Show desktop quicklaunch icon

I would first try a System Restore point to a day when the icons were OK, presuming that was very recently. 

Thanks for your suggestion. The restore point will have to be more than one month ago. Is there a way to find these icons in a system folder?

Right click the icon and select Properties. Click Change Icon button, and browse to the icon you want for that function. If it's for an application, the icon will probably be in that app's subfolder in the Program Files folder.

This may not work for Show Desktop and in that case you may be able to fix it with a system file check

start>run
type in: sfc /scannow
(space between sfc and /)
click ok

Ron

Message Edited by RoHe on 10-26-2005 01:43 PM

kitbath,

You can select the icon you wish for Windows Explorer (assuming you didn't mean Internet Explorer) by browsing to C:\Windows\System32\shell32.dll and selecting the icon you wish to use from those displayed. For the Show Desktop it is probably easier to simply delete what is shown and create a new shortcut using the file here.

Thanks, Ron and Denny,

Ron, scannow found no problems. It did not restore the correct icon.

Denny, your .exe download did reinstall Show desktop. However, it did not apply the blue monitor icon.

Same is true for WinExplorer: incorrect icon. I've no idea how this occurred. I suppose it's really a small issue. I'm not sure how to change icons when Properties either does not contain optional icons (Show desktop) or when icons are selected, they do not appear in quick launch (Win Explorer).

kitbath,

If you right-click the Windows Explorer icon and select Properties then click the "Change Icon" button you should see this:

(Removed)

If you don't see that, click the Browse button next to the location box and browse to C:\Windows\explorer.exe.

Message Edited by Denny Denham on 10-27-2005 02:44 PM

When I select Properties for the (correct) Show Desktop or Windows Explorer icons on my quick launch toolbar, I'm not offered the change icon option either. That option only appears for icons on the toolbar linked to apps.

But this worked for me: Create a shortcut to Windows Explorer with the correct icon directly on your desktop. Then just drag it onto the quick launch toolbar. Then you can drag the Windows Explorer icon off the desktop to the recycle bin. Finally, drag the incorrect icon off the quick launch toolbar onto the desktop and then into recycle bin.

Ron

Thanks, Ron.

I should have thought of your simple solution to the WinExplorer question. Worked just fine. I did the same thing for Show desktop: created shortcut, dragged to desktop, Properties, Change icon, make selection, dragged to quick launch tool bar, and deleted quick launch. Restarted computer to be sure. Yup, the correct icons appeared in the quick launch tool bar.

Thanks again. See you next time...

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@RoHe wrote:
When I select Properties for the (correct) Show Desktop or Windows Explorer icons on my quick launch toolbar, I'm not offered the change icon option either. That option only appears for icons on the toolbar linked to apps.

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Odd. I am able to change icons for Quick Launch toolbar entries for anything, including a shortcut to a *.gif file (done just to see if it would work for things other than applications).

RoHe,

Okay, that explains it. Everything in my Quick Launch taskbar is a shortcut, dragged there from the desktop.

Glad that worked for you too. Some times it's hard to think of simple things. :)

Denny, I think the issue -at least for me- is that the icons on my quick launch tool bar for Show Desktop and Windows Explorer aren't shortcuts. If I drag one of them from the quick launch toolbar into the recycle bin, the file type is listed there as a "Windows Explorer Command", not as a shortcut. So that's probably why the icon can't be changed in the "normal" way. Don't know how you'd change the icon for a Windows Explorer command, and I've never noticed that file type before...

Ron

Denny,

S'what I figured. The Windows Explorer Commands came "installed" on my quick launch tool bar (XPpro SP2) so I didn't create them. Any idea how one creates a Windows Explorer Command or how one changes it's icon? This is a new one on me.

Ron

Gentlemen,

Strange.... After your assistance and my creating a shortcut for Show desktop, today the icon and file(s) are completely non-functioning. I have two computers: a Dimension 9100 (That's the one with the problem.) and an Inspiron 9300 (Show desktop not a problem on this machine.) Both are new since June and July this year.

When I look in Windows Explorer for the files in i386 on both machines, the information I see is the same. I have run sfc /scannow recently on both machines on advice from Microsoft. Could this be part of the problem? The file that the Dimension cannot locate for the Show desktop funcion is Show Desktop.sfc.

Thanks again.

I think you mean .scf not .sfc Have a look here for some help: http://support.microsoft.com/?id=190355

There's also this link where it's claimed that ZoneAlarm causes those quick launch icons to fail: http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/1101156557

The \I386 folder contains backup copies of the system files that system file check (sfc) uses to restore an 'active' version. So I'd expect the \I386 folders to be similar, but chances are the 'active' copy is damaged or missing on the 9100.

Ron

Message Edited by RoHe on 10-31-2005 05:14 PM

Here is another way to restore the Show desktop icon and shortcut to the Quick Launch task bar. Got this from DELL support chat.

http://www.uvsc.edu/helpdesk/faq/windows/showdesktop.html

To re-create the Show Desktop icon on the Quick Launch toolbar, follow these steps:
1. Use any text editor (such as Notepad) to create a file with the following lines:

[Shell]
Command=2
IconFile=explorer.exe,3
[Taskbar]
Command=ToggleDesktop

2. Save the new file as a file named Show Desktop.scf in the WindowsSystem or WinntSystem32 folder. Note that Notepad may automatically append a .txt extension to the file name. Remove this extension if Notepad adds it. These steps do not work if the file is named Show Desktop.scf.txt.

3. Quit Notepad.

4. Using Windows Explorer or My Computer, right-click the Show Desktop .scf file, and then click Create Shortcut.

5. Copy the new shortcut to the appropriate folder. In Microsoft Windows 95 or Windows 98, copy the shortcut to this folder:
User, Application Data, Microsoft, Internet Explore, Quick Launch
In Microsoft Windows NT or Microsoft Windows 2000, copy the shortcut to this folder:
WinntSystem32

6. Rename the shortcut to Desktop.
The Show Desktop icon automatically appears on the Quick Launch toolbar.