Icons randomly change to different icons

Some icons in My Computer, Windows Explorer, on the desktop, or in the Quick Launch toolbar may randomly change.

This behavior may occur if the icon cache is not properly updated.

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
To resolve this behavior, use one or more of the following methods:

• Press the F5 key to refresh the icons in the current folder.
• Close and then reopen a window that contains incorrect icons.
• Restart your computer.
• Re-create the ShellIconCache file. This file is re-created automatically when you change your display's color depth. Follow these steps to change your display's color depth to a new setting and then change it back to the original setting:
  1. Right-click the desktop and then click Properties.
  2. Click the Settings tab.
  3. Change the color depth from the current setting to a new setting. For example, change from Highest (32 bit) to Lowest (16 bit).
  4. Click Apply, and then click Yes to accept the changes.
  5. Change the color depth back to its original setting.
  6. Click Apply, and then click Yes to accept the changes.
• Using Registry Editor, add the Max Cached Icons string value with a value data of 2000 to the following registry key, and then restart your computer:
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
  If the icons are still incorrect, delete the ShellIconCache file. The Max Cached Icons value data range is between 100 and 4096. The default value is 500.

For more information about this issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: