shell32.dll icons temporarily disappearing

Hello All,

I just find your web site while looking for an answer for a very strange icon problem:

My machine has Win XP Pro SP3 installed (an almost new installation), and for a while I encounter the following problem: After a while from the reboot, some of the icons, not all of them but always the same ones simply start to be displayed incorrectly in the Windows Explorer,
being replaced by the "default" icons. This happens always to the following icons:

- the icons of MyMusic, MyPictures, MyVideos and Favorites folders
- the icons of the Control Panel and the DVD drive and some icons inside the Control Panel (ex.Printers icon)
- the icons for text files ( *.txt ) and dll files (*.dll )

When this happens, there is also another strange behavior:

If I try to use "Change Icon" for a desktop object ( like for example an icon for a web page shortcut ) and try to use SHELL32.DLL as an icon source, I receive an error that "this file does not contain any icons ".

Usually the reboot does not solve the problem if it exists before rebooting.

What I have tried is as follows:

1. Using TweakUI, which sometimes solves the problem.
Other times, when choosing "Repair icons ", the correct icon picture seems to appear for a very short time, like a "flick ", but then it reverts back to the wrong icon image.

Last time using TweakUI did not help before the reboot, but did help immediately after the reboot.

2. I tried to delete and recreate the IconCache.db file, which seems to have helped in the first instance, that is, on the first reboot after deleting the file the icons appeared correctly
( and the Shell32.dll error was also gone, of course ! ), but some time afterwards the problem appears again.

I also found on the different web sites a recommendation to define the registry variable "Max Cached Icons" or to increase it ( sometimes its name appears as "MaxCachedIcons" and its type is sometimes described as a String, other times as a DWORD, still not clear for me which one
is the correct one ).

In all the sites the icons used by the special folders are defined as coming from a DESKTOP.INI file, located in each of these folders.

But on my machine there is no DESKTOP.INI file in any of these folders,
although I do display the hidden files !!!
Could it be helpful to create such files for each folder ?
But what about the DVD drive and ControlPanel, whose icons are also garbaged ?

However, the icons are usually displayed correctly, until the above problem steps in, so my only conclusion is that probably there is some default folder-specific icon for each of these folders defined somewhere else (registry ?).

It looks to me that the problem is related to Windows being temporarily unable to read the shell32.dll file, but, again, this IS NOT permanent, but it's annoying that it requires each time a reboot to solve it.

I performed also a sfc and it did not find any problems.

Some people I have asked even suggest a malware or some other malicious software, that is not detected by my antivirus ( I am using ZoneAlarm ).


Thanks a lot anticipately for any additional clue and/or useful advise !


Best Regards,
Iudith Mentzel

 

Hi iudith and welcome to WindowsBBS

I think you're close with the Max Cached Icons, did you try to increase it?

If not follow the instructions in this article.

Usual caveat applies when messing with the registry.

Please read this Microsofts KB article How to back up and restore the registry in Windows XP

 

I don't think it's a registry problem

Hello Wildfire,

I am already past the phase of Tweaking with "Max Cached Icons ",
I have increased it as much as possible, but it does not help to permanently solve the problem.

The fact like a reboot+using the TweakUI tool's "Repair Icons" option
do help, makes me think that it could be more probably some malware
that prevents windows from correctly accessing the shell32.dll file,
although the file itself is not damaged.

That could be the reason that even MANUALLY trying to select an icon
from shell32.dll causes an error message that "there are no icons in that file ",
which is obviously not true.

I also heared about some programming bugs in Windows code that incorrectly read past the bounds of an array memory structure, and then cause incorrect results.

I'd like to know where in the Registry does the relevant icon specific
information reside, so that I be able to check those registry entries
exactly in the moment when the problem happens, which is not occurring always, but only after several hours from the last boot.

Regarding the Registry backup, I expected Windows to automatically
create a restore point when Windows updates are automatically installed,
but this is not the case, so, we can suppose that having "windows automatic updates check" turned on, we should always create manual restore points ...

To tell the truth, I am more than a little bit angry on any tool that demands you to spend more time in managing and troubleshooting the tool than working with it ...

Thanks & Best Regards,
Iudith

 

Try checking your HD first for errors

Disk Diagnostic Software ....

ExcelStore

Hitachi/IBM

Samsung

Seagate, Maxtor, Quantum

Western Digital

Fujitsu

If that turns out clean then...

Please read this and post requested logs in the Malware and virus removal board.

NOTES:

When posting the logs ensure word wrap is switched off (in notepad Uncheck Format->Word Wrap) as this makes them difficult to read.

Be aware that only Malware analysts will advise and they are often busy. Your post will be taken on a first come first served basis but it may take a while before you receive a reply.

Include a link to this thread if you can.

Given events last week It's perhaps better not having updates installed automatically anyway.


If this is your main system it would be helpful if you add your system details to your profile. Please click on the link and follow those instructions it could save some time when resolving this or further issues.

A common error is to forget to show your system details in your profile

If you do add your system specifications be sure to do the above

 

Just a shot in the dark, but I usually run Dial-A-Fix when I get obscure problems like this. It re-registers many dll's and often cures things without much effort on my part. It's chicken soup for this kind of problem and many others.

If you run it, let it do the entire first screen by clicking the green check mark and then click the GO button. It takes about 2~3 mins. to run so be patient.

Edit: Be careful which download link you select on that site. One link is for something to do Registry Optimizing. I don't recommend that. The correct link is on the right hand side but not the one that says "Start Download." Misleading.. it's not the green one, not the red one, but the BLUE one!

 

iudith,

Yep, follow SurferDude's advice first, it's quicker and may resolve your issue, you could always try my suggestions later if Dial-A-Fix doesn't work for you.

Edit: Dial a fix doesn't seem to like IE 8 so just OK your way past any errors during the Explorer/IE/OE/shell/WMP registration if you have IE 8 installed (this isn't a problem with your system).

 

I will try !

Hello All,

Thanks a lot for your suggestions.
I will probably have to wait until the week-end to try them out, because
the problem is not with my current (office) computer, but with my home computer.

I have read a lot and encountered lots of "Registry repairing" tools on the web, but the truth is that they all sound to be so perfect that I am really afraid to install any one of them.
I also have heared of such tools that did damage the system, by removing
essential registry entries just for improving the computer's performance ...

I don't have IE8, therefore I will probably have none of the IE problems described.
Also, my computer is practically new, so I don't think it has any HD errors.

Cannot explain exactly why, but I still feel that it is kind of a malware or virus involved.

I will happily disable Windows Automatic Updates, especially after what happened last week ... It is simply there because, not being a Windows specialist, I simply left ALL the default options in place when I installed it.
But, because I am however a software specialist, I'd rather like to have things explained than solved by some black magic, without being able to understand why did they happen.

Until last year I was very happy with my old Win98 machine, which has NEVER encountered any virus attack during more than 10 years !

If I'm allowed a personal opinion, I think that Microsoft would have to invest much more in creating more solid tools, it is not necessary to have a new version every month, full of new colors and new whistles,
just for not being able to correct all its bugs for many years ...
All these updates are in fact nothing else than bug corrections ...

I will revert further on.

Thanks and Best Regards,
Iudith

 

Dial a fix is safe to use but as usual back up your registry to be extra careful.

I certainly wouldn't normally recommend any other registry cleaners/fixers/ tools etc though, these are often too generic and leaves the user with possibly dangerous decisions.