Show Internet Explorer Desktop Icon
This is our first Fix it Knowledge Base article. This is a huge step in automatically fixing an issue without needing to manually walk through the steps provided in the KB.
If you landed on this page hopefully you had a great experience. If you did encounter an issue or would like to provide feedback feel free to post a comment or email us.
Comments
Anonymous
January 01, 2003
I am really excited to announce that our first FixIt KB article is live. http://blogs.technet.com/fixit4me/pages/showiedesktopicons.aspAnonymous
January 01, 2003
We are currently working to update the fix to account for two additional scenarios we uncovered.
- If you right mouse click on your desktop and select view is show desktop icons checked? If it is not then running the fix will not put the icon back on the desktop since all icons are hidden.
- Enable access to this program is not selected On Windows XP: Select your start menu and select Set Program Access and Defaults. Drop down custom and confirm that “Enable access to this program is checked”. On Windows Vista: Select your start menu and select Default Programs. Select Set Program Access and Computer Defaults. Drop down custom and confirm that “Enable access to this program is checked”. Thanks -brian
Anonymous
January 01, 2003
Thank you trying the new Fix it. Can you let me know what operating system you are running along with the service pack? If it is Windows XP do you happen to have an "Unused Desktop Shortcuts" folder on your desktop? If so is there an Internet Explorer.{871C5380-42A0-1069-A2EA-08002B30309D} folder listed? If the folder is listed you can drag and drop it back on the desktop to get the Internet Explorer icon back. Thanks, -brianAnonymous
January 01, 2003
Hello Harlock_99, Thank you for letting us know you were able to resolve your issue. Based on you posting a comment on this page I can assume you have an older version of the Fix it. Our newer Fix it would have enabled Internet Explorer in default program access based on feedback and information provided by users like you. Thanks, -brianAnonymous
January 01, 2003
JD, I was not able to find any documentation about this. To track it down I'd look into seeing if "Process Monitor" from Sysinternals could be used in this task. Regards, /SteveAnonymous
January 01, 2003
Thank you for taking the time to post a comment. We re-released a newer version of the Show Internet Explorer Desktop Icon Fix it this evening. Can you try running the updated Fix it from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/945402 to see if it resolves your issue? Thanks, -brianAnonymous
January 01, 2003
Correction 0xffffffff will hide the icon. So if you see it as 0xffffffff then try setting it to 0x24 Apologies for the confusion! :-o)Anonymous
January 01, 2003
Thanks for the reply, I was just working with another developer on this and he showed me a reg key change that can cause the IE icon to appear and disappear. Open Registry Editor and navigate to this key > HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTCLSID{871C5380-42A0-1069-A2EA-08002B30309D}ShellFolderAttributes Check to ensure the value is set to 0xffffffff. Please give this a try and let us know if it helps. Thanks!Anonymous
January 01, 2003
0x00000024 should be the data value shown in the column. To ensure it is the correct value type in 24 to the Data Value and make sure it is set to Base Hexadecimal. Also it should be Type REG_DWORD. Do you have Active Desktop enabled? If so, try disabling Active Desktop and giving the Fix It solution another try. You can reply to me directly by sending email to tommyc@microsoft.com. Once we resolve the issue then we can post back to this blog.Anonymous
January 01, 2003
Greetings TGreen, Thank you for taking the time to send a comment. If the Fix it ran but didn't resolve your issue please ensure you having the same issue that is described in Knowledge Base article 945402 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/945402)? The Fix it is only designed to resolve the issue described in 945402 so if you are having a different issue the Fix it won't resolve it. Your symptom description does not appear to be the issue addressed by this Fix it. However, based on your report I suggest you try the following steps.
- Click once on the Internet Explorer icon on your desktop.
- Ensure the icon is highlighted (from step 1) and press the "Enter" key. This should result in an Internet Explorer window opening. If this does not fix your issue please feel free to use the "Get Help Now" link in the top right corner of every Microsoft KB article. Sincerely, Steve
Anonymous
January 01, 2003
The comment has been removedAnonymous
December 31, 2008
IE icon will not diplay on desk top as short cutAnonymous
December 31, 2008
I tried the download,it went through process,reboot system but still no icon.Anonymous
January 12, 2009
Still no "special" IE shortcut like there was before. I do not know how or why it was removed but I would like it back. Running the "Fix it" wizard does not work, even though it says it was successful. I can see all my other icons on the desktop. IE is my default browser and access is enabled. When searching for a solution, I see so many "fixes" with registry settings and different steps to take, none of which ever work. The only thing I can do is create a generic shortcut to IE but that is not what I want.Anonymous
January 13, 2009
Thank you for providing a new version. Unfortunately, there was no affect. No IE icon and no option in the Desktop Items dialog.Anonymous
January 13, 2009
WinXP Pro Build 2600.xpsp_sp3 I do not have an "Unused Desktop Shortcuts" folder on my desktop.Anonymous
January 13, 2009
The current hex value is shown as 100024 when editing the value data, and shows as 0x00100024 in the data column. Is that the same as 0x24? What exactly, when changing the value data, should I put?Anonymous
January 15, 2009
I do not have Active Desktop enabled. After changing the value in the registry, the icon appeared after a refresh. Thank you for your help.Anonymous
January 16, 2009
I tried the fixit and the registry tweak. I get the icon back but when I double click it all it does instead of opening ie it creates another shortcut on my desktop.Anonymous
February 02, 2009
The Fixit work for me on 1 laptop but not to another one, so I follow your instructions about set default program access, and the IE 7 icon appears...Anonymous
February 03, 2009
Is there a way to make this solution to apply to all users? I thought importing the registry values into the default user profile would do the trick but it appears that when a new user profile is created, the following key: HKCUSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerCLSID{871C5380-42A0-1069-A2EA-08002B30309D}ShellFolder] "Attributes"=dword:00000001 is overwritten and reverted back to hide the icon. We deploy our Win XP SP3 via images and we do not want to have to make changes for each and every user that logs into the PC. Any suggestions for working around this issue? THanksAnonymous
February 04, 2009
Steve, thanks for the tip, but I tried adding those same keys to HKLM and it did not do antyhing for me. So right now, the only way I can get it to work is by adding them to HKCU on user login which really isn't a viable option. I'm thinking the HKCUSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerCLSID{871C5380-42A0-1069-A2EA-08002B30309D}ShellFolder] "Attributes"=dword:00000001 is still being picked up from somewhere, not sure where though. Any other ideas? ThanksAnonymous
March 03, 2009
The comment has been removedAnonymous
August 07, 2009
Y can get a logfile of the Microsoft Fix it to check the log using the above command to see if the properties are set.Anonymous
February 03, 2010
Here is my problem. I few days ago, my special IE icon was not doing the right thing. I mean when I right click and select "Properties", I did not get the special IE options pages, rather I got tabs for a generic shortcut. However at that time, that IE icon looks like the real deal since it does not have the special shortcut mark on the icon, and I did not remember I did anything to it before it behaved strangely. So after reading KB945402, I decide to fix that by delete the icon and recreate it by the registry edit. However it did not work. The fix it tool did not work either. Further search landed me here and I have tried all the proposed fixes, I mean ALL (HKCU/HKLM/HKRoot/etc), however none of them helped. I still do not have the special IE icon. Can anybody help? I want it back!Anonymous
February 11, 2010
I believe my internet desktop icon was deliberately removed by a new installer of software. I've been trying for some time to reinstall, but cannot get it accomplished. Would dearly like to have IE icon backAnonymous
January 29, 2013
I have Microsoft office home & student 2010 I cannot access my icons or any of the applications cannot get them to open to use themAnonymous
February 09, 2015
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