You can check for issues with the Windows icon cache and try to rebuild the icon cache. # Open the Task Manager (Shift+Ctrl+ESC) # In the Process tab, right-click on the Explorer.exe process and select End Process. # Open the file picker via "File > New Task (Run)" and click the Browse button. # Type or Paste %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local (%LocalAppData%) in the File name field (AppData is a hidden folder). # Select the IconCache.db file and use "Delete" in the right-click context menu to delete the file. # After the IconCache.db file has been deleted, start a new explorer.exe process via "File > New Task" to get the desktop and Taskbar back. The IconCache.db file is a hidden file, so make sure that you can see hidden files. * http://kb.mozillazine.org/Show_hidden_files_and_folders