All icons not on operating system drive are not loading

[Schmutz]

I am using four HDD's (Windows 7 x64 ultimate)

500gb - Operating System C:
1tb - Data drive D:
1tb - Data drive B:
2tb - Data drive x:

I recently had to boot my computer without the 3 data drives connected (only OS drive) I was attempting to diagnose another problem I have with my computer regarding the PSU.

Booting into windows with only the 500gb operating system drive C: connected, the icons for any programs installed to D:/B:/X: data drives do not load (only the default "missing icon" as pictured below)

Now I have added the data drives again - D: B: X:... any icons associated with these drives still won't load (only programs installed to the C: operating system drive have icons now)

I am extremely hopeful there is something else I can try. I have used a system restore and tried right clicking the icon -> properties -> change icon (the real icon shows in the list) After clicking apply, it reverts to the default "missing" icon again

google search kept showing me "missing icons for my computer/recycle bin" etc. This is different!

 

[Mark56]

Have a look at your drives in explorer and make sure the drive letters have not changed.

Download and run the icon repair facility in TweakUI. (This is for XP if you have another OS a search for it may find another version for 7 or Vista) Please always state what OS you have when asking for help.

http://www.windows-help.net/WindowsXP/tweakui-xp.html

Or, locate the various programs in the programs list from the Start menu (if they are in there), click and drag on the program and create new shortcut on the desktop.

I've not seen this problem before so these suggestions are not guaranteed. I believe that having run the OS drive without the other drives connected it will have lost its association with the location of the software. This will have changed settings in the registry. Unfortunately if none of the above ideas work you will have to reinstall all the programs to fix the problem.

 

[Schmutz]

I may have figured out the problem. Upon removing/adding the drives again I have used a different combination of sata cables. Any motherboard will have sockets labelled Sata 1/Sata 2/sata 3/sata 4 etc... well I think these need to be connected to the same HDD they were originally connected to in order for the icons to display... some icons on one of my drives are now showing thankfully.

 

[Mark56]

Sounds encouraging, let us know if you are successful.

 

[Schmutz]

I have reinstalled windows now, no need to tackle this problem anymore so case is closed! I think using the original sata cable configuration would have done the trick though It seems like a problem that could frustrate many people who have to swap drives from time to time :/

 

[Mark56]

Thanks for reporting back, that is something worth remembering.