Sometimes specific folder icons disappear

[jose]

On Dec 28, 10:39

[sometimes specific folder]

"Jose" wrote:

> On Dec 28, 10:39 am, Sometimes specific folder icons disappea
> <Sometimes specific folder icons disap...@discussions.microsoft.com>
> wrote:
> > Hello all,
> > I have Win XP Pro sp3 installed.
> > Sometimes very specific folder icons in Windows Explorer
> > are replaced with default icons, namely
> > - the MyMusic, MyVideo, Favorites, Control Panel and some of the icons
> > inside it
> > (ex.Printers), DVD drive icons
> > - the icons for *.txt and *.dll files
> >
> > When this happens, then if I try to use "Change Icon" for a desktop shortcut
> > and choose an icon from shell32.dll, then an error is issued stating that
> > "file shell32.dll does not contain any icons".
> >
> > Reboot does not solve the problem.
> > Sometimes the problem can be solved by using TweakUI's Repair Icons option,
> > other times this solution works only after reboot.
> >
> > Also, I tried to delete the IconCache.db file and have it rebuilt by a reboot,
> > but this solution also lasted only for a sepcific time.
> >
> > The shell32.dll file seems to be identical as originally installed from the
> > CD,
> > and when the problem is gone then all the icons from it are displayed
> > correctly.
> >
> > Why does this happen and how can the problem be solved without recurring
> > after every few hours of using the computer ?
> >
> > Thanks anticipately & a very Happy New Year 2010 !
> > Iudith Mentzel
>
> Do you see this behavior is Windows Explorer, are you changing icons
> for things on your desktop or both?
>
> What method are you using to change the My Music, My Videos icons?
>
> What method are you using to change the icons of .txt files?
>
> If you have a lot of happenings, I would just pick one and figure it
> out first.
> .

Hello Jose,
As by now, the problem appears only inside Windows Explorer.
I don't have many icons on the Desktop, but they all appear correctly.
Also, icons on the taskbar, start menu, a.s.o. are all correct.

The icon for .TXT files was defined by the initial XP installation.
The first time that the problem happened, I tried to replace it using
"Folder Options --> File Types --> Change Icon and I changed it to the icon
of Notepad, that is,
instead of using an icon from shell32.dll, I set it to use an icon from
notepad.exe
and this worked ok.
But, since I am not confortable with that icon, after the problem was solved
I reset the icon back to the original one, the one from shell32.dll.

But, for example the icon for .dll files was NEVER changed, and it comes and
goes
when the problem happens.

Also, I never changed the MyVideo and MyMusic icons, they were only changed
by themselves (to the wrong ones) when the problem appeared, and restored back
when the TweakUI utility succeded in repairing the problem.

It looks to me that, when the problem happens, it is somehow related to the
shell32.dll file, because all the icons that disappear are taken from that
file.
The file shell32.dll looks the same as on the original XP installation CD,
but maybe something prevents it to be read correctly.
This is why when the problem happens, I cannot change any icon (even a
desktop icon) to any icon from shell32.dll, but I can change it to an icon
from another file
that contains icons (ex Notepad.exe).

On the other hand, I know that the icons are stored in IconCache.db,
so, if I understand it correctly, while I am browsing files in Windows
Explorer for
a few hours, and the problematic icons were initially displayed ok, this
means that
those icons are already stored in IconCache.db, so, why are they suddenly
replaced
with the wrong (default or undefined) icons ?
And why do this always happen to the same set of icons, not to others ?

I also found web sites where they suggest that this problem may be related to
some virus or malware ... and they suggest scanning for such viruses using
several tools, because no single tool can detect all of them.
I am using ZoneAlarm with default settings as my security program, and I am
not too familiar with any of these tools.

Could it be a good check if I try to use the computer for some time WITHOUT
connecting to the Internet at all, and then, if the problem does not come
back,
then maybe to conclude that it is indeed caused by something external coming
from the web, and undetected by my AntiVirus program ?

Thanks again a lot for your further help & Best Regards,
Iudith Mentzel

[jose]

On Dec 29, 12:10

[sometimes specific folder]

Hello Jose,

Thanks a lot for your information.
I hope you don't mind if I will only be able to answer all your questions
when I will be again at my home computer (the one with the problem),
since for the moment I am at my office computer.
I hope I will be able to access this forum from home as well.

Regarding the shell32.dll file, when I said that it looks like the original
one
I meant that its "Date changed" was not altered.
Also, it is not clear to me how is XP capable of putting it back if I rename
it,
except if from the original installation CD.
Does Win XP keep any backup of this and other files on the hard disk ?

I saw on the web some custom replace utilities that can be used to replace
DLL-s,
which are said to work without problems, but you need a replacement DLL file
for using them (usually they say they use it for replacing shell32.dll with
a modified/customized version of it, for which there also exist tools).

When the problem first appeared, my first attempt to repair it was to do an
SFC, which asked for my original CD, and performed a long running scan,
after which it did not report about any problems found.

Next, I understood than XP is supposed to perform an automatic system backup
each time when the OS is updated.
I have automatic check for Windows Update turned on (from the original
installation)
and several times when I turn off the computer it reports that it is
installing one
or more updates before shutting down and this always happens without any
problems.
However, when I tried to perform a System Restore, it told me that it did
not find any restore points available.
Does this mean that I can only create such restore points manually ?

The next attempt, as I already mentioned, was to use TweakUI and to rebuild
the IconCache.db file.

As I mentioned, I will revert when I will be at my home computer, probably
during this week-end.

Thanks again a lot and enjoy a pleasant New Year holiday !
Iudith Mentzel

"Jose" wrote:

> On Dec 29, 12:10 pm, Sometimes specific folder icons disappea
> <Sometimesspecificfoldericonsdisap...@discussions.microsoft.com>
> wrote:
> > "Jose" wrote:
> > > On Dec 28, 10:39 am, Sometimes specific folder icons disappea
> > > <Sometimes specific folder icons disap...@discussions.microsoft.com>
> > > wrote:
> > > > Hello all,
> > > > I have Win XP Pro sp3 installed.
> > > > Sometimes very specific folder icons in Windows Explorer
> > > > are replaced with default icons, namely
> > > > - the MyMusic, MyVideo, Favorites, Control Panel and some of the icons
> > > > inside it
> > > > (ex.Printers), DVD drive icons
> > > > - the icons for *.txt and *.dll files
> >
> > > > When this happens, then if I try to use "Change Icon" for a desktop shortcut
> > > > and choose an icon from shell32.dll, then an error is issued stating that
> > > > "file shell32.dll does not contain any icons".
> >
> > > > Reboot does not solve the problem.
> > > > Sometimes the problem can be solved by using TweakUI's Repair Icons option,
> > > > other times this solution works only after reboot.
> >
> > > > Also, I tried to delete the IconCache.db file and have it rebuilt by a reboot,
> > > > but this solution also lasted only for a sepcific time.
> >
> > > > The shell32.dll file seems to be identical as originally installed from the
> > > > CD,
> > > > and when the problem is gone then all the icons from it are displayed
> > > > correctly.
> >
> > Thanks again a lot for your further help & Best Regards,
> > Iudith Mentzel
>
> Let's get some more information and do some things to get to a basic
> starting point. While you do this, I will be looking at some other
> things.
>
> The shell32.dll file on your XP CD would be compressed so I don't know
> how it can "look" like your one in system32, but we can easily let
> Windows File Protection replace the one in system32 with what XP
> thinks is a "good" copy. It is a "protected file" and if it ever
> comes up missing, XP will want to replace it, so we'll make it missing
> by renaming it.
>
> Navigate to windows\system32 and rename shell32.dll --> shell32.tmp
> (or some extension you can remember).
>
> Within a few to several seconds WFP will replace the missing
> shell32.dll file and put a message like this in the System Event Log:
>
> Event Type: Information
> Event Source: Windows File Protection
> Event Category: None
> Event ID: 64002
> Description:
> File replacement was attempted on the protected system file c:\windows
> \system32\shell32.dll. This file was restored to the original version
> to maintain system stability. The file version of the system file is
> 6.0.2900.5622.
>
> Now you have what should be a "good" shell32.dll file so that will not
> be a question about that. If that doesn't work and shell32.dll
> doesn't reappear (refresh), you have another problem so put your old
> one back.
>
> I don't use ZA these days, but I am thinking if it may interfere with
> this rename or WFP process, we need to start looking at ZA a bit. It
> has a lot of configuration options and installed out of the box (or
> out of the download) sometimes contributes to peculiar behavior until
> it is tweaked for your system. I may be fine, but we'll see...
>
> You may also be thinking about how to completely disable ZA long
> enough to see if your problem goes away without ZA running. It would
> be good if you could say: With ZA running, I have this problem.
> With ZA not running, I have do not have this problem. Then we will fix
> it if it needs fixing.
>
> We should also try to catch the system when it is broken and easiest
> to troubleshoot (not after a reboot) - so when you see your problem
> and the shell32.dll error look in the XP Event Log for error messages
> when it is broken. Here is how to do that:
>
> Here is a method to post the specific information about individual
> events.
>
> To see the Event Viewer logs, click Start, Settings, Control Panel,
> Administrative Tools, Event Viewer.
>
> A shortcut to Event Viewer is to click Start, Run and in the box
> enter:
>
> %SystemRoot%\system32\eventvwr.msc /s
>
> Click OK to launch the Event Viewer.
>
> The most interesting logs are usually the Application and System.
> Some logs may be almost or completely empty.
> Not every event is a problem, some are informational messages that
> things are working okay and some are warnings.
> No event should defy reasonable explanation.
>
> Each event is sorted by Date and Time. Errors will have red Xs,
> Warnings will have yellow !s.
> Information messages have white is. Not every Error or Warning event
> means there is a serious issue.
> Some are excusable at startup time when Windows is booting. Try to
> find just the events at the date
> and time around your problem.
>
> If you double click an event, it will open a Properties windows with
> more information. On the right are
> black up and down arrow buttons to scroll through the open events. The
> third button that looks like
> two pages on top of each other is used to copy the event details to
> your Windows clipboard.
>
> When you find an interesting event that occurred around the time of
> your issue, click the third button
> under the up and down arrows to copy the details and then you can
> paste the details (right click, Paste
> or CTRL-V) the detail text back here for analysis.
>
> To get a fresh start on any Event Viewer log, you can choose to clear
> the log (backing up the log is offered),
> then reproduce your issue, then look at just the events around the
> time of your issue.
>
> Finally continue with more information from you and some other scans:
>
> To eliminate questions and guessing, please provide additional
> information about your system.
>
> Click Start, Run and in the box enter:
>
> msinfo32
>
> Click OK, and when the System Summary info appears, click Edit, Select
> All, Copy and then paste
> the information back here.
>
> There will be some personal information (like System Name and User
> Name), and whatever appears to
> be private information to you, just delete it from the pasted
> information.
>
> Perform some scans for malicious software, then fix any remaining
> issues:
>
> Download, install, update and do a full scan with these free malware
> detection programs:
>
> Malwarebytes (MBAM): http://malwarebytes.org/
> SUPERAntiSpyware: (SAS): http://www.superantispyware.com/
>
> They can be uninstalled later if desired.
> .
>

[jose]

On Dec 30, 6:56

[jose]

On Jan 9, 12:46