barebear - if you're a "total security freak", then it seems the safety of having the latest browser fixes would outweigh a minor aesthetic issue. The risk of staying at v16 is not likely large, but it's not zero. You'll obviously need to decide what your priorities are for yourself.

ppjamieson - What's not working?

If you're referring to my FixFFicon tool, it was never tested on Win 7 (or Vista) because the problem is only known to exist on XP.

For those of you who would report this icon bug, the URL is:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/

Use "file a bug" and it will walk you through 3 to 4 fields to fill in. The passwords for this forum did not work for bugzilla but its simple to register.

Cheers :)

Thanks for the info, jigasquid.

I think I will file a bug later today or tomorrw. My only concern is that I wouldn't file a duplicate, so I will check beforehand.

BTW, I see Firefox 18.0 has been released: does anybody knows if something have been fixed with it as far as regards our icon bugs/rants?

Cheers!

Nothing was fixed with the release of 18.0.

This has been already reported in a post for bug 110894

Now there is bug 827784 too and it seems to be more specific.

If you are affected by this bug you can cast your vote for it in Bugzilla.

P.S.: Right now it is filed as an " enhancement" request...  :-/

I went to bug 827784 and tried to vote ( yes I logged in), but I don't think the vote registered --anyhow I left a comment that ! vote to have it fixed

It's encouraging that the Mozilla Bug folks are aware of the icon problem and are working on it. Fairly rare these days.

Yes, now I am distressed also to see the NEW Firefox URLs dragged to the desktop have changed format content and icon visibility. Losing the Firefox icon and now having some kind of generic icon.

Environment: Windows XP Pro SP3, Firefox 10.0.12ESR and Firefox 17.0.2ESR (I have been using ESR for the stability and protection AGAINST mindless GUI changes that have been confounding my users.)

Firefox 10 ESR, and below, (and apparently FF 16 and below) create dragged URLs as:

• [InternetShortcut]
• URL=https://www.myopenid.com/help

The icon came from: C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe (I use the bullet list format in order to enforce line breaks in this reply)

Now, the newer (and NOT improved in this regard) Firefox 17 releases do something completely different, changing the way you see/interact with web links. Firefox 17 ESR and Firefox 17, 18 etc. create a different kind of dragged URL link file. Using a link to the same site as my example above, new content is:

• [InternetShortcut]
• URL=https://www.myopenid.com/help
• IDList=
• HotKey=0
• IconFile=C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\x1x974wy.FFesr\shortcutCache\1Hgdh0myZBWgv5UtI+gRQw==.ico
• IconIndex=0

(I changed the username...) (as above I use the bullet list format in order to enforce line breaks in this reply, since the forum post otherwise gets changed into one long string with no line breaks)

And the icon is coming from: %SystemRoot%\system32\SHELL32.dll

Possibly because there are not any found icons where it is now pointing to from the new-style internal link, thus forcing it to ignore the Firefox.exe traditional icons.

Another pointless change from the mind of Mozilla.

Please provide a working fix. I see from some comment above that it is possible that it may actually be receiving a work fix allotment, which would be encouraging if it comes to pass. FYI, I am on 17.0.2 ESR and the dragged url behavior is the bad new generic icon and more html content style.

I also see from a comment above that it may be exacerbated or made visible because of how XP is structured. But given the number of folks I work with who are on Windows XP -and who will be on it till forced off by MS EOL support in 2014- I am hoping that Mozilla will fix this issue.

Note, Bug 827784 - "Provide an option to disable favicons on webpage shortcuts in Windows" does not seem to be the same thing at all.

And Bug 110894 - "Use favicons on webpage shortcuts in Windows" might be this issue,,, or not,,,

Appears to be a Bugzilla listing here: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=834314 "Drag URL To A Window As A Shortcut = No Icon For That Shortcut"

I suppose if it's a 'feature' and not a bug someone could write an addon that fixes it? I can't imagine it would be particularly complicated, but then again I couldn't write it.

This issue has been finally addressed here: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=827784

An option "browser.shell.shortcutFavicons", accessible through about:config, has been added that allows one to choose the old behavior of using generic FF icon (thus without any favicon) for shortcuts created dragging an URL from the address bar to the desktop (or whatever other directory/folder).

I would like to publicly thanks Josh Yuan for coding and Brian R. Bondy for sponsoring this fix that will be issued with Firefox rev 21.

Apparently the fix is already available with Nightly releases.

Thanks for that welcome news, smzit. Also thanks to everyone who provided input, ideas and interim workarounds -- and most of all to Mozilla coder Josh Yuan and sponsor Brian R. Bondy!

My thanks too to Josh and Brian !

So here I am on 18.02 -- how long till rev. 21 is out, and in the meanwhile how can unskilled computer people like me use the patch shown in:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=827784           ?

Oh cmon! We shouldn't have to wait 3 more versions to have this fixed! This should have never happened if they did testing in XP!

I really don't know why this icon problem arose in the first place. AFAIK, it's been working fine since the dawn of Firefox. But suddenly around v19 something broke. Why did it break and who broke it?

Program icons are a foundation (bedrock) asset that should never be changed. So someone fiddled with the code and now the goose is cooked.

It seems a tad unfair to ask the code-illiterate user of Firefox to wait until v20 or 21 for the icon problem to go away.

The default Firefox icon is part of Mozilla's branding and should never be meddled with. We users rely on icons to identify what's on our desktop.

Thanks EBID.

Question, Can you provide a second, leaner modified script so that the only two output lines are just [InternetShortcut] and URL=, as : [InternetShortcut] URL=http://download.eb-zuerich.ch/mozilla-support/ (or whatever the url is, of course)

And NOT have the extra new IDList and Prop lines added. IDList= [{000214A0-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}] Prop3=19,2 (or whatever they are created as)

So that the new resulting URL would only have two lines, just like in the good old days? as:

• [InternetShortcut]
• URL=http://..............

I tried futzing with the script myself, but sad to say do not know the language and have ever only ended up with no usable output.

I am seeking for the most minimal, good old fashioned two-line URL file which has maximum compatibility between my different PCs and Macs and flash drives.

Thank you sincerely, Best.

Anyone else find it ironic that this problem arose because they wanted to extract a website's favicon for the desktop shortcuts, but FF stopped showing the favicon in the URL bar because it was a security risk?

This unbranded icon problem is not life threatening but it's a bloody nuisance inj a distraction sense.

Is there a light at the end of the tunnel?

Plus this page seems to have lost its css formatting! Uuurgghhh!