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PDF Desktop Icon Black

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
April 22, 2019
17 replies
64832 views

WIN 10 64 Pro Adobe Acrobat Pro DC .20100

Unfortunately, I did receive the most recent windows update.

Problem: The PDF icons on my desktop turn black.

Acrobat is set to shop images in the icons and view as large icons.

When logging in to windows, icons first appear as generic red/white icons, then become images.

At the end of windows login, all Desktop PDF icons snap to black.

Icons show images in all other folders except desktop, as well, images show in Dropbox.

Is there a way to fix this? If it is the update, can it be redacted?

Many thanks

General troubleshooting

Correct answer tsmith35x

Just adding my 2 cents... despite the fix above ("Fixes for 64-bit Adobe Reader preview handler and thumbnails") being about 10 years old, it works like a charm.

Windows 10 Pro x64 here with no problems until I tried out the 64-bit version of Adobe Acrobat DC. Once the 64-bit version was installed, my pdf icons turned into black boxes. The only way to prevent the black boxes (after trying numerous fixes) was to set Windows to display icons and never previews.

Finally, after messing with this problem for 3 days, I followed the advice on the "Fixes for 64-bit..." and the problem was IMMEDIATELY fixed. Icons are back to normal, "preview" icons work as expected, screen refreshes are uneventful, and this all happens regardless of icon size, screen resolution and any of the rest.

I should have done what was on the "Fixes..." page days ago, but I thought there's no way that 10 years could have passed without someone fixing the original problem. So never say never. The old fix still works. It corrects one incorrect CLSID in the Windows registry. That's it. And it works.

C

cyndier46444032

New Participant

I've found that the previewer in Windows explorer does not work when using Adobe 64-bit PDF products. My solution was to keep the 64-bit product set as the default PDF program and install the free Adobe 32-bit reader and set it for the PDF previewer.

S

siB832

New Participant

hi

heres the fix for black icons.

1. type in search file explorer options

2. clcik the view tab

3. top entry (on my pc anyway) under files and folders tick "Always show

icons, never thumbnails"

done

E

Erin22827895mdzc

New Participant

Has anyone else noticed that the black icons only appear on the Windows Main Display? My 2nd display shows thumbnails normally, no matter what I do. (FYI running Windows 11 Home, latest Acrobat Pro ver, and yes, running OneDrive-essential). I've tried all the fixes reported over the last few days and weeks, and the only one that finally stops the issue is to disable thumbnails. Question for Adobe - what about the user's Desktop folder is different than any other Windows folder?

GRAFOP

New Participant

The only solution for this problem for me was to install the fix from mr. Davidson.

Fixes for 64-bit Adobe Reader preview handler and thumbnails

I am using this fix for more than a decade now, because nor Adobe Reader and not to speak of Adobe Acrobat could normally show the pdf thumbnails in Windows after a time. It gets black or white square or whatever that is on the actual "dining menu".

And here I am on Windows 10 Home version 20H2, build 19042.746 and Adobe Acrobat DC 2020.013.20074.
Nothing changed since at least Windows Vista.

Without the fix posted above, you will face this problem again and again with pdf thumbnail/preview not displaying correctly in medium/and or small icon sizes.

Simply absurd.

GRAFOP

New Participant

Oh, and I forgot to mention: this is not a problem of Windows, but rather Adobe Acrobat/Adobe Reader.

T

The0101

New Participant

Finally figured this out after 2 years. I changed my Desktop icon sizes from small to medium. Turns out both small and large cause them to turn black. Medium doesn't. Ridiculous but true.

R

Ray5CA4

Participating Frequently

This has bugged me for years. A quick summary:

View on desktop set to Medium

My pdf thumbnails on desktop only turned black.

Pressing F5 or refreshing desktop reverted the image to a picture.

Any changes to desktop and images turnedd black again until refreshed

Downloaded the latest Win 10 upgrade

All pdf thumbnails on desktop are black all the time even after refreshing

Put all pdf files in a folder on the desktop

All pdf thumbnails visible as expected

Dragged one random file to desktop.....changed to black - refreshed....still black

Dragged another file to desktop....thumbnail picture stayed. Refreshed and thumbnail still visible.

(Tried to think of reasons why one file was OK and another was not - Original saved with different version of Acrobat maybe or a program like Word or Photoshop)

Opened one at random and re-saved it on the desktop with a different name. Still black

Lost the will to live but came across these posts

Tried to view as small icons....stayed black

Tried to view as large icons - success. All icons show thumbnails as required

Can someone pick the bones out of that and give us all a clue as to what is actually happening here?

Ray

ls_rbls

Adobe Expert

In which operating system and Acrobat version is this happening for you?

C

chrisr92516026

New Participant

[removed by moderator]

R

ron pank

Known Participant

IMHO I think this is a Win10 issue, v. 2004. However, this may be a workaround. Go to the old Control Panel>Systems and Security>System>Performance>Uncheck Show thumbnails instead of icons.

Now all my pdf files, shortcuts or files, now reflect the red and white adobe icon.

Hopes that helps until a real fix is born.

ls_rbls

Adobe Expert

Disregard my prior guidance. Thanks for noting that.

I didn't read this thread carefully. I thought the issue had to do with every icon turning like black squares or something.

But now that you brought in that observation, in MS Windows there is an easy way to change the icons by right-clicking on the program's short-cut. If you don't have a shortcut to that program in your desktop you'll need to create it first. Then you can use this method:

The icon for the "Acrobat.exe"executable file that is found in C:\ProgramFiles(x86) won't allow change that icon though.

To change it you have to use another MS Windows setting , which according to MS Windows guidance is not recommended and it is not allowed.

But just if you're curious and wish to give it a try you'll need a third party tool.

Stephen can you please share a screenshot of you get in your screen ?

R

ron pank

Known Participant

I tried that a long time ago and with no success.

ls_rbls

Adobe Expert

+++UPDATE

See if this help:

In the next dialogue box that will open, you may try a few things.

Run in compatibility mode for MS Windows 8
Run as Administrator or Change Settings for All Users
The most important one --> Enable overrride of high DPI Scaling. Select System (Enhanced). You may notice a dramatic improvement of the app.

In addition you can also increase the Paging File size (virtual memory) and/or disable special effects and desktop themes (just for troubleshooting purposes).

In Acrobat , Edit--->> Preferences --->> General--->> Application Startup ---> Disable "Check 2D Graphics Accelerator".

Report back if any of these suggestions improved something.

W

WhittingtonSD

New Participant

I also found a work around, that was really simple and surprised me. After trying the whole "reset program to default," "uninstall then reinstall Acrobat Reader DC," and even "deleting the IconCache.db and restart" stuff, I simply right clicked on the desktop, changed the SIZE of my icons (i.e. VIEW>Medium/Large/Small, etc.), and then changed them back to my desired size, and POOF, problem solved! Weird glitch, and not sure if it will work for everyone, but it worked for me and it seems to be staying that way. Give it a try.

D

DLaff

New Participant

Beware! Changing the icon size will make a mess of your icon arrangement. Be ready to move them all back to your preferred spot.

ls_rbls

Adobe Expert

This may be an issue associated with display adapter drivers as suggested in this Micrososft support guidance: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-performance/windows-10-desktop-icons-displayed-as-black/2bbd1e09-9915-48de-8f7f-0b1877b9283a

In addition, I would also force a manual update of all .Net and Visual C++ redistributables in Windows 10, to include updating any and all other peripheral drivers in that MS Windows box (chipset, USB, WiFi... just update every driver in that computer) ; prefereably not through a Windows 10 automatic update.

Windows 10 is known for picking up its own set generic drivers to support a wide range of hardware, not necessarily the specific OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) hardware that you paid for when you bought that computer.

Always, always , always manually download the drivers from the device manufacturer's website and follow their recommended step-by-step installation guidance.

That's just a standard operating procedure in PC repair.

Too bad that sometimes certified computer repair technicians don't get paid like a developer, which I believe customers should be charged in proportion to the time it takes just to download all this crap and then manually install it with all the reboots in-between and waiting for updates to finish during each reboot.

Even worse, is having to compete with a 12 year old next door neighbor who can do it for free and also knows programming.

JR Boulay

Adobe Expert

"you mean setting Acrobat again as the default software?"

Yes

Acrobate du PDF, InDesigner et Photoshopographe

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