Lots of Vista users are facing a strange problem and I'm getting lots of mails asking for the solution. The problem is, the folder icons in User folder change from special glass icons to simple folder icons.
Look at the following screenshot:
This is how the icons look in User folder which can be accessed using "%userprofile%" command or just select your username in Startmenu (just below the user pic).
But sometimes these icons (all or some) become simple default folder icons. It happens when "Desktop.ini" file becomes corrupted. Actually all these special glass icons are displayed using "desktop.ini" file which is present in each folder (hidden). Sometimes a few software make this file corrupt and these folders start showing simple folder icon.
The solution is very simple. Just replace "desktop.ini" file present in the corrupt folder with default one. The default "desktop.ini" file for each folder is given below, just download the desired desktop.ini file (Right-click on the file and select "Save Link As..." or "Save Target As...") and paste in the folder which is showing corrupt icon.Windows will ask to overwrite the existing file, select "Copy & Replace".
Contacts - Desktop.ini
Desktop - Desktop.ini
Documents - Desktop.ini
Downloads - Desktop.ini
Favorites - Desktop.ini
Links - Desktop.ini
Music - Desktop.ini
Pictures - Desktop.ini
Saved Games - Desktop.ini
Searches - Desktop.ini
Videos - Desktop.ini
NOTE: Log off or End Task of "explorer.exe" from Task Manager to see the changes.
Complete list of AskVG articlesThis article was posted in Troubleshooting, Windows Vista.
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VG
^^ It seems the folder got corrupted. Try to check its content using Command Prompt.
hexaae
Wanted to report that changing/re-editing desktop.ini for %userprofile%\Desktop\ was not enough: Vista still showed yellow std folder icon. To really fix it I've had to issue these extra commands from admin MS-DOS prompt:
attrib %userprofile%\Desktop +R
attrib %userprofile%\Desktop\desktop.ini +S +H +A
Hope this will help someone...
Kouder
When I click "Save Link As.." it asks me where to save and i would just pick the corresponding file, but when i do and log off and back in, it is still the plain yellow folder for my Documents and Pictures. Is there anything I'm missing?
I'm using Home Premium
SilkTaco
oh ma gawd i was going insane with this. thank you so much!
Paultx
I couldn't find a solution for XP Pro, but this one did work. The only difference now is that the new Desktop.ini file in the My pictures folder here seems not to be a protected system file anymore.
perry
thank you. i've been suffering from this for so long.