Classic Shell: Forum

Hi there,
I'm experiencing a problem with some of the program icons in the Start menu. Some icons does not show the programicon but instead a white square. I'v tried right-clicking the icon an choosing the standard-icon, but it doesn't work.

Does anyone have any of what to do?

Best regards.

Henrik

Is it always the same programs?
If so, can you see something out of the ordinary about them? Like maybe they are on the network, or maybe they are 16-bit exes, or maybe you have customized their icons?

Hello Ivo,

Actually all the programs, except one, has their "Change icon" button grayed out. But the correct icon is showed in the Properties box for the program.

If using "Show all apps" in the Windows 8 Start, all icons shows correct.

Henrik

But do all programs have the white square icon?

No no no, only a 10-12 programs shows the white square, all other icons are fine. It's only programs which don't allow me to change the icon.

Can you give me some examples of programs that have the correct icons and programs that have the wrong icons?

Adobe Reader XI, Evernote, IObit Advanced Systemcare Ultimate, Macrium Reflect, Quicktime Player, Worldwide Telescope and several ASUS utilities has white squares.

ACDSee Photo Manager 12, Microsoft Office 2003 has a grayed out "Change icon" but is showing the correct icon in Program-menu.

Hm, I have some of these programs and they work for me. See if clearing the icon cache and rebooting will fix the problem. Here's how you do it: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/49 ... build.html

can you open these programs? for me these kind of apps were which I uninstalled..
Also try to unselect Pre-cache icons in the General behavior settings.

I hope maybe this will help

Yes, all the shortcuts works OK.
Unselecting Pre-cache icons in the General behavior settings doesn't change anything.

Are these are MSI advertised shortcuts? (Is the target field in Properties greyed out for these shortcuts for which you get white icons?)

Did you restart after deleting the cache?

Also, if that doesn't work, maybe it's a permissions issue? Try using a tool like TakeOwnershipEx: http://winaero.com/comment.php?comment.news.18 to take full ownership of the following folders by right clicking them:
%appdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu

Then logoff and log back on.

_________________
Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

I am a Windows enthusiast and did Classic Shell's testing and usability/UX feedback.

Yes, the target field is grayed out.

Yes, I did restart after deleting cache.

No, taking ownership didn't change anything ;-(

Since they are all MSI shortcuts, it looks like icons which are cached for these shortcuts in the C:\Windows\Installer folder got deleted somehow. You could try doing a "Repair" installation from Control Panel -> Programs and Features for each of the softwares which show blank icons. You may need access to their original installer to do repair installation. Try doing repair for any one of the apps which shows blank icons and see if the icons return in the Start menu.

_________________
Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

I am a Windows enthusiast and did Classic Shell's testing and usability/UX feedback.

I've repaired Adobe Reader and one ASUS program but the result is negative. No new icons;-(

Thanks for following up with troubleshooting this issue so far. According to http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library ... 85%29.aspx, some applications may change the option codes for the REINSTALLMODE property so a Repair installation would not be the same thing as uninstall and installing again. So instead of repair, try uninstalling one app that shows blank icons, delete the shortcuts from the Start Menu if left over and then install again. If the icons return, then it's not a Classic Shell issue, something deleted the cached icons from the Installer folder. Are you using a cleanup software of some kind like CCleaner or something else?

_________________
Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

I am a Windows enthusiast and did Classic Shell's testing and usability/UX feedback.

I have now tried uninstalling/installing Adobe Acrobat, and the icon is back! I also tried with Evernote and Quicktime but had no luck ;-(

Hmm, after you reinstalled all the software which uses MSI installer, the last step would be to delete/reset the Explorer icon cache again. That should bring back all icons. Anyways, it means it wasn't a Classic Shell issue and glad that you can get your icons back.

_________________
Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

I am a Windows enthusiast and did Classic Shell's testing and usability/UX feedback.

The funny thing is, that when using other Win 8 Start-replacements (IOBit, Stardock), the icons a showing fine?? That does suggest, that fault could bee with Classic shell.
But thanks for the help so far:)

Henrik

Different programs use different methods of retrieving the icon. Some of the methods are more reliable, and some provide higher quality images. Classic Shell favors the higher quality because it supports larger size for the icons (like 48x48 or 64x64).

if thats the case, shouldnt there be a compatibility mode or flag that can force the start menu to load the lower resolution icons, for those having the problem?

Even the "compatibility" way of loading icons has some problems, like with certain exes or when certain shell extensions like Microangelo are installed. It is also synchronous, meaning the icons can't be loaded in a separate thread. That makes the menu a lot slower to open.

I think I have found a good compromise between quality, speed, and reliability. The next version is going to be even better. In this particular case something corrupted the icons. Icon corruption can happen no matter which method you use.

In fact, Jcee, I've just discovered that there is in fact a way to accept lower resolution on the icons:)
Go to Settings Menu Look and set Small icon size to 16 and Large icon size to 32. That brought back the correct icons, no more blank icons:D

Interesting. If the requested size is larger than the system icon size I use a different method of getting a higher-quality image. Looks like it is failing in your case.

I have the same problem here. Changing the "icon size" fixes the "empty program icons" problem indeed - in my case I changed the "small icon size" to 21 and the "large icon size" to 41. When using 20/40 some icons are not shown (e.g. all Microsoft Mouse icons, all Microsoft Keyboard icons, the MyMovies Collection Management icon, ...).
I also installed the Games from Windows 7 in Windows 8 and added the "Games" Menu in Classic Shell. The icons there are missing, too. But when closing Classic Shell and restarting it, the icons are displayed correctly.

Perhaps the Icons themselves are built without the additional Sizes inside.. so I dont think there would be a method for displaying them at a higher-quality if the only thing that came installed with them was a 16x16 icon graphic.. whats the method? is it an image stretch?

Perhaps you could try Changing the Icon and Browsing to a different File in the Install folder, or search online for the programs websites, copy the Logos from the front pages, Then use GreenFish Icon Editor to Make & Save New Icons from Image Files, then save it to a permanent Icon Location, and browse to that folder for all your shortcuts... if you really want to keep all your larger icons

Maybe you can open one of the troubled Icons with Photoshop or Greenfish Editor and see what size images are included in the .ico file

maybe simply rebuilding the ICO file inside Greenfish will be enough