Deleted icons stay on desktop (not in desktop folder)

Ok, so I'm by no means a tech luddite, but this one has me stumped even after trawling some forums.

When I delete "some" icons from my desktop the icon does not actually disappear. It stays there on my desktop but is no longer active. I cannot click on it or interact with it in any way. The icon does disappear from the "desktop folder" however and there's no way I can see to get it off the desktop itself.

Take my screen shot for example, and look a the NetSpot icon. I deleted it. You can see it in the recycle bin, you can see it on the desktop (which I can not do anything with) but it is gone from the desktop folder.

This is the same whether I delete the file to the recycle bin or delete it permanently.

Baffled. Doesn't affect performance but means I have a range of icons (which now seem to just be part of the background) that I can not do anything with.

FYI, Win version: Windows 10, Version 2004 (build 19041.685)

Try3 said:

Right-click in a clear area of the Desktop & select Refresh.

Denis

Done that, doesn't work. Have restarted, have run chkdsk, have run scannow...and a couple other things.

Try3 said:

The icons do no disappear when you Refresh? I have never heard of that before.


Denis

Me either which is why I’m on here

Try3 said:

I can only suggest that you
1 Add a list of steps you have already taken.
2 Add a comment about restarting the computer. Do the deleted icons disappear then?
2 Add a comment explaining if any Desktop items do delete correctly and whether or not there are any significant differences between those that do delete correctly and those that don't.
3 Add a list of any OS tweaks you have done & any third-party OS-related utilities you have run.

I assume you have already reinstalled your display driver.
I don't see a Repair install as being relevant. Repair Install - TenForumsTutorials

Denis

I'll answer those below in number order:
1 - Have refreshed the desktop, have run chkdsk, have run scannow, have tried to locate the desktop cache (unsure if it's still present in Windows 10), have tried locating these phantom icons in the desktop folder. All of these were completed with elevated administrator privileges.
2 - Have clearly restarted, many times. The icons do not delete and reappear, they just do not delete at all. Well, they go to the recycle bin as you can see from the original screen shot, but NEVER actually disappear from the desktop at all, it's like they leave a permanent shadow.
3 - Some icons have deleted correctly but I'm noticing that this is few and far between and I can't put my finger on why. Those that have been left behind include files (pdf, word, png), application shortcuts and folders.
4 - No OS tweaks or third party apps that have been run.
5 - Have not reinstalled the display driver yet. Could try that. Just using the onboard Intel graphics.

- - - Updated - - -

spunk said:

Do you use OneDrive? Open OneDrive up and look to see if those icons are in the OneDrive/Desktop folder.

No Onedrive being used so nowhere cloud based that these icons should be living and hiding.

Resetting Icon Cache on Windows 10

Right-click on Start and select Command Prompt (Admin).
Type cd %homepath%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer and press Enter.

To verify the location of the icon cache database files, enter the dir iconcache* command and press Enter.

After executing the command, you should see a list of the following database files:
iconcache_1280.db
iconcache_16.db
iconcache_1920.db
iconcache_256.db
iconcache_2560.db
iconcache_32.db
iconcache_48.db
iconcache_768.db
iconcache_96.db
iconcache_custom_stream.db
iconcache_exif.db
iconcache_idx.dbiconcache_sr.db
iconcache_wide.db
iconcache_wide_alternate.db

Now you have to stop File Explorer. For that, enter the taskkill /f /im explorer.exe command and hit Enter to execute it. File Explorer uses the icon cache database, so without disabling it, you won’t be able to remove the icon cache files.

Once File Explorer is disabled, type the del iconcache* command and press Enter to delete the icon cache files.

If you receive an alert that the access is denied, double-check if you are running Command Prompt with administrative privileges.To double-check that icon cache files have successfully been removed, enter the del iconcache* command one more time and hit Enter.

If you still see a list of some icon cache files, close the apps that are running and using the mentioned icons and then repeat the above-listed steps.

Finally, enter the explorer.exe command and press Enter to enable File Explorer.

Close Command Prompt.

Or you could download Thumbnail & Icon Cache Rebuilder
Thumbnail and Icon Cache Rebuilder for Windows 10

I forget the original source where I found this info that resolved my same issue.

Hope this helps.

I have no idea what to do with this any more.
I have tried deleting the iconcache both manually and with the app suggested. Neither worked.

Trying manually, even running command prompt with admin rights left three iconcache files with denied access.

I created a boot media USB and booted to command prompt so I could totally bypass any of the explorer or interface files files that would be running. I found the iconcache files for he user account I needed (only one account on the computer) and deleted all of them. No problem with access this time and ALL iconcache files were gone.

Rebooted and surprise, they were all still there. Dead icons. Thins I can't click on, or move or delete. It's like they're a part of the background image. And yes, I've tried changing the background image

Any other suggestions aside from lowing away this user profile and/or starting from scratch?