarting Windows Explorer from the Task Manager.

This registry key will come back so when your icons disappear again you will need to do this again. This works for all of the icons except the Windows Mail icon.

I tried all of the fixes on this site and a bunch of others short of reinstalling Windows. Nothing had any effect. I think a large percentage of people have this problem because of Google Drive File Stream. Google seems uninterested in solving this problem as it doesn't affect everyone.

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1

Adding to the answer by @Nate - interestingly for me it worked after installing Google Drive for desktop from this place: https://support.google.com/drive/answer/7329379. I never had installed it earlier, so there was no need to uninstall it, but installing it resolved the issue magically! I then uninstalled it and the icons still show up, no problem at all :).

Also found a github page somebody created, it might be interesting for some: https://support.google.com/drive/answer/7329379

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2
  • This worked for me... Never had it installed before but installing it fixed the icons, and they stayed once I removed it again.
    – Cinter
    Commented Apr 8 at 7:21
  • This worked for me on a Windows 11 install! Exact same thing, Google Drive had never been installed before but the installer fixed something.
    – RedShift
    Commented Apr 9 at 13:15
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Below are some troubleshooting steps in ascending order of severity. Before starting, take careful backups including a system image. I suggest using for that AOMEI Backupper Standard Free. Create also the AOMEI boot CD or USB and test that it can boot and can see both your system disk and the disk where the image backup is stored.

To reinstall all Store apps for the current account :

  1. Open Windows PowerShell as Administrator

  2. Copy and paste the command below in PowerShell, and press Enter

    Get-AppXPackage | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}

  3. Wait for this to finish and reboot.

If this does not work, Windows is in bad shape. Start by checking the integrity of system files :

  1. Open an elevated Command Prompt (cmd) or an elevated Windows PowerShell.

  2. In the elevated command prompt, execute the command below :

    sfc /scannow

  3. Reboot

If this does not help, follow the steps outlined in the article
How to Repair Windows 10 Image using DISM.

If the problem is still there, we start getting into the heavy stuff. Execute Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade.

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0

Try this:

  • Open the Command Prompt or Run... window (whichever you like) and execute the following command:

    ie4uinit.exe -show

This solution is for Windows 10 only. It might or might not help; in case it did, credits goes to Ramesh Srinivasan. (I think he said he had a Super User account too.)

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3
  • 1
    This does cause the taskbar to flash, but the icons remain missing for me.
    – Nate
    Commented May 18, 2018 at 15:42
  • Hmm... So, the cache itself is not the problem; probably the icon itself is corrupted.
    – user477799
    Commented May 19, 2018 at 6:10
  • Yeah. I have tried the other posts suggestion to reinstall apps, as well what OP has said he tried using WSReset, etc. I've noticed that by changing the task bar settings to NOT GROUP items, Icons for Centennial apps (non UWP) seem to show up; however, the UWP apps don't show up regardless and when the task bar is grouping the Centennial apps icons don't show up either.
    – Nate
    Commented May 21, 2018 at 2:32

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