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How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows

Sometimes, the icons on your Windows computer get messed up. For example, they may be blurry or broken. One of the causes can be that a file named IconCache got corrupted (glitched). Luckily, you can reset it so that you get all of your...
Method 1 of 2:

Manually Deleting the File

  1. How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows Picture 1How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows Picture 1
    Press the Start button at the bottom-right corner of your screen.
  2. How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows Picture 2How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows Picture 2
    Type folder options and select the result that matches your search. This will allow you to change file viewing settings so that you can see hidden files like IconCache.
  3. How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows Picture 3How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows Picture 3
    Go to the View tab.
  4. How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows Picture 4How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows Picture 4
    Scroll down under Advanced settings: and click the circle next to Show hidden files, folders, and drives.
  5. How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows Picture 5How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows Picture 5
    Click or tap the OK box to save your changes and close folder options.
  6. How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows Picture 6How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows Picture 6
    Open File Explorer. File Explorer lets you see all the files on your computer, including system files like IconCache.
    1. Note: In Windows 7 and earlier, it is called Windows Explorer.
  7. How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows Picture 7How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows Picture 7
    In the address bar of File Explorer, type %userprofile%/AppDataLocal.
  8. How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows Picture 8How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows Picture 8
    Scroll through all of the files until you find a file named IconCache or IconCache.db.
  9. How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows Picture 9How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows Picture 9
    Right-click or hold (for touchscreen devices) and select Delete from the menu that appears.
  10. How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows Picture 10How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows Picture 10
    Confirm deletion if prompted by pressing Yes.
  11. How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows Picture 11How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows Picture 11
    Open the Recycle Bin and empty it. We have a guide on how to do that (just click on the green sentence before this). You can quickly open it by launching the Start menu/screen and searching for Recycle Bin.
  12. How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows Picture 12How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows Picture 12
    If the Recycle Bin is already empty, there's nothing you need to do. Proceed to the next step.
  13. How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows Picture 13How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows Picture 13
    Clear the thumbnail cache if you're seeing problems with thumbnails (previews of files).
  14. How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows Picture 14How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows Picture 14
    Restart your PC. The icons should now be fixed.
Method 2 of 2:

Using Command Prompt

  1. How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows Picture 15How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows Picture 15
    Open the Command Prompt. The quickest way to open the Command Prompt in any version of Windows is to:
    1. Press the ⊞ Win+R at the same time.
    2. Type cmd.
    3. Click/tap OK or hit ↵ Enter.
  2. How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows Picture 16How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows Picture 16
    Type the commands in. Type the commands below into the Command Prompt, hitting enter after each line of code is entered. You can also highlight and copy them (either by right-clicking and pressing Copy or by pressing Ctrl+C. Right-click in the Command Prompt and select Paste. Ctrl+V won't work.
    1. cd /d %userprofile%AppDataLocal
    2. attrib –h IconCache.db
    3. del IconCache.db
    4. start explorer
  3. How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows Picture 17How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows Picture 17
    Restart your PC. The icons should now be fixed.
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