Desktop Icons Do Not Display Correctly in Windows NT 4.0

The Windows desktop icons may not be correctly displayed on the desktop. In some cases, the icons may be displayed as black or possibly in other colors. Ultimately, the icons do not appear as advertised.

Deleting and re-creating the shortcuts does not fix the problem. Newly created shortcuts are also affected by the problem. Non-shortcut icons such as My Computer, Recycle Bin, and folders are unaffected by this problem.

The reason that the icons are displayed incorrectly may be related to the use of TweakUI in conjunction with Internet Explorer 4.0. This occurs because of corruption in the Icon Cache file.

To ensure that the icons are displayed correctly, complete the following steps.

1. Uninstall TweakUI from the system (if installed).
2. Open Start Menu, Settings, Control Panel, then click the Display icon.
3. Select the Appearance tab.
4. Select the icon in the Item Box.
5. Increase the icon unit by 1.
6. Select Apply.
7. Decrease the icon unit by 1.
8. Select OK.

1. Delete the file %systemroot%\ShellIconCache Note: This file has a hidden attribute.
2. Log off and log back on to see the correct icons.

The third-party products that are discussed in this article are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or reliability of these products.