I can't change it; neither with the "change icon" in Properties, nor
with FileTypesMan. It stays stubbornly as a white page icon (Notepad
style), although it's fine on the taskbar.
I can't change it; neither with the "change icon" in Properties, nor
with FileTypesMan. It stays stubbornly as a white page icon (Notepad
style), although it's fine on the taskbar.
The icons showing in Firefox.exe include correct ones, but also PDF and
a handful of others.
I tried changing to an icon in shell32.dll; no joy.
Ed
I can't change it; neither with the "change icon" in Properties, nor
with FileTypesMan. It stays stubbornly as a white page icon (Notepad
style), although it's fine on the taskbar.
The icons showing in Firefox.exe include correct ones, but also PDF and
a handful of others.
I tried changing to an icon in shell32.dll; no joy.
I can't change it; neither with the "change icon" in Properties, nor with FileTypesMan. It stays stubbornly as a white page icon (Notepad style), although it's fine on the taskbar.
ÿYou can't change what? The icon for HTML files? There's
no such thing as a Firefox file icon. To affect the icon for
file types you can either go through Microsoft's maddening
new system (which I can't even remember how to get to)
or you can do it in the Registry. All file types follow the
same pattern. You look up extension, which gives you class
name, which leads to icon:
HKCR\.html
ÿÿÿ default value: classname (such as "htmlfile" or "FirefoxHTML")
HKCR\[classname]\DefaultIcon
ÿ default value: path of icon, such as "C:\icons\html.ico,0"
The nuber at the end indicates the icon number in the file. For
ico files it's always 0.
It's not clear to me, whether "redoing stuff" (canonical location
updates) will ever repair iconcache.
Ed Cryer wrote:
VanguardLH wrote:
Ed Cryer <ed@somewhere.in.the.uk> wrote:
I can't change it; neither with the "change icon" in Properties, nor
with FileTypesMan. It stays stubbornly as a white page icon (Notepad
style), although it's fine on the taskbar.
The icons showing in Firefox.exe include correct ones, but also PDF and >>>> a handful of others.
I tried changing to an icon in shell32.dll; no joy.
Don't know what is a "Firefox file icon".ÿ Please describe better.
If you are creating .url shortcuts on your desktop or in a folder, don't >>> use those if you want to have a different icon for each one.ÿ Instead,
creating a .lnk shortcut (e.g., right-click on the desktop, create a new >>> shortcut), and enter the following for the command:
<path>\firefox.exe <url>
<path> to wherever you installed Firefox (or whatever web browser you
want to use to open the <url>).ÿ Then right-click on that new shortcut,
and go to the Shortcut tab to change its icon.ÿ If the executable
specified for the target (command) doesn't have an icon you want, you
can browse to other .exe and .dll files that have icon resources defined >>> within them.
The above is how I created .lnk shortcuts (to programs) to let me change >>> icons to differentiate, for example, between a weather web site, Google
Voice, crossword puzzle site, different webmail clients, etc.ÿ You don't >>> want a .url shortcut.ÿ You want a .lnk shortcut since that lets you
choose an icon for just that shortcut.
I have lots of .html files in a utility I use regularly. Their properties show that they open with
Firefox, and they do just that when I click on them.
All works well, at least so far.
The problem is that when you navigate to the folder and show the files listed, they have the wrong
icon. And I can't change that icon. And whatever I do to try and change it, reports no problem; it
finishes as if it had done the change.
Ed
I've found some files locally that have a Firefox icon. They have an extension of .URL, and are
called "Internet shortcut".
There appears to have been some radical shift from MS in their handling of file extensions.
Ed
VanguardLH wrote:
Ed Cryer <ed@somewhere.in.the.uk> wrote:
I can't change it; neither with the "change icon" in Properties, nor
with FileTypesMan. It stays stubbornly as a white page icon (Notepad
style), although it's fine on the taskbar.
The icons showing in Firefox.exe include correct ones, but also PDF and
a handful of others.
I tried changing to an icon in shell32.dll; no joy.
Don't know what is a "Firefox file icon". Please describe better.
If you are creating .url shortcuts on your desktop or in a folder, don't
use those if you want to have a different icon for each one. Instead,
creating a .lnk shortcut (e.g., right-click on the desktop, create a new
shortcut), and enter the following for the command:
<path>\firefox.exe <url>
<path> to wherever you installed Firefox (or whatever web browser you
want to use to open the <url>). Then right-click on that new shortcut,
and go to the Shortcut tab to change its icon. If the executable
specified for the target (command) doesn't have an icon you want, you
can browse to other .exe and .dll files that have icon resources defined
within them.
The above is how I created .lnk shortcuts (to programs) to let me change
icons to differentiate, for example, between a weather web site, Google
Voice, crossword puzzle site, different webmail clients, etc. You don't
want a .url shortcut. You want a .lnk shortcut since that lets you
choose an icon for just that shortcut.
I have lots of .html files in a utility I use regularly. Their
properties show that they open with Firefox, and they do just that when
I click on them.
All works well, at least so far.
The problem is that when you navigate to the folder and show the files listed, they have the wrong icon. And I can't change that icon. And
whatever I do to try and change it, reports no problem; it finishes as
if it had done the change.
Ed
Do you know whether this uses that blasted set of iconcache files ?
It's not clear to me, whether "redoing stuff" (canonical location updates) will ever repair iconcache. We have David Ross's AVG blank-sheet icon
as an example. The only iconcache DB viewer, costs money.
Big Al wrote:
On 4/8/24 03:15 PM, Ed Cryer wrote:
Ed Cryer wrote:I don't think URL is a deviation.ÿ URL is a link where HTML/HTM is a page itself.
VanguardLH wrote:
Ed Cryer <ed@somewhere.in.the.uk> wrote:
I can't change it; neither with the "change icon" in Properties, nor >>>>>> with FileTypesMan. It stays stubbornly as a white page icon (Notepad >>>>>> style), although it's fine on the taskbar.
The icons showing in Firefox.exe include correct ones, but also PDF and >>>>>> a handful of others.
I tried changing to an icon in shell32.dll; no joy.
Don't know what is a "Firefox file icon".ÿ Please describe better.
If you are creating .url shortcuts on your desktop or in a folder, don't >>>>> use those if you want to have a different icon for each one.ÿ Instead, >>>>> creating a .lnk shortcut (e.g., right-click on the desktop, create a new >>>>> shortcut), and enter the following for the command:
<path>\firefox.exe <url>
<path> to wherever you installed Firefox (or whatever web browser you >>>>> want to use to open the <url>).ÿ Then right-click on that new shortcut, >>>>> and go to the Shortcut tab to change its icon.ÿ If the executable
specified for the target (command) doesn't have an icon you want, you >>>>> can browse to other .exe and .dll files that have icon resources defined >>>>> within them.
The above is how I created .lnk shortcuts (to programs) to let me change >>>>> icons to differentiate, for example, between a weather web site, Google >>>>> Voice, crossword puzzle site, different webmail clients, etc.ÿ You don't >>>>> want a .url shortcut.ÿ You want a .lnk shortcut since that lets you
choose an icon for just that shortcut.
I have lots of .html files in a utility I use regularly. Their properties show that they open
with Firefox, and they do just that when I click on them.
All works well, at least so far.
The problem is that when you navigate to the folder and show the files listed, they have the
wrong icon. And I can't change that icon. And whatever I do to try and change it, reports no
problem; it finishes as if it had done the change.
Ed
I've found some files locally that have a Firefox icon. They have an extension of .URL, and are
called "Internet shortcut".
There appears to have been some radical shift from MS in their handling of file extensions.
Ed
I have a copy of my web page on my laptop and it's all HTML files, and they are text.
A URL is like this, it's not a web page.:
[{000214A0-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}]
Prop3=19,2
[InternetShortcut]
IDList=
URL=http://rs.ciggws.net/rd.cgi?FNC=MTSU_WM&CHA=UF2_DESKTOP&RES=america&LNG=EN&DEV=TR8600+series&OSV=W&ARA=US&CNM_SEP=0&OSV=W&DEV=TR8600+series&CTV=1.0&LNG=EN
.URl is a Windows extension. It points to:
Windows system32.dll, url.dll,0
Internet shortcut
and , of course, Windows assigns a program to open those files.
It strikes me that this .URL extension has thrown the cat amidst the pigeons. It's new to me. How
long has it been infecting Win10?
Ed
VanguardLH wrote:
Ed Cryer <ed@somewhere.in.the.uk> wrote:
VanguardLH wrote:
Ed Cryer <ed@somewhere.in.the.uk> wrote:
I can't change it; neither with the "change icon" in Properties, nor >>>>> with FileTypesMan. It stays stubbornly as a white page icon (Notepad >>>>> style), although it's fine on the taskbar.
The icons showing in Firefox.exe include correct ones, but also PDF and >>>>> a handful of others.
I tried changing to an icon in shell32.dll; no joy.
Don't know what is a "Firefox file icon". Please describe better.
If you are creating .url shortcuts on your desktop or in a folder, don't >>>> use those if you want to have a different icon for each one. Instead, >>>> creating a .lnk shortcut (e.g., right-click on the desktop, create a new >>>> shortcut), and enter the following for the command:
<path>\firefox.exe <url>
<path> to wherever you installed Firefox (or whatever web browser you
want to use to open the <url>). Then right-click on that new shortcut, >>>> and go to the Shortcut tab to change its icon. If the executable
specified for the target (command) doesn't have an icon you want, you
can browse to other .exe and .dll files that have icon resources defined >>>> within them.
The above is how I created .lnk shortcuts (to programs) to let me change >>>> icons to differentiate, for example, between a weather web site, Google >>>> Voice, crossword puzzle site, different webmail clients, etc. You don't >>>> want a .url shortcut. You want a .lnk shortcut since that lets you
choose an icon for just that shortcut.
I have lots of .html files in a utility I use regularly. Their
properties show that they open with Firefox, and they do just that when
I click on them.
All works well, at least so far.
The problem is that when you navigate to the folder and show the files
listed, they have the wrong icon. And I can't change that icon. And
whatever I do to try and change it, reports no problem; it finishes as
if it had done the change.
Ed
So, it's not about .url shortcuts, but about .html files, and the icons
displayed for those .html files (in whatever unidentified file viewer).
In other words, you want to change the .html filetype icon, not some
Firefox file icon.
In FileTypesMan, right-click on the .html extension (filetype), and
select to jump to the registry setting for that filetype, or select the
filetype and use Ctrl+R to jump to the registry setting. Expand that
registry key to see the DefaultIcon subkey. Does its default item have
a value of:
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe,1
The path is where I installed Firefox. Might be different for you. The
",1" is specifying the 1st icon resource (dead keeled over fox) in the
.exe file.
If you don't want to edit in regedit.exe the DefaultIcon pointer, you
can right-click on the .html filetype in FileTypeMan to select "Edit
Selected File Type". In that entry form, you can enter the resource
index in an .exe or .dll file for which icon you want, or use the Browse
button to find the .exe or .dll file (but you'll have to figure out the
resource index if the first one isn't what you want).
In regedit, go to:
HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.html
Under that key is a UserChoice subkey. Microsoft added this subkey for
critical filetype and protocol handlers. Windows knows how to generate
this value, not malware that might attempt to change which handlers are
used for which filetypes or protocols. If the hash value is invalid,
Windows will revert the filetype or protocol back to the default
handler. Programs cannot programmatically use the registry API to
change these protected handlers. You have to use the Windows wizard:
Default Apps, and select either "Choose default apps by filetype" or
"Choose default apps by protocol". Since you are asking about the .html
filetype, use "Choose default apps by filetype". Scroll down to the
.html filetype. You should see:
.htm Firefox
Firefox HTML Document
.html Firefox
Firefox HTML Document
If that is what you see, toggle the handler to see if returning back to
Firefox as the handler steps atop whatever foul up might be regarding
handlers and icons.
There is also the possibility your shelliconcache is fouled. Delete it,
logoff and logon to rebuild the cache, and test which icon shows up. I
use WinAero Tweaker's Reset Icon Cache to delete and rebuild. Or you
can read about the tweak at:
https://winaero.com/fix-broken-icons-reset-icon-cache-in-windows-10-without-reboot/
If you have lots of different filetype and protocol handler icons, the
default 500 KB size of the icon cache file may not be sufficient. Some
will have to get tossed out to make room for new ones. In WinAero
Tweaker, you can increase the size of the cache (Icon Cache Size). Mine
was only at 512 KB, so I upped it to 8192 KB (8 MB). See:
https://winaero.com/change-icon-cache-size-windows-10/
Since the change is to an HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE subkey, the change applies
to all Windows accounts. Although not mentioned, I'd probably logoff
and logon to make sure the registry change got applied.
Peculiarly, under the Explorer key, I have 2 settings:
MaxCachedIcons
Max Cached Icons
One with spaces, one without. Possibly I did a registry edit a long
time ago, and whoever's article I read about this had the spaces in the
key, or the spaced version was used before, but Microsoft changed the
data item's name.
.URL, .htm, .html are all Windows file extensions; or, at least, they
used to be.
They guide Windows, or, at least they used to, to different programs.
They have icons associated with them; or, at least they used to.
Ergo, if I look at a file's extension with WinExplorer, it should point
to those root elements of the Windows architecture.
But this schematic appears to have crumbled. OK, so be it. But how do I
get to know the new layout?
Ed
.URL, .htm, .html are all Windows file extensions; or, at least, they used to be.
They guide Windows, or, at least they used to, to different programs.
They have icons associated with them; or, at least they used to.
Ergo, if I look at a file's extension with WinExplorer, it should point to those root elements of the Windows architecture.
But this schematic appears to have crumbled. OK, so be it. But how do I get to know the new layout?
Ed
All systems are up to date, as are the Firefoxes.
Has anyone here using Home got my misbehaving browser?
On 4/9/2024 7:00 AM, Ed Cryer wrote:
All systems are up to date, as are the Firefoxes.
Has anyone here using Home got my misbehaving browser?
ÿÿ I have Win10 Home running Firefox. I haven't had any trouble
with browsers. All my HTML files show a black-with-FF-logo
icon. Though I did find something that claimed to
remove Edge. Then I tracked down remaining Edge files and
removed those. (In ProgramData? Program Files? I'm not sure.
I was just setting up Win10 and it was days of whack-a-mole
as I tried to get it to behave with some kind of baseline civility.)
ÿÿ Could that have had an effect? I doubt it. I'm guessing that
I must have gone through "choose defaults by extension". I
remember that I used that for some files because the defaults
I wanted were simply not included in my options for open with...
ÿ Looking in my Registry now I see that actually FF never overwrote
the HKCR extension and classname keys. It all points to IE!
Instead, the only indication of Firefox is in the keys that
Vanguard mentioned:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.html\UserChoice
ÿ There it has a value of ProgID which has data of FirefoxHTML-xxxxxxxxxx
I don't know whether the number is unique. There's also a Hash value.
So UserChoice overrides HKCR and is designed such that it can only
be set through Windows. I have no values or subkeys for .html under HKCU\Software\Classes. FirefoxHTML-xxxxx points back into HKCR.
ÿÿ This is more convoluted than I realized. And confusing. The term
"ProgID" has traditionally had a very specfic meaning as a COM
server.class designation. But it doesn't mean that here. It seems to
be some kind of MS nerd practical joke.
ÿ It looks like there's no reason not to go along with UserChoice
if it works. Alternatively, one could reportedly delete the UserChoice
key and thereby cause the setting to revert to HKCR. Then you'd
need to change the class name under .html etc to the Firefox class
identifier -- FirefoxHTML-xxxxxxx. I expect the UserChoice values can't
be changed by hand. The Hash probably has to match the ProgID
value.
Both .htm and .html have Firefox assigned; but .url has "Internet
Browser", and the only alternative choice is "Look for an app in the Microsoft Store".
This MS forum shows a chap with a problem very similar to mine; https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/incorrect-icon-being-displayed-for-one-particular/b70a2913-4f8f-4435-a14a-eba38ca38e1a
In addition to what he mentions, I've also quadrupled the size of the
icon cache. Oh, and BTW, the solutions suggested by the independent
advisor Paul Abayon didn't work either.
VanguardLH wrote:
Ed Cryer <ed@somewhere.in.the.uk> wrote:
This MS forum shows a chap with a problem very similar to mine;
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/incorrect-icon-being-displayed-for-one-particular/b70a2913-4f8f-4435-a14a-eba38ca38e1a
In addition to what he mentions, I've also quadrupled the size of the
icon cache. Oh, and BTW, the solutions suggested by the independent
advisor Paul Abayon didn't work either.
I already mentioned using WinAero Tweaker to reset the icon cache, and
to change its size.ÿ Or, you can follow online articles delving into the
same issues, like using a .bat file to 'del' the icon .db file and
reg.exe to change a registry setting.
As I recall, I've only had to delete the icon cache just once, but so
long ago that I don't remember for which version of Windows.ÿ Once the
registry setting is changed to increase the cache size, very unlikely
you have to do it again.
Paul, in that article, didn't seem to help much.ÿ More like he was
trying to keep the user occupied with busy-work rather than addressing
the issue.ÿ He is one of those pseudo-techs that professes competence he
doesn't have.ÿ There are lots of those in the MS Answers web forums.
His only real help was in providing a link to the TenForums article.
There are tons of online articles describing how to delete the icon
cache file, and upping the size of the cache.ÿ I picked the WinAero
articles, because the tweaker has links to them to provide information
on just what the tweaker does (unlike a lot of tweakers that keep secret
that info, like that makes them magical and special).
I'm teetering around a re-installation of Firefox; a complete clean uninstall using IOBit, after
saving all bookmarks and list of add-ons.
I'm reluctant to do that because it might work and remove the problem; which is so abstruse that I'm
aiming for a Nobel prize. I'll follow in the footsteps of Watson & Crick, and Peter Higgs.ÿÿ (:-
Ed
P.S. I can't rid myself of a suspicion that MS are to blame here; they perform somersaults and
sleight of hand in order to keep Edge installed and active. So, what have they done here? I recall a
year or so ago that I had two FFs running when I downloaded a second one from the Store; for some
reason I can't recall, probably just adventurous curiosity to see what would happen.
VanguardLH wrote:
Ed Cryer <ed@somewhere.in.the.uk> wrote:
This MS forum shows a chap with a problem very similar to mine;
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/incorrect-icon-being-displayed-for-one-particular/b70a2913-4f8f-4435-a14a-eba38ca38e1a
In addition to what he mentions, I've also quadrupled the size of the
icon cache. Oh, and BTW, the solutions suggested by the independent
advisor Paul Abayon didn't work either.
I already mentioned using WinAero Tweaker to reset the icon cache, and
to change its size. Or, you can follow online articles delving into the
same issues, like using a .bat file to 'del' the icon .db file and
reg.exe to change a registry setting.
As I recall, I've only had to delete the icon cache just once, but so
long ago that I don't remember for which version of Windows. Once the
registry setting is changed to increase the cache size, very unlikely
you have to do it again.
Paul, in that article, didn't seem to help much. More like he was
trying to keep the user occupied with busy-work rather than addressing
the issue. He is one of those pseudo-techs that professes competence he
doesn't have. There are lots of those in the MS Answers web forums.
His only real help was in providing a link to the TenForums article.
There are tons of online articles describing how to delete the icon
cache file, and upping the size of the cache. I picked the WinAero
articles, because the tweaker has links to them to provide information
on just what the tweaker does (unlike a lot of tweakers that keep secret
that info, like that makes them magical and special).
I'm teetering around a re-installation of Firefox; a complete clean uninstall using IOBit, after saving all bookmarks and list of add-ons.
I'm reluctant to do that because it might work and remove the problem;
which is so abstruse that I'm aiming for a Nobel prize. I'll follow in
the footsteps of Watson & Crick, and Peter Higgs. (:-
Ed
P.S. I can't rid myself of a suspicion that MS are to blame here; they perform somersaults and sleight of hand in order to keep Edge installed
and active. So, what have they done here? I recall a year or so ago that
I had two FFs running when I downloaded a second one from the Store; for some reason I can't recall, probably just adventurous curiosity to see
what would happen.
I know you seem convinced that [icon cache corruption] is the cause.
You mention it time and again. But it was one of the first things I
did.
There are other iconcache files in Appdata/ Local/ Microsoft/ Windows/ Explorer folder; lots of them, things like iconcache_48.
Big Al wrote:
On 4/10/24 06:52 AM, Ed Cryer wrote:
I'm teetering around a re-installation of Firefox; a complete clean uninstall using IOBit, after saving all bookmarks and list of add-ons.If you don't have it turned on, Firefox sync will sync (by choice) bookmarks, settings, etc.ÿÿ If you re-install and turn sync back on, it will restore those bookmarks.
I'm reluctant to do that because it might work and remove the problem; which is so abstruse that I'm aiming for a Nobel prize. I'll follow in the footsteps of Watson & Crick, and Peter Higgs.ÿÿ (:-
Ed
P.S. I can't rid myself of a suspicion that MS are to blame here; they perform somersaults and sleight of hand in order to keep Edge installed and active. So, what have they done here? I recall a year or so ago that I had two FFs running when I downloaded a second one from the Store; for some reason I can't recall, probably just adventurous curiosity to see what would happen.
All you need is an email and make a password to set it up.ÿ I"m not even sure the email address has to be valid, I don't remember (it's been too long) if it sent you a verification email or not.
Experiment I've conducted on this rogue icon.
Properties of .html file.
Open with, Change.
I change it to Edge, icons of all html files in that folder change before my eyes to the Edge icon.
I change it to Opera, icons of all html files in that folder change before my eyes to the Opera icon.
I change it to Safari, icons of all html files in that folder change before my eyes to the Safari icon.
I change it to Slimjet, icons of all html files in that folder change before my eyes to the Slimjet icon.
I change it to Internet Explorer, icons of all html files in that folder change before my eyes to the Edge icon.
I change it to Firefox, icons of all html files in that folder change before my eyes to the wrong icon; the Notepad one that doesn't appear in FF's icons.
Why? Why? Why? What's blocking? What interferes with the routing? Where is that icon coming from? How can I trace the path being followed?
Ed
Well, well, well! Could it be that it's getting its 8 from a default icon dll?
Ed
I then look around. Everything ok, with the single exception of that
rogue icon. Nothing has altered.
Paul wrote:
On 4/11/2024 5:14 AM, Ed Cryer wrote:
Well, well, well! Could it be that it's getting its 8 from a default icon dll?
Ed
It does suggest they're not cleaning up as well as they should.
I had expected better of them, and then I had a look...
Normally, there should not be a need for Firefox to interact
with the Registry. I don't really know how they've done what
they have done. Whether there is an interface that indirectly
sprays those items, or they actually did reg interface things
directly.
I suspect their freeware Installer Kit they use (NSIS) likely
has all of the gubbins to do this properly. But perhaps none
of the staff are skilled at driving it. They don't use
InstallShield (commercial), because that would be an admission
that they had participated in the Windows ecosystem.
*******
This is an example of a mapping protected by the Microsoft hash.
This scheme was recently changed by a "driver" for the function.
The gentleman at the site below, will have to redo his reverse
engineering (if he still enjoys puzzles).
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.pdf\UserChoice]
"Hash"="xh8KhPWlZL0="
"ProgId"="AcroExch.Document"
There is a tool here for setting the hash (scheme now defunt).
This is the guy that reverse engineered the previous scheme.
Due to DMCA, he could not document every step or receive
a "hacking charge".
http://kolbi.cz/blog/?p=346
ÿÿÿ http://www.kolbi.cz/SetUserFTA_v1.5.zip
ÿÿÿÿÿÿ SHA256 of SetUserFTA.exeÿÿ (58,880 bytes)
ÿÿÿÿÿÿ (6B7DBA337D2490083391623C1E2EAAFEC9C3DCBDE1DCDB2ABFD0E1F0C2BF31B8)
ÿÿÿÿÿÿ SetUserFTA.exe .pdf AcroExch.Document.DC
ÿÿÿ Paul
My rogue icon is the first in shell32.dll. And when I look at that dll with Icofx it is listed as 1(8).
8-7=1.
Ed
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