# Windows 10, red shortcut arrows?



## lsevald (Aug 29, 2019)

Anyone know why some of my shortcut arrows are red?


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## Toothless (Aug 29, 2019)

Does the shortcut work?


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## lsevald (Aug 29, 2019)

Yes, the red shortcuts works. I also tried to reset the icon cache, and restart the computer


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## Solaris17 (Aug 30, 2019)

Thats bizarre. I know it isnt onedrive, but I do know some software be it anti-malware or cloud backup etc can superimpose other icons over the shortcut links. Did you install something recently? Maybe it was a software update, AV or otherwise?


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## lsevald (Aug 30, 2019)

Not that I'm aware of. I just noticed it yesterday, and thought my icon cache was corrupt or something. But rebuilding it didn't help, so it must come from some icon resource or file. Also it's always the same icons that are red. But there's no pattern to the madness, as apps&games can be stored on the same drive and have different colors. I'm going to do a sfc and full malware/virus scan next (tomorrow)


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## natr0n (Aug 30, 2019)

Maybe they run as admin?


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## lsevald (Aug 30, 2019)

Thanks for the suggestion, but no, not related to run as admin it seems. 

But I have made progress, all the red shortcuts come from the C:\Users\Public\Desktop folder, still doesn't explain why they are red though


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## Solaris17 (Aug 30, 2019)

You sure it doesn’t? Things in the public folder are generally shared if any kind of home group or network discovery is on. Maybe it’s a sharing/sharing permission thing? Though I’m sure more would report it. How about moving them, or going into the program files folders and re-creating the short cuts to be sure?


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## Mussels (Aug 30, 2019)

Green Tick or Blue Arrows Icon Overlay Displayed for Files in Windows Explorer
					

If you're wondering why Explorer shows certain files or folders with some icon sign in the corners, such as white tick mark in a green box, or chevron in a blue box or any other symbol such as white tick in round green background regardless of the file type, then




					www.winhelponline.com
				




this guide and linked tool may be able to help narrow it down


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## eidairaman1 (Aug 30, 2019)

shortcut icon on desktop will have the left corner arrow change to another sign (red cross, green check, or other)
					

Hello, i have sometimes all my shortcut icon on desktop will have the left corner arrow change to another sign (red cross, green check, or other) With a reboot it will resolve the Problem, but it



					answers.microsoft.com
				












						Shortcut Arrow Icon - Change, Remove, or Restore in Windows 10
					

How to Change, Remove, or Restore Shortcut Arrow Overlay Icon in Windows 10




					www.tenforums.com


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## lsevald (Aug 30, 2019)

Solaris17 said:


> You sure it doesn’t? Things in the public folder are generally shared if any kind of home group or network discovery is on. Maybe it’s a sharing/sharing permission thing? Though I’m sure more would report it. How about moving them, or going into the program files folders and re-creating the short cuts to be sure?



I can copy the red shortcuts from the public desktop to my user desktop, then I get this, both works fine, has the same name and point to the same exe:




Permission wise, the public one has an additional user named "INTERACTIVE", while the user one has two named "S-1-5-21-lots of numbers", the rest looks identical


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## Chomiq (Aug 30, 2019)

So you have shortcuts from different accounts on your desktop. Local are blue, public are red? Correct?



natr0n said:


> Maybe they run as admin?



Admin are marked with shield in lower right corner, his screenshots has one.


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## lsevald (Aug 30, 2019)

Chomiq said:


> So you have shortcuts from different accounts on your desktop. Local are blue, public are red? Correct?


Some installers put the desktop icons in the public desktop folder. I guess it's the same as the old install for "All users" option?  I haven't done anything with these icons, just noticed some were red all of a sudden. Yes, red for public, blue for my main user


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## Chomiq (Aug 30, 2019)

Well you've got your answer.


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## londiste (Aug 30, 2019)

What OS version are you running?
If fast-track Insider Win10, could be a new feature


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## lsevald (Aug 30, 2019)

Mussels said:


> Green Tick or Blue Arrows Icon Overlay Displayed for Files in Windows Explorer
> 
> 
> If you're wondering why Explorer shows certain files or folders with some icon sign in the corners, such as white tick mark in a green box, or chevron in a blue box or any other symbol such as white tick in round green background regardless of the file type, then
> ...


Thanks for the tip. I tried the shexview utility, but couldn't find the red icon overlay there



Chomiq said:


> Well you've got your answer.



lol, I guess.



londiste said:


> What OS version are you running?
> If fast-track Insider Win10, could be a new feature



No, it's version 1809


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## londiste (Aug 30, 2019)

Are you running any security/antivirus software?

ShellExView should be able to list Icon Overlay Handlers:





						ShellExView - Shell Extension Manager For Windows
					

Shell Extensions Manager



					www.nirsoft.net


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## lsevald (Aug 30, 2019)

londiste said:


> Are you running any security/antivirus software?



Originally only windows defender. But I ran a full Bitdefender scan earlier today, nothing.

But the red icons are gone now. I ran a Dism++ disk cleanup, and it removed ~12GB of crap (hopefully), reboot, and:



A weird one, but it bugs me not knowing what the cause of this was though


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## Bill_Bright (Aug 30, 2019)

Not sure I have ever noticed that before because I hate shortcut arrows. So one of the first things I do with all my own builds is install Winaero Tweaker and have it edit the Registry to use "No arrow". 

That said, I am puzzled why my friend Bing Google can find no other reference to what you experienced. Very odd. It seems you are the only one in the world!


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## lsevald (Aug 31, 2019)

Yeah, lucky me  I found very little searching the web too, which makes me kinda regret "fixing" it, as I'm not any wiser. My current theory is that it was a windows update in progress that halted/failed for some reason, and Dism++ cleaned it out. Dism++ disk cleanup is mostly dealing with windows stuff, as far as I know.


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## Bill_Bright (Aug 31, 2019)

lsevald said:


> My current theory is that it was a windows update in progress that halted/failed for some reason


Possibly but that happens all the time (most often harmlessly) for many reasons. So it seems others would have noticed and inquired about it too. 

Have you made any custom changes or tweaks to your Windows desktop theme?


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## lsevald (Sep 1, 2019)

No, stock windows 10 theme with dark modes on. I reinstalled  the 1809 build just a few weeks ago too, as I didn't like 1903. I have done a few tweaks to it, but nothing cosmetic that I know of. Mostly related to telemetry (WPD, O&O Shutup), and Winaero for a few handy shortcuts. I like my Windows as lightweight and clean as possible.


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## Bill_Bright (Sep 1, 2019)

Well, I guess if it happens again... . 

Hmmm, don't even know how to finish that sentence!


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## dibz (Sep 2, 2019)

Registered just to respond to this thread. Found it trying to figure this one out myself, and eventually did figure it out.

Turns out a windows update caused this, and the red shortcut happens when there's additional hardlinks of a shortcut. If you right click them, go to properties, then the Link Properties tab and you'll see the other locations. Mine had hardlinks created under "C:\$WINDOWS.~BT\NewOS\Users\...". Once you delete the hardlinks to your afflicted shortcuts the red overlays disappear.


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## FordGT90Concept (Sep 2, 2019)

C:\$WINDOWS.~BT is the folder Media Creation Tool uses. If you're done with creating the media and/or installing it on the local system, that folder is no longer necessary.



lsevald said:


> I can copy the red shortcuts from the public desktop to my user desktop, then I get this, both works fine, has the same name and point to the same exe:
> View attachment 130422


It's weird that I haven't seen this behavior (or that it is so rare).  It does make some sense that the shortcuts being copied from public be identified separate from local user shortcuts.  If that's truly the case, then mystery solved, if not, that "INTERACTIVE" account could be a clue.  That's a really weird username for starters.  The S-blahblahblah is the actual user account ID which is HKEY_USERS in the registry...

This is could be very risky so I wouldn't do this without being able to wipe the computer clean/backup everything but...I would try deleting that User and see if the red icons go away.  I wonder if something was installed which created that account and then subsequently changed all shortcut links to that account to red.


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## lsevald (Sep 2, 2019)

dibz said:


> Registered just to respond to this thread. Found it trying to figure this one out myself, and eventually did figure it out.
> 
> Turns out a windows update caused this, and the red shortcut happens when there's additional hardlinks of a shortcut. If you right click them, go to properties, then the Link Properties tab and you'll see the other locations. Mine had hardlinks created under "C:\$WINDOWS.~BT\NewOS\Users\...". Once you delete the hardlinks to your afflicted shortcuts the red overlays disappear.



Thanks dibz, that must be it!  I do have a hidden "C:\$WINDOWS.~BT\NewOS" folder (win update trying to sneak 1903 in?), so I'm guessing Dism++ cleaned that out, and solved the problem, as it's all empty now.


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## Bill_Bright (Sep 2, 2019)

FordGT90Concept said:


> C:\$WINDOWS.~BT is the folder Media Creation Tool uses.


But Media Creation Tool is not the only user of that folder. The How-to Geek does a pretty good job of explaining that ~BT folder (and the $WINDOWS.~WS  folder) here. 

These folders were more likely created as part of the upgrade process from a previous build and should have automatically been deleted some time ago (like a couple _years_ ago!). And clearly, for the vast majority of users, they were deleted or this red arrow issue would be very wide spread and we likely would see many more reports. So I can only guess there was some corruption in your folders at some point in time that blocked them from being deleted.

I recommend using Windows own Disk Cleanup to delete the files, as shown in that How-To article.


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## FordGT90Concept (Sep 2, 2019)

Right you are.  Those files will appear to do major updates too (like 1809->1903).

Windows will eventually delete them...when it feels like it.


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## Bill_Bright (Sep 2, 2019)

FordGT90Concept said:


> Windows will eventually delete them...when it feels like it.


Well, "should" delete them - after 30 days at the most. So I would say if the folders and all the contents are timestamped more than 30 days ago, then something prevented Windows from deleting them. If Windows is working fine otherwise, and you don't see a need to roll-back to a previous version, then delete them since they are just taking up space, and often many gigabytes of space.


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