Missing/Blank Icons on Desktop and Windows Explorer

This is the first issue I haven't able to resolve after using Windows products for years


I recently bought a monitor to use with my laptop while at home. Whenever I disconnect my laptop from the monitor and then shut the laptop down, upon restarting I lose all my desktop icons and icons in Windows Explorer. On the taskbar, it shows the generic white icon for programs, while the desktop has a blank icon (but still has the name underneath where the icon should be).

I've tried restarting Windows Explorer, ending and manually restarting Explorer, and rebuilt the Icon Cache without any effect on the issue. I've attached a screenshot of my desktop

What are the laptop screen & external monitor specs (resolution, refresh frequency, DPI)?
Are you running the new Windows Creator Update?
Did you try shutting down your laptop first and then disconnect the monitor (As you should normally do)?
What happens if you connect the monitor back?

mQ573 said:

What are the laptop screen & external monitor specs (resolution, refresh frequency, DPI)?
Are you running the new Windows Creator Update?
Did you try shutting down your laptop first and then disconnect the monitor (As you should normally do)?
What happens if you connect the monitor back?

Both the laptop and screen are 1920x1080 resolution with a 60Hz refresh rate. Laptop has a small 13" screen while the monitor is a 27". I have no idea if I'm running the Creator Update, though my laptop should be up to date so I would assume yes.

I'm not around the monitor at the moment, but usually I can hook it back up and restart the computer to make the icons come back. I tried doing this with a monitor here at college but it doesn't affect it.

Try this: Using the registry Editor, navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Icons
Look for an empty key of REG_SZ type named 9 or 29
Give it the value C:\Windows\System32\shell32.dll or C:\Windows\System32\shell32.dll,29
Restart

Just wanted to say, I had the same problem as you and did as mQ573 said and it worked. Best of luck to you!

mQ573 said:

Try this: Using the registry Editor, navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Icons
Look for an empty key of REG_SZ type named 9 or 29
Give it the value C:\Windows\System32\shell32.dll or C:\Windows\System32\shell32.dll,29
Restart

I have the same issue with WIndows 10, but if I navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer, there is no Shell Icons folder.

There is a Shell Folders, a ShellExecuteHooks, a ShellIconOverlayIdentifiers and a ShellServiceObjects folder, but no Shell Icons folder.

I checked on my other Windows 10 computer that doesn't have the same issue and it also doesn't have the Shell Icons folder.

Any ideas?

Please take a look at my original post here, if you have time: I tried to rebuild the icon cache Thank you