Desktop Shortcut Icon Arrows Disappeared - How to Restore Arrows on Icons

[lmwapner]

My desktop consists of shortcuts, the arrows of which have all disappeared.  Shortcut icons elsewhere appear correctly with the little arrow.  But all shortcut icons on the desktop have lost the arrow, which identifies the icons as shortcuts rather than files or folders.  How can I restore the correct appearance of the desktop shortcut icons, with the small arrows? 

[VikramTheGreat]

Hi @lmwapner,

Welcome to the HP Support Community.
 

Thank you for posting your query. I will be glad to help you.

If your desktop shortcut icons in Windows 11 are missing the little arrow overlay, it’s likely due to a registry tweak, third-party software, or icon cache corruption. Here’s how to restore them:

Fix Missing Shortcut Arrows on Desktop Icons

Option 1: Rebuild Icon Cache

1. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.
2. Go to File > Run new task.
3. Type cmd and check “Create this task with administrative privileges”.
4. In the Command Prompt, type the following commands one by one:
       1.  taskkill /IM explorer.exe /F
       2.  DEL /A /Q "%localappdata%\IconCache.db"
       3.  DEL /A /F /Q "%localappdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer\iconcache*"
       4.  shutdown /r /f /t 00

This will delete the icon cache and restart your PC.

Option 2: Restore Shortcut Arrow via Registry

If the arrow overlay was removed via a registry tweak:

1. Press Win + R, type regedit, and press Enter.
2. Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Icons
3. If you see a value named 29, delete it.
4. Restart your PC.

⚠️ If you're not comfortable editing the registry, I can help you create a safe .reg file to restore defaults.

Option 3: Check for Third-Party Icon Tools

If you’ve used customization tools like Winaero Tweaker or IconPackager:

• Open the tool and look for “Shortcut Arrow” settings.
• Restore to default.

I hope this helps.

Take care and have an amazing day!
 

Did we resolve the issue? If yes, please consider marking this post as "Accepted Solution" and click "Yes" to give us a helpful vote - your feedback keeps us going!

Regards,

VikramTheGreat

[lmwapner · Accepted solution]

Thank you for this.  After further investigation the problem of the disappearing shortcut arrows appears to have been caused by my unintentional backup of the desktop on OneDrive.  By doing so, the shortcut arrows were replaced by solid green status discs with the white tick mark.  Once I toggled off the desktop backup, I was able to place shortcuts on the desktop with them appearing correctly with the little arrow.

Thanks again.

[VikramTheGreat]

Hi @lmwapner,

That’s a great catch, thank you for sharing what you found!

When OneDrive’s Desktop backup/sync is enabled, it replaces the normal shortcut arrows with its own overlay icons (green checkmarks, syncing arrows, etc.) to show file status in the cloud. That explains why the arrows seemed to “disappear.” By turning off Desktop backup, you allowed Windows to handle the shortcuts normally again, so the familiar little arrow overlay reappeared.

This is a very useful insight for anyone else who runs into the same situation. If you ever want to keep using OneDrive for backup but still prefer the standard shortcut arrows, you can selectively sync only certain folders (like Documents and Pictures) while leaving Desktop out. That way, you keep the arrows intact without losing the benefits of OneDrive for your files.

Glad you got it sorted out, and thanks again for posting back with the solution you discovered!

If you need any assistance in the future, please do keep us posted.

Take care and have an amazing day!
 

Did we resolve the issue? If yes, please consider marking this post as "Accepted Solution" and click "Yes" to give us a helpful vote - your feedback keeps us going!

Regards,

VikramTheGreat