Comments on: Restore, Enable and Display the Missing Internet Explorer (IE or IE7) Icon on Windows Vista Desktop

By: Debs

Debs — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:25:37 +0000

Thank you very much for this information. Microsoft has a fixit option for this little issue but I personally like to know exactly what is being done to what in the registry (call it an eager mind or just plain nosiness) and your way of achieving this manually did just that for me. I think I established how it happened from reading this too – I changed from classic start menu to new vista start menu and that’s when it must have disappeared. I’ve added the key into both places in case I get the urge to do switch around again. Anyway alls I really need to say is that the clear and detailed explanation was much appreciated.

By: Dewald

Dewald — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 16:45:36 +0000

Hi, I installed IE8 because I thought the install will override the “Target” location to open IE. (For some reason the icons / menu list for IE lost this “target” info, and now IE doesn’t start… just ask for an application to open the incorrect C:/xxxx target).

How can I correct / override this so that when Mail / other programs really need to use IE, it goes to the correct program?
(I’m using Firefox as “default browser” now, but its not really fixing the problem)

Any help will be great please!
Thanks
Dewald

By: Micosot can fix it for you

Micosot can fix it for you — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 00:04:28 +0000

By: ie8user

ie8user — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 00:00:37 +0000

Microsoft has a “Fix it” KB to automatically do this for you.

By: SaNo2007

SaNo2007 — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 21:52:20 +0000

thanx thanx thanx really .. it helped me

i was dying searching this topic

and at last i knew how to restore internet explorer icon without shortcut

thanx again to the poster of this topic

keep up good work ^_^

By: Sam

Sam — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 13:52:56 +0000

One other idea, do you have the IE icon on the Classic Start Panel. I had one on the New Start Panel, but it was missing from the Classic Start Panel. There are two registry entries, one for each of the above Start Panels.

By: avoidz

avoidz — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 02:42:25 +0000

Thanks, Sam. This is what I’m trying:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel]
“{871C5380-42A0-1069-A2EA-08002B30309D}”=dword:00000000

I can’t get it to work. It may work on some but not all Windows installations, possibly.

By: Sam

Sam — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 02:28:46 +0000

avoidz the only thing to make sure of is that it is DWORD 32 bit key you have created with the number in the article and that the value is zero “0″. It worked well for me, but I originally had the value set to “1″ and that didn’t work. So I just thought I’d suggest rechecking the registry info.

By: avoidz

avoidz — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 02:13:08 +0000

Like Brenda, I saw the registry tip all over the place, but it had no effect.

I followed the other instructions, setting IE to the default browser, but I still don’t have the desktop icon back (though I have the option to enable/disable it in my Desktop Properties, after uninstalling KB943460).

Any other suggestions? Cheers!

By: smaelz83

smaelz83 — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 08:51:50 +0000

Thanks you.. really helpful.. I manage to restore the IE7 icon on the desktop by regedit the registry

By: shonn

shonn — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:10:35 +0000

Thanks so much! The fix worked perfect! I must have deleted it back accident from my wifes laptop. She got pissed, because she liked the convenience of right clicking and having internet options available to her while at the desktop.

Thanks again!!!

By: Restore Missing or Disappeared IE (Internet Explorer) Desktop Icon in Windows XP SP3 » Tip and Trick

Sat, 10 May 2008 18:57:19 +0000

[...] previously from Windows XP SP2 or earlier when user install hotfix updates or IE7, but there is trick to restore the IE desktop icon, which continue to applied now). The behavior of Internet Explorer 7, which is bundled with Windows [...]

By: Sam

Sam — Sun, 04 May 2008 22:51:03 +0000

OMG, I’ve been searching for a couple of days for the solution, Microsoft.com didn’t help. Ty to Brenda and the My Digital Life. Works like it should again.

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 16:14:36 +0000

Thanks so much for that. I’ve been trying to bring back my IE shortcut for about a week now.

By: Brenda

Brenda — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 16:16:45 +0000

This fix didn’t work for me. I found it all over the internet in forums and in tips others had posted. This is what I did, and perhaps making the registry changes first helped in the icon appearing, but I had to take these extra steps:

Right click on the task bar, you will see the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties. Click the Start Menu tab. Make sure the Start Menu radio button is checked and then choose Customize. Then you will see Customize Start Menu. Toward the bottom of the box you will see Use Default Settings, immediately beneath that you will see Show on Start Menu and beneath that you will see two check boxes. Make sure Internet Link is checked and in the drop down box choose Internet Explorer.

In the Start Menu, right click on the Internet Explorer icon and choose Internet Properties. Click on the Programs tab. The last option in the Programs tab is Internet Programs. Choose Set Programs, then choose set program access and computer defaults, if you are prompted to stop or continue, choose continue, you will see Microsoft Programs, Non Microsoft and Custom. Click the Custom Radio button. The first option is Choose a Default browser, click the Internet Explorer radio button and then click OK and then click out of all open windows.

I hope this works for those for whom the other methods didn’t work.