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Normally, to refresh the icon cache in Windows, we have to reboot.

Is there a way to refresh the icon cache in Windows 7/8 without rebooting?

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What have you tried? What happened? Why do you need it done? Are you talking about on Windows Explorer, Start Menu, task bar, where? Need more information –  Canadian Luke Nov 3 '12 at 18:20
Yes I did... And that's why I'm asking for clarification. I saw this in the review queue, so I only read the answers now, but remember that this site is meant to also help visitors from Google or other search engines, as well –  Canadian Luke Nov 3 '12 at 18:22
Normally, when we refresh the icon cache in Windows, we have to reboot, but my question and answer does it without a reboot. blog.stackoverflow.com/2011/07/… –  Zuck Nov 3 '12 at 18:27
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2 Answers

up vote 52 down vote accepted


You can just run the following command to clear the icon cache :

ie4uinit.exe -ClearIconCache

Check this video for a demo.

[tip credit]

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The following way has worked since Vista; It requires an Explorer restart, but no reboot.

Short version: Stop all Explorer.exe instances, delete the user's hidden IconCache.db file, and restart Explorer.

Long Version (there are other ways as well):

  1. Close all Explorer windows that are currently open.

  2. Launch Task Manager using the CTRL+SHIFT+ESC key sequence, or by running taskmgr.exe.

  3. In the 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

  8. In Task Manager, click File, select New Task (Run…)

  9. Type EXPLORER.EXE, and click OK.

instruction steps source

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