Broken shortcut icons in Windows 11

Daryl JamesUy · Nov 28, 2021

This is my first time posting so I'm hoping I'm doing this in the right place.

This happened ever since I upgraded to Windows 11. This only applies to game icons though. Most of my other task/productivity software icons are fine. Just the games I thought this would be a quick fix that people might have encountered but I don't see this issue floating around the web. I tried to reinstall and all the troubleshooting I could find with previous versions of Windows but all I could manage was fix a 1-2 icons and had to custom icon some of them. They show up as either an unknown file icon or a web icon and most of my games are from steam. I wanted to keep their default icons as much as possible but after installation and keeping all my shortcuts to a single desktop folder, the next time I start the PC, they are broken.

Most I can search from the net related to Win11 icons are taskbar issues since the version's pre-release. It's really weird this is happening and hard to fix especially for a game in Microsoft Store. I hope someone who experienced this has found a fix and would appreciate any help.

:)

Christopher Revoredo

Weird! Have you tried reinstalling W11?

Daryl JamesUy

I updated from Windows 10 to 11. I would rather not reinstall just for some broken icons. It should be something that can be fixed without needing to go through such a cumbersome task such as reformatting or reinstallation of Windows. If I reinstall Windows as a last resort, it will be back Windows 10 and not 11.

Daryl JamesUy

Thanks for the tip but it didn't really work. It's still broken after following the steps. Even tried to just get one into the desktop with a new shotcut.

Christopher Revoredo

Hi there Daryl welcome to the community forum! Christopher here, an Xbox fan just like you and has been on Xbox for years already. I would really love to make your day by helping you out. Try these steps!

Step 1: Press the Win + R key combination and enter %userprofile%\AppData\Local

Step 2: Next, click on the “View” tab and check the “Hidden items” box

Step 3: Delete the IconCache.db file

Step 4: Next press Win + R and paste the given path

C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer

Step 5: Delete all files and content in the Explorer folder

Step 6: Reboot your computer

Jeremi Wiewiórski

First- icons are not broken in Windows Start Menu.
Was there a recent Windows update-i had this icons broken since windows 11 update.
No apps are involved into this
And about this FPS counter, Request access command just dont work.

Broken shortcut icons in Windows 11