Moved Steam, Blank Desktop Icons

[Vellik]

So, as the title says, I recently moved my steam installation to a new hard drive, moving only the Steam executable and Steamapps folder. I ran Steam, it updated, and I've noticed that all the desktop icons I had for my games are blank. The ones that I've tried still work, but they're just blank.

Would anyone know how to fix this? Any help is appreciated.

[ReBoot]

This is normal. Recreate the desktop shortcuts from within Steam.
Or switch every single of them over manually.

[Vellik]

You mean by going into the library and creating desktop links that way? If so I've tried that, and for some reason it doesn't seem to work. How would I go about switching them over manually?

[ReBoot]

Messaggio originale di Vellik:

You mean by going into the library and creating desktop links that way? If so I've tried that, and for some reason it doesn't seem to work. How would I go about switching them over manually?

1. Have you deleted the old icons previously?
2. Rightclick->Properties->Chage icon. Or by opening the file with notepad.

[Vellik]

Yes, I've tried deleting the previous icon, but they still remain blank when I recreate them. And thank you for telling me how to change the icons manually.

[Vellik]

How strange. I guess I should consider this issue fixed, because after I changed a few icons manually, I was unable to find the exe for one of the games to use as an icon, and tried deleting and recreating the shortcut. Lo and behold, it seems to be working again. I guess that it just needed to be redirected to the other drive or something? I'm not entirely sure.

[c0mc0]

Ok - this is old, but I'm posting the fix as none of the suggestions anywhere that I looked at helped in my situation.

Steam stores all icons for installed games in the following location <steam install path>\steam\games

For example, default installation would place it here: c:\Programs Files\Steam\steam\games

Now, for my specific case, I use multiple Steam Library folders. I have Steam installed on my SSD with some games installed with it - I also have another, larger drive I install other games on. Now I had to reset Steam's config to fix an unrelated error (Deleted all files in Steam folder except for Steamapps and the Steam.exe file. When Steam re-downloaded itself, everything worked fine except that it assumed that the icons were now pointing at an empty steams\games directly. If your issue is like mine, simply copy the old steam\games folder into the new folder and it all works. Note, you'll need to reboot to see the icons update themselves.

[Potato]

Messaggio originale di 76561197997317515:

Ok - this is old, but I'm posting the fix as none of the suggestions anywhere that I looked at helped in my situation.

Steam stores all icons for installed games in the following location <steam install path>\steam\games

For example, default installation would place it here: c:\Programs Files\Steam\steam\games

Now, for my specific case, I use multiple Steam Library folders. I have Steam installed on my SSD with some games installed with it - I also have another, larger drive I install other games on. Now I had to reset Steam's config to fix an unrelated error (Deleted all files in Steam folder except for Steamapps and the Steam.exe file. When Steam re-downloaded itself, everything worked fine except that it assumed that the icons were now pointing at an empty steams\games directly. If your issue is like mine, simply copy the old steam\games folder into the new folder and it all works. Note, you'll need to reboot to see the icons update themselves.

Thank you very much. Sir. Very helpful. I just recently format the C drive to install windows 11 and after reinstall steam all my games shortcut is blank. Fortunately I still have steam folder backup somewhere else

[c0mc0]

Woah. This thread is a blast from the past! Glad it was helpful, man.

[itscol]

Messaggio originale di c0mc0:

Ok - this is old, but I'm posting the fix as none of the suggestions anywhere that I looked at helped in my situation.

Steam stores all icons for installed games in the following location <steam install path>\steam\games

For example, default installation would place it here: c:\Programs Files\Steam\steam\games

Now, for my specific case, I use multiple Steam Library folders. I have Steam installed on my SSD with some games installed with it - I also have another, larger drive I install other games on. Now I had to reset Steam's config to fix an unrelated error (Deleted all files in Steam folder except for Steamapps and the Steam.exe file. When Steam re-downloaded itself, everything worked fine except that it assumed that the icons were now pointing at an empty steams\games directly. If your issue is like mine, simply copy the old steam\games folder into the new folder and it all works. Note, you'll need to reboot to see the icons update themselves.

I have this exact problem but I don't have a copy, because I deleted everything except for my steamapps folder on my main drive to resolve a different issue. Fyi my games are all on a different drive than where steam is installed. How am I supposed to get steam to recognise that those steam/games icons are not there? When I verify the game files of my games, steam does not seem to realise that it's corresponding icon is missing in steam/games.

[xarvn]

Messaggio originale di itscol:

I have this exact problem but I don't have a copy, because I deleted everything except for my steamapps folder on my main drive to resolve a different issue. Fyi my games are all on a different drive than where steam is installed. How am I supposed to get steam to recognise that those steam/games icons are not there? When I verify the game files of my games, steam does not seem to realise that it's corresponding icon is missing in steam/games.

Try the following:
1. Go to your library and select games by expanding a category (if necessary) and selecting the games in the list. Right-click and choose Manage-->"Add Desktop Shortcuts." Repeat for all categories for all icons you wish to repair.
2. In the windows search bar type "Default Apps" and then scroll down in the window to select "Choose default apps by file type."
Scroll down to ".URL" and select "Internet Browser" even if it is already selected.
3. Reboot PC.
4. Most icons should be repaired. There may be a few stubborn ones. These must each be fixed manually. See this useful guide:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1894468968

[itscol]

Messaggio originale di xarvn:

Messaggio originale di itscol:

I have this exact problem but I don't have a copy, because I deleted everything except for my steamapps folder on my main drive to resolve a different issue. Fyi my games are all on a different drive than where steam is installed. How am I supposed to get steam to recognise that those steam/games icons are not there? When I verify the game files of my games, steam does not seem to realise that it's corresponding icon is missing in steam/games.

Try the following:
1. Go to your library and select games by expanding a category (if necessary) and selecting the games in the list. Right-click and choose Manage-->"Add Desktop Shortcuts." Repeat for all categories for all icons you wish to repair.
2. In the windows search bar type "Default Apps" and then scroll down in the window to select "Choose default apps by file type."
Scroll down to ".URL" and select "Internet Browser" even if it is already selected.
3. Reboot PC.
4. Most icons should be repaired. There may be a few stubborn ones. These must each be fixed manually. See this useful guide:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1894468968

I tried this fix already and it doesn't work for me. I tried everything I could find but then I realised that steam just doesn't have the icons in the Steam/steam/games folder. Like I said, verifying the game files apparently doesn't restore the icons either. Thanks for the guide, ig I have to download and convert all of the icons manually... I don't really want to do that since that will take a while considering the amount of games, so if you have another fix please share it.
Thanks again.

[xarvn]

The usual method of reinstalling or moving Steam is to delete everything except steamapps, userdata, and the steam.exe file. Thereafter running steam.exe should reinstall the necessary files without having to re-download games. However, the result is often blank steam desktop shortcuts. This is because the icons are stored in the games folder (\Steam\steam\games) which was deleted. Steam will tend not to rebuild this icon store especially if you are moving steam to another drive or computer. Other methods that usually work for in-place re-installation such as setting the default program for “.URL” files to “Internet Browser” or verifying game files will not work. One can of course manually assign icons through the properties of each desktop icon, but that is quite tedious. There are probably much more efficient and elegant methods to rebuild the icon store, but here is one method. Note: This method takes time as files must be downloaded and verified and entails some risk including having to re-download games entirely. So be aware that it is both time consuming and requires downloading of files. Do not use this method if you are near your data cap or if you pay for metered internet service.

1. Completely exit out of Steam if it is running.
2. Go to the steamapps folder and delete (or move out of the steam installation) all “.acf” files. Leave “.gcf” and “.vdf” files which have to do with Source based games alone as they are irrelevant to the problem we are trying to fix. Also delete the blank steam desktop shortcuts.
3. Restart Steam. Your library should indicate that none of your games are installed.
4. Now choose the games you desire by selecting them and then attempt to install them. Select games that are installed in a common library and be sure that you have selected the correct library. Please note that there may be a limit to how many games that you can install at once (I believe it depends on how much free space you have but am not sure). If you find Steam inactive for a long period of time (i.e. there is no downloading, verifying, or installing activity) then cancel installation and select fewer games. Steam may ask for you to agree to game-specific EULAs which you should do.
5. Open the games folder (Steam\steam\games). With each game that Steam verifies/installs, a new desktop shortcut as well as an icon file in the games folder should appear.
6. Repeat from step 4 as necessary. Note some games do not have an associated icon file and therefore appear blank. An icon file must be assigned manually in these cases.

[itscol]

wow thanks that actually worked. I've been trying to find the solution in steam discussions for ever but didn't seem to find it, you helped me a ton with this.

The problem was that I re-installed steam in the wrong way on my main drive. This way like you mentioned steam did not seem to need to reinstall the steam icons. After another reinstallation in the way you mentioned I followed the steps you gave me and steam would finally download the icons to the steam/games folder after i hit download for the desired games. It was like magic. You saved a ton of time and effort.

Thank you very much once again :D

[Phénomènes Mystiques]

↑ And this is the reason why you should not be attempting to bury the past, Valve.

[xarvn]

Glad it worked out for you.