IconCache - Rebuild Using The Command Prompt

INDEX

1. Close all open folder windows.
2. Launch Task Manager by using on of these four methods: Using the CTRL+SHIFT+ESC key sequence. Using the CTRL+SHIFT+Delete key sequence. Right-click your taskbar and select Start Task Manager or by running taskmgr.exe.
3. In the Task Manager Process tab, right-click on the Explorer.exe process and select End Process.
4. Click the End process button when asked for confirmation.
5. From the File menu of Task Manager, select New Task (Run…)
6. Type CMD.EXE, and click OK
7. In the Command Prompt window, type the commands one by one and press ENTER after each command:
CD /d %userprofile%\AppData\Local

 









DEL IconCache.db /a

 










Finally type in EXIT  and hit Enter (Alternatively just close the Command Prompt window)
8. In Task Manager, click File, select New Task (Run…)
9. Type EXPLORER.EXE, and click OK.

Repair Your USB Driver Problems

INDEX

After a USB device is "safely removed"/un-installed Windows hides the USB drivers. These hidden drivers may then cause conflicts with other USB devices when they are installed.
This will makes all hidden drivers visible.

(Preferably use a PS2 mouse and keyboard, then you can delete all the USB devices!!)

After going through this procedure you may need to reinstall some or all of your USB device drivers!!

Start by downloading the Take Ownership in Context.reg and merge it in to your registry. You will need to use it later.

• Unplug all USB devices except the essential mouse and keyboard.
• GoTo Start Menu, right-click Computer and select Properties. In the left panel click on Advanced system settings. Under the Advanced tab, click on the Environment Variables button.

• Below the System variables window, click on New.

• Enter devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices as the Variable name and enter 1 as the Variable value.

• OK your way out.

• Now GoTo Start Menu, in the Search or a Run… window type devmgmt.msc and then press Enter.
• When Device Manager is open, on the Menu bar select View, and then Show hidden devices.

• Under the Universal Serial Bus controllers sub-header you will now see a list of all the USB devices that are (bold), or have been (faded), installed. You need to uninstall all of the old (faded) entries.

INFCACHE.1

The INFCACHE.1 file is used to store information about USB drivers, this information may have become corrupted. This may cause windows to load the wrong driver or generate a driver not found error message.

Deleting this file will force windows to generate a new INFCACHE.1 file.

• GoTo your C:\Windows\System32\Driver Store folder and locate the INFCACHE.1 file, you'll need to right-click it and use the Take Ownership command in the context menu. You can now delete it.
• Connect a known good USB device. This will create a new INFCACHE.1 file.
• New Start the PC and try your problematic device again.

Hopefully your USB problems will now be resolved but it may be necessary to run through this clean up routine more than once.

INDEX

A Brief Intro

D
Default Folder Icon - How To Change

F
Folder Icon (Default) - How To Change

I
IconCache - Rebuild Using The Command Prompt


R
Rebuild The IconCache with Command Prompt
Repair Your USB Driver Problems


U
USB Driver Problems - Repair


W

Default Folder Icon - How to Change

 INDEX

1.  In regedit, navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Icons
If the Shell icons key doesn't exist r-click the Explorer key and select New Key and then name it Shell Icons.

2. In the right pane of Shell Icons, right click on an empty space and click on New and String Value. Name this string value 3 and press enter.

3. Right click on 3 and click on Modify.


4. Type in the full path of the icon that you want to use as the new folder icon.

5. (Optional) Export your new Shell Icons registry entry for future use, saving as a .reg file.

6. Close Regedit.


Notes
To speed up the icon change, first run Disk Cleanup making sure that the "thumbs" list entry is checked for deletion. Then navigate to the folder C:\Users\Your User Name\AppData\Local and delete the IconCache.db file. Finally re-boot your system.

If you use an .ico file of a size other than the Windows 7 default size of 256x256 pixels you will end up with display issues in the various display sizes used by Windows Explorer. If you ever change the icon's location you will need to alter the address in this registry entry as well to still display your icon in Windows Explorer. To this end I always make a folder in the System32 folder specifically for any icons I use to replace the system icons.

A Brief Intro

INDEX

Greetings!!

I've been an avidly customizing all my Windows systems for a few years now. I'm now in possession of a couple of folders full of tweaks that I'm planning to upload here. The sad part is they were written and saved in pdf format which means I've basically got to re-write them all again!! They will be written and uploaded in no particular order, however I do intend to make a full index page to make finding what you are looking for easier.

If you have anything specific you are searching the web for, feel free to "Add a Comment" and I'll add it to the top of my To Do list.


Although this blog is called Windows Seven Modifying you might just find the occasional XP mod slipping through the net!

A small selection of the icons and modified System Files can be found at deviantArt

Thanks for visiting.

Best Regards

Elmer BeFuddled

INDEX