The icon cache / temporary storage under Windows can lead to incorrect shortcut icons, here is the solution for deleting / resetting the icon cache on Windows 11, 10, ... etc.!Please use the Disk Cleanup Manager as the fastest way / solution to delete thumbnails and icon cache in Windows! The icons are also saved in the thumbnail cache! 1.) ... Clear the icon cache using the disk cleanup!
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| (Image-1) Empty or reset icon cache on Windows 11, 10, etc.! |
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2.) Automatically delete icon cache via batch file!
Automatically deleting the icon cache via a batch file is popular with users who change icons more often. To make it faster, a batch file is created that can be started again and again with a double click.
Just open the text editor and insert these lines:
taskkill /IM explorer.exe /F
CD /d %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer
DEL Icon*.db /a
timeout /t 2
Start explorer.exe
And save it as Icon-Cache-Batch-File.bat on the desktop!
(... see Image-2)
Or simply download: ►► Icon-Cache-Batch-File.bat.zip to place on the desktop
| (Image-2) Clear icon cache via a batch file! |
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3.) Why the icon cache on Windows 11, 10, ... etc?
To speed up the display of thumbnails, the system uses a special cache file that is located in the hidden directory of the user profile. In cases where the cache file is corrupted, it will show incorrect thumbnails of your files in Windows Explorer and also incorrect icons / symbols, making it very annoying. The system can fix this by clearing the cache of thumbnails and icons using the system tool described above.
See also:
► Command line to delete the temporary files on Windows!
► complete directories with PowerShell and CMD ..
► Delete all files except the most recent via command line, script .. !
The icon cache in Windows 11, 10, ... is a special file or database that all Windows OS uses to store icons and symbols for files and applications. This is done to make starting applications and opening files faster because Windows does not have to recreate all the icons every time. However, sometimes this icon cache can become corrupt, which can result in missing or incorrect icons.
The icon cache in Windows 11, 10 and other versions of the operating system is used to speed up the display of symbols and icons. Icons are graphical representations of files, programs, and features that appear in the Windows user interface. Instead of loading the corresponding image file from the hard drive each time an icon needs to be displayed, Windows stores a cached copy of the icon in the icon cache. This significantly speeds up icon loading and display because the image data is already in memory.
Here are some reasons why icon cache is used on Windows systems:
Accelerated system performance:
With icon cache, Windows can display icons faster because they can be loaded from the cache instead of being read from the disk each time. This contributes to overall system performance.
Reduction of disk accesses:
The symbol cache reduces the number of disk accesses because the symbols are cached in memory. This can reduce the load on the file system and hard drive.
Consistent Display:
Icon cache ensures that icons and symbols are displayed consistently regardless of changes to the underlying files or programs. This prevents icons from unexpectedly disappearing or changing appearance due to file changes or system updates.
Providing icons when the original is missing:
Even if the original icon or image file is missing, Windows can display the icon from the cache. This is useful for showing icons in program groups or on the desktop when the associated files have been moved or deleted.
The icon cache is automatically managed and updated by Windows as needed, such as when new programs are installed or icons are changed. However, in some cases, the icon cache may become corrupt or icons may not display as expected. In such cases, it may be helpful to manually clear the icon cache and then recreate it to resolve icon display issues.
FAQ 2: Updated on: 18 October 2023 19:52
