"Downloads" folder icon missing

aaronlucato said:

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Restore default "Downloads" user folder icon in Windows 10 through the desktop.ini file
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Note: this option will be for all of the user folders in "C:\Users\%USERNAME%" folder, except for the %USERNAME% folder itself. This guide is adapted and giving you instructions and download material purposely designed to fix the "Downloads" user folder, though it can be well done to fix all the other user folders in "\users\%USERNAME%" directory simply by replacing the "desktop.ini" file. Just follow the link at the bottom

1. Press and hold Windows key and then press "R" key to open the "Run" dialog

2. Type in the shell command:

"shell:downloads" (without quotes)

Note: this will open the personal user folder "Downloads"

3. In Folder options, set protected operating system files to show

4. Download the file "desktop.zip" containing the "desktop.ini" file
Note: step 3 must be done before downloading and extracting the contents of this zip file, or else you'll see just an empty archive when you open "desktop.zip", since the content is a hidden system file called "desktop.ini")

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Attachment 115856
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5. Extract the contents of "desktop.zip" containing the "desktop.ini" file related to the "Downloads" folder icon that you want to restore
Note: the desktop.ini file is a .txt file that contains the user folder settings in it

6. Right click the desktop.ini file in the extracted folder and click on "Properties". In the "General" tab, click the "Unblock" button and then "OK"
Note: If there's not an "Unblock" button, then it's already unblocked. Proceed to step 6

7. Replace the "desktop.ini" file in "C:\Users\%USERNAME%\Downloads" with the one you have extracted from the "desktop.zip" file and then close the folder. Confirm any aditional dialog boxes that may appear, including the ones alerting about the dangers of moving system files
Note: don't worry and replace the file even if the size and other attributes are the same. This is important!

8. Open an elevated command prompt and type:

"attrib +r -s -h %USERPROFILE%\Downloads /S /D" (without quotes)

Note: this will set the user folder as read-only

9. Close the command prompt and restart Windows

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Adapted by Aaron (from: User Folders - Restore Default Icon - Windows 7 Help Forums)
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Worked great! Thank you!

For those that do not want to download a file (I was paranoid):

I edited the desktop.ini file within the downloads folder adding:
IconResource=%SystemRoot%\system32\imageres.dll,-184

The complete desktop.ini should look like this:
[.ShellClassInfo]
LocalizedResourceName=@%SystemRoot%\system32\shell32.dll,-21798
IconResource=%SystemRoot%\system32\imageres.dll,-184

Then followed step 8:
8. Open an elevated command prompt and type:

"attrib +r -s -h %USERPROFILE%\Downloads /S /D" (without quotes)

I have the same problem on windows 11. I tried to download the file but it can't download (maybe for old thread the file is deleted). To solve the problem I created a new win local account and after that copied the desktop.ini from the new account to my current. Then it solved the problem. I deleted the new account.

though this is an old thread, I am old myself and somehow lost some of the folders under "this PC". I will try this tomorrow and THANK YOU very much for this.