How to Fix Broken Icons and Shortcuts in Windows 11

Encountering broken icons and shortcuts can be frustrating for Windows 11 users. However, there’s no need to worry! In this article, we’ll try to help you fix the broken icons and shortcuts in Windows 11.
Try following these steps,

Note: Try restarting twice after each method, might help fix the issue in some cases

Method 1: Restart Windows Explorer

To begin resolving the issue, let’s restart Windows Explorer using the Task Manager. Here’s how:

1. Press the “Ctrl + Shift + Esc” keyboard shortcut to open the Task Manager.
2. Scroll down the list of active processes in the Processes tab until you find “Windows Explorer” (or just search “explorer” in Taskmager’s search bar on top).
3. Right-click on “Windows Explorer” and select “Restart” from the context menu.

This will likely fix the issue, if not check the following methods.

Method 2: Delete the IconCache.db File

Delete the IconCache.db File If the problem persists, it might be due to a corrupted icon cache file. Follow these steps to delete the file and allow Windows to rebuild it:

1. Press the “Windows + R” keyboard shortcut to open the Run prompt.
2. Type “%localappdata%” (without quotes) and hit Enter.
3. In the File Explorer window that appears, click on the “View” tab in the menu bar.
4. Enable the “Hidden items” option to display hidden files and folders. 
5. Scroll down and locate the file named “IconCache.db”.
6. Select the file, press “Shift + Del” to permanently delete it, and confirm the deletion.
7. Restart your PC to allow Windows to recreate the icon cache.

Method 3: Repair Windows System Files

If the previous methods didn’t resolve the issue, we can try repairing Windows system files. Follow these steps:

1. Click on the Start menu and search for “CMD”. 
2. Right-click on “Command Prompt” and select “Run as administrator”.
3. In the Command Prompt window, enter the following commands one by one, pressing Enter after each:

• sfc /scan now
• DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth
• DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth
• DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

4. Restart your computer after executing the commands.

Method 4: Rebuild the Icon Cache in the Command Prompt

If the issue persists, let’s rebuild the icon cache using the Command Prompt:

1. Save and close any ongoing work before proceeding.
2. Open the Command Prompt as an administrator.
3. Copy and paste each command below, one at a time, into the Command Prompt, and press Enter after each command:

• ie4uinit.exe -show
• taskkill /IM explorer.exe /F
• DEL /A /Q “%localappdata%\IconCache.db”
• DEL /A /F /Q “%localappdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer\iconcache*”
• shutdown /r /f /t 00

These methods should be able to fix the broken Icons and Shortcuts in Windows 11, if not try these methods too.

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/5645-rebuild-icon-cache-windows-10-a.html