Folder Icons Not Showing in Windows 11: 8 Ways to Fix It

Custom folder icons stop appearing in File Explorer, or localized folder names revert to their default labels, without any change on the user’s end. For most users who noticed this after the June 2026 Windows security updates, the cause is a new trust check Microsoft introduced for desktop.ini files. For others, icon cache corruption or missing folder attributes produce the same symptoms.

Why Folder Icons Stop Showing in Windows 11

Windows stores folder customization data in a hidden file called desktop.ini inside each customized folder. This file controls the custom icon path, localized folder name, and infotip text. Starting with the security updates released on or after June 9, 2026, Windows performs additional trust checks before processing any desktop.ini file. If Windows cannot verify that the file’s source is trusted, it ignores the file entirely and shows the default icon and folder name instead.

Windows may treat these sources as untrusted:

Files that carry a Mark of the Web (MOTW) tag, typically from internet downloads or certain copy and extract operations
Files accessed from WebDAV or HTTP-based remote locations
Files on network paths that Windows does not classify as intranet or trusted zones

This change does not block access to the folder or its contents. It only affects how Windows reads the desktop.ini customization instructions. Because both custom icons and localized names are stored in desktop.ini, both break at the same time under the same trigger.

For users who have not recently updated, a corrupted icon cache or missing folder attributes can produce identical symptoms through a different path.

Fix 1: Restart Windows Explorer

A stuck Explorer process sometimes causes icons to stop rendering without any deeper corruption. Restarting it forces a reload of the icon cache and a re-read of folder metadata.

Right-click the Start button and select Task Manager.
Find Windows Explorer under the Processes tab.
Right-click it and select Restart.

File Explorer closes briefly and reopens. Check whether the icons and folder names are back before continuing.

Fix 2: Remove the Mark of the Web from Desktop.ini

If a desktop.ini file carries a MOTW tag, Windows treats it as untrusted after the June 2026 update and ignores it. Removing the tag with PowerShell restores normal processing immediately.

Open PowerShell as Administrator by searching for PowerShell in the Start menu, right-clicking it, and selecting Run as administrator.

To unblock a single desktop.ini file, run:

Unblock-File "C:\Your\Folder\Path\desktop.ini"

To unblock all desktop.ini files inside a folder and its subfolders in one pass, run:

Get-ChildItem "C:\Your\Folder\Path" -Recurse -Filter desktop.ini -Force | Unblock-File

After running the command, restart File Explorer or sign out and sign back in.

Note: Only remove the MOTW tag from files whose source you trust. Removing the tag also removes the associated security protection for that file.

Fix 3: Add the Source to Trusted Sites

This fix applies when your customized folders are on a network share, mapped drive, or managed internal location. Adding the source to the Windows Trusted Sites list tells Windows to process desktop.ini files from that location without additional trust checks.

Press Win + S, type Internet Options, and press Enter.
Open the Security tab and select Trusted Sites.
Click Sites.
Enter the URL or network path of the source location and click Add.
Click Close, then OK.
Restart File Explorer and check whether the customizations are restored.

If your folders are stored locally on your PC and were not downloaded or synced from a remote location, skip this fix.

Fix 4: Restore Default Behavior Using Group Policy

Administrators can restore previous folder customization behavior by enabling the Allow the use of remote paths in file shortcut icons policy. This instructs Windows to process desktop.ini customizations from remote locations even when those locations are not explicitly trusted.

Press Win + R, type gpedit.msc, and press Enter.
Navigate to:

Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > File Explorer

Locate Allow the use of remote paths in file shortcut icons in the right pane.
Double-click it, select Enabled, click Apply, then OK.
Restart your PC.

Note: Enabling this policy reduces protection against potentially malicious remote content. Confirm that all affected network locations are trusted and controlled before enabling it. Avoid organization-wide exceptions unless necessary.

Fix 5: Rebuild the Icon Cache

A corrupted icon cache causes custom folder icons to disappear even when the desktop.ini file is intact and trusted. Deleting the cache files forces Windows to rebuild them on next launch.

Open Task Manager, right-click Windows Explorer, and select End Task.
Press Win + R, type cmd, and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to open an elevated Command Prompt.
Run these commands in order:

cd /d %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer
attrib -h iconcache_*.db
del iconcache_*.db

In Task Manager, click Run new task, type explorer.exe, and press Enter.

Windows rebuilds the cache as Explorer restarts. Custom icons should reappear within seconds.

Fix 6: Set the Correct Folder Attributes

Windows reads desktop.ini only in folders that carry both the System and Read-only attributes. Copy, move, or backup operations often strip these attributes silently, which breaks customization with no obvious error.

Press Win + R, type cmd, and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter.
Run the command below, replacing the path with your folder’s actual location:

attrib +s +r "C:\Path\To\YourFolder"

Restart Windows Explorer through Task Manager.

The +s flag sets the System attribute. The +r flag sets Read-only. Windows requires both to process the desktop.ini file inside that folder.

Fix 7: Inspect and Repair the Desktop.ini File

Opening desktop.ini directly lets you verify that the file exists, check that the icon path is correct, and fix any broken entries without re-applying all customizations from scratch.

Open File Explorer and navigate to the affected folder.
Click View, go to Show, and enable Hidden items and Protected operating system files.
Open desktop.ini with Notepad.

A working entry for a custom icon looks like this:

[.ShellClassInfo]
IconResource=C:\Icons\MyIcon.ico,0
IconFile=C:\Icons\MyIcon.ico
IconIndex=0

A working entry for a localized folder name looks like this:

[.ShellClassInfo]
LocalizedResourceName=@%SystemRoot%\system32\shell32.dll,-21769

Check that the IconResource path points to a file that still exists. If the icon moved, update the path and save the file. Do not edit LocalizedResourceName entries unless you have the correct resource string for your language.

Fix 8: Run System File Checker

Corrupted system files can prevent Windows from loading icon resources and language strings correctly. The System File Checker replaces damaged files from a cached copy.

Press Win + S, type cmd, right-click Command Prompt, and select Run as Administrator.
Run:

sfc /scannow

Wait for the scan to complete. It typically takes 10 to 20 minutes.
Restart your PC if SFC reports that it found and fixed issues.

If SFC reports it could not repair all errors, run the DISM command below first to repair the Windows image, then run the SFC scan again:

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

For most users who ran into this after the June 2026 Windows update, removing the Mark of the Web from desktop.ini (Fix 2) or adding the source to Trusted Sites (Fix 3) resolves the issue immediately. If the problem existed before any recent update, rebuilding the icon cache (Fix 5) and checking folder attributes (Fix 6) are the most likely solutions. Work through the fixes in order and restart File Explorer after each one to confirm whether the icons and localized names are back.