asked on Win7 Pinned Taskbar Icons Disappear
Running Windows 7 Home 64bit OS. After running Windows Updates, I have run into a problem where the icons on the taskbar disappear from view. THe problem is reproducible, and can be temporarily fixed using two methods:
1) Boot into Windows 7
2) All pinned icons are missing from the Taskbar. The Windows button, and system tray icons are still visible
3a) I drag an icon to the taskbar, the icon is successfully pinned. At the same time, the taskbar refreshes, and all of the pinned icons are now visible.
3b) I go into Task Manager, kill explorer.exe, and run explorer.exe. The taskbar re-appears with all of the pinned icons visible.
I ran a chkdsk -> no problems found
I deleted the icon cache.db file -> no difference
I verified the icons were located in the quicklaunch folder
I analyzed the Windows Update History and saw 20 updates were installed. None appeared to have any effect on the UI, other than the monthly roll ups (July 2016 rollup, August 2016 rollup, December 2016 rollup, and March 2017 rollup)
I'm not quite sure what my next troubleshooting step should be
1) Boot into Windows 7
2) All pinned icons are missing from the Taskbar. The Windows button, and system tray icons are still visible
3a) I drag an icon to the taskbar, the icon is successfully pinned. At the same time, the taskbar refreshes, and all of the pinned icons are now visible.
3b) I go into Task Manager, kill explorer.exe, and run explorer.exe. The taskbar re-appears with all of the pinned icons visible.
I ran a chkdsk -> no problems found
I deleted the icon cache.db file -> no difference
I verified the icons were located in the quicklaunch folder
I analyzed the Windows Update History and saw 20 updates were installed. None appeared to have any effect on the UI, other than the monthly roll ups (July 2016 rollup, August 2016 rollup, December 2016 rollup, and March 2017 rollup)
I'm not quite sure what my next troubleshooting step should be
Windows 7
Last Comment
John
I assume you scanned with your antivirus program. You should also scan your PC for malware using both malwarebytes and superantispyware.
If the problem persists, you may want to check windows components using sfc /scannow from an elevated cmd window. See here for details...
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/929833/use-the-system-file-checker-tool-to-repair-missing-or-corrupted-system-files
If the problem persists, you may want to check windows components using sfc /scannow from an elevated cmd window. See here for details...
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/929833/use-the-system-file-checker-tool-to-repair-missing-or-corrupted-system-files
Please create a Restore point first.
go to device manager > expand Display Adapter > right click on your Graphic Card > properties > driver > roll back driver.
if above didn't help, try to uninstall and select scan for hardware changes. or completely reinstall your Display Driver.
my next option is to create a Backup Image from Windows, then run below commands in a admin elevated dos prompt to Reset and Clear Taskbar Pinned Items.
DEL /F /S /Q /A "%AppData%\Microsoft\Inter
REG DELETE HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Wi
taskkill /f /im explorer.exe
start explorer.exe
go to device manager > expand Display Adapter > right click on your Graphic Card > properties > driver > roll back driver.
if above didn't help, try to uninstall and select scan for hardware changes. or completely reinstall your Display Driver.
my next option is to create a Backup Image from Windows, then run below commands in a admin elevated dos prompt to Reset and Clear Taskbar Pinned Items.
DEL /F /S /Q /A "%AppData%\Microsoft\Inter
REG DELETE HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Wi
taskkill /f /im explorer.exe
start explorer.exe
Experts Exchange has (a) saved my job multiple times, (b) saved me hours, days, and even weeks of work, and often (c) makes me look like a superhero! This place is MAGIC!
Walt Forbes
DEL %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\AutomaticDestinations /Q /F
DEL %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\CustomDestinations /Q /F
We gave you answers. Did you try? any response?
ASKER
My apologies for the delayed response. The client was away for the week.
@John Hurst -> I ran an sfc scan, and it came back clean
@fred hakim -> AV scan, malware scan, and JRT scan all came back clean
@Ramin -> I did not roll back the video driver. However, I did find a lot of duplicate shortcuts in the Taskbar folder. Alas, the instructions you offered still did not resolve the issue
@Shaun Vermaak -> I followed the steps, but it did not resolve the issue
While troubleshooting, I did discover a new symptom. The computer was configured to autologin to user account via netplwiz. If I removed the autologin and forced the user to login on boot, the taskbar icons appeared correctly. If I re-enabled the autologin, then they disappeared again. I'm not really sure what could be causing this issue since there shouldn't be any difference between a normal login vs an autologin.
To resolve the issue, I now have the client boot to login screen, and manually login. However, I welcome any other ideas that anyone might have.
@John Hurst -> I ran an sfc scan, and it came back clean
@fred hakim -> AV scan, malware scan, and JRT scan all came back clean
@Ramin -> I did not roll back the video driver. However, I did find a lot of duplicate shortcuts in the Taskbar folder. Alas, the instructions you offered still did not resolve the issue
@Shaun Vermaak -> I followed the steps, but it did not resolve the issue
While troubleshooting, I did discover a new symptom. The computer was configured to autologin to user account via netplwiz. If I removed the autologin and forced the user to login on boot, the taskbar icons appeared correctly. If I re-enabled the autologin, then they disappeared again. I'm not really sure what could be causing this issue since there shouldn't be any difference between a normal login vs an autologin.
To resolve the issue, I now have the client boot to login screen, and manually login. However, I welcome any other ideas that anyone might have.
Get an unlimited membership to EE for less than $4 a week.
Unlimited question asking, solutions, articles and more.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Log in or sign up to see answer
Become an EE member today7-DAY FREE TRIAL
Members can start a 7-Day Free trial then enjoy unlimited access to the platform
or
Learn why we charge membership fees
We get it - no one likes a content blocker. Take one extra minute and find out why we block content.
Not exactly the question you had in mind?
Sign up for an EE membership and get your own personalized solution. With an EE membership, you can ask unlimited troubleshooting, research, or opinion questions.
ask a question
Did you try the Repair Install? That fixes most issues.
Author ruled out everything except a repair install.
Open cmd.exe with Run as Administrator and run SFC /SCANNOW.
Allow to complete, restart or, preferably, shut down the computer and then start up again.
Test to see if the problem has been corrected.