This may not be in the correct category, but I couldn't find a better one.Recently my Win7 desktop icon placement has not been able to stay put if I do a desktop refresh or a computer reboot. I have looked at many internet hits on this same topic and no solution suggested has worked. I've tried them all til I'm blue in the face!I have done the IconCache.db thing where you can delete an existing file from the hidden ...\Appdata\Local\ directory and restart the explorer. There was no file there. Yes, I have show hidden files turned on. Restarting explorer doesn't help. Rebooting is supposed to re-create the file, but it doesn't. Resetting the colors from 32 to 16 and back is supposed to rebuild the cache. It doesn't. Still no file there. After manually placing a few icons and refreshing the desktop, it is supposed to remember where they are, but it doesn't, they just fly back to where they were before manually moving them.This is getting to be very aggravating and frustrating. I don't know why this has started all of a sudden, and I cannot seem to find a solution from the many internet hits on the same topic.
Already Tried: See my original post.
Hello and thank you for using Just Answer. My name is XXXXX XXXXX X will be happy to assist you.Yes this category is fine for this question. Can you please tell me when this issue first started? Has it been this way for a couple days or months?Thank You-Chris
I'm not exactly sure. It just showed up yesterday when I had to reboot for the first time in several weeks, and after the reboot all my icons were rearranged top to bottom left to right. I had them grouped to my liking. I put them back as best I could remember and did a desktop refresh and they all went back to the way they were after the reboot. I've never had this happen before.
Thank You. It could be a number of things causing it so the easiest fix would be to try and run a system restore. If you have never used it before, system restore rolls back important windows files to an earlier date and can often correct errors like this. It does not touch your personal files like emails or photos or anything else.Open System Restore by clicking the Start button and browse toAll Programs - Accessories - System Tools - System RestoreIf you're prompted for an administrator password XXXXX confirmation, type the password XXXXX provide confirmation.Follow the steps in the wizard to choose a restore point that is before when the problem started.You may need to try a couple of times going back to a further date. Please give this a try and if it does not correct the problem click reply to expert to let me know and we can continue to work on it. Please do not rate bad/poor service because as I said a number of things could cause so we may need to try a few different things.Thank You-Chris
I have used restore points on various occasions with success.I was able to do a restore to a point about a week ago and recover full functionality, i.e. desktop refresh now does not put icons back to some other positions, and now there is an IconCache.db file, and renaming it to something else and restarting explorer now does recreate the file. I have not rebooted yet, but I think the icon placement will stay put. I also am now using DesktopOK to save an icon position file so it can be restored, if needed. Nice little free utility, but should not be necessary. There was a critical Windows 7 update between then too, so maybe something in that munged it up. Now I need to go find what all software app updates I need to reinstall. There were a few of those too, and maybe something in those caused it. Who knows. I still wonder what the root cause of this anomalous behavior was. I am hoping you have some answer.
Honestly it can be any number of things as I said which is why system restore is the best fix. Like you mentioned it could have been an update or some other software update. I am not sure if you are familiar with event viewer but it can often provide clues to many issues. Launch it by clicking start and in the search box type eventvwr and press enter.When issues like this happen that is the first place to look. Sometimes an update or something does not install correctly and results in messing up the registry or some other files which causes behavior like this. Many people have had this issue so my best guess is the windows update not installing correctly. If you need further help please do not hesitate to reply back and let me know.Thank You-Chris
Experience: Certified Software expert with over 10 years experience.