Windows 10: Desktop Shortcut Icons Are Black

All of my desktop shortcut icons have turned black.

I first deleted my Explorer thumbnail cache and then my icon cache. I did not get the icons back to normal until after I deleted the icon cache.

But after I shut down and restarted the black icons were back. I went through this twice and both time they came back after I shut down and turned the laptop back on.

How do I get rid of these black icons permanently?

:)

 

Shortcut icons are shown as black squares

Thanks to the update of Windows 10 my system needs to be recalibrated. One of the things I never understood where the small arrows under shortcuts on your desktop (and other places). I remove them by default. And by default this setting is lost when you
get a major update. A quick search on the internet gave me
How To Remove Shortcut Arrows In Windows 10 Without Software. Today I found the arrows under the shortcuts where gone, and replaced by little black boxes. How do I get rid of these black boxes?

 

Shortcut icons are shown as black squares

Although I started my PC session with the black boxes under the shortcuts, they are now gone. I didn't need to reboot in safe mode. Thanks.

 

Does anybody have any ideas?

 

Folder icons become black squares or boxes in windows explorer - Microsoft Community

 

Thanks, but same results. That gets the icons back, but when I shut down and turn the laptop back on the black icons are back.

 

10 days ago I ran the .bat file to remove arrows from the icons. Everything was fine until last night. I have no idea why, but the black icons appeared.

No amount of deleting the thumbnail and icon caches would permanently fix it. The black icons always came back once I completely shut down and then started the laptop again.

To fix this I had to download the .bat file that restored arrows to icons. Black icons gone even after completely shutting down and then starting the laptop.

Shortcut Arrow Icon - Change, Remove, or Restore in Windows 10 Windows 10 Customization Tutorials

I then downloaded and ran the .bat file to remove the arrows again. After shutting down and restarting the black icons and arrows are still gone.

 

what about to restore your system?

 

Since system restore uses way to many resources I have it disabled. I always keep an updated image of my hard drives for times like this. If I had not been able to fix this by the weekend I would have just loaded the latest backed up image from this Sunday.

 

If you don't have much things installed, that's the best idea.