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Windows 10, red shortcut arrows?

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Anyone know why some of my shortcut arrows are red?

red_shortcut_arrows.PNG
 

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

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Benchmark Scores I dont have time for that.
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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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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Maybe they run as admin?
 
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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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Benchmark Scores I dont have time for that.
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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this guide and linked tool may be able to help narrow it down
 

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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:
redandblue.PNG


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

Maybe they run as admin?

Admin are marked with shield in lower right corner, his screenshots has one.
 
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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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Well you've got your answer.
 
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What OS version are you running?
If fast-track Insider Win10, could be a new feature :)
 
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this guide and linked tool may be able to help narrow it down
Thanks for the tip. I tried the shexview utility, but couldn't find the red icon overlay there

Well you've got your answer.

lol, I guess.

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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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:
backtoblue.PNG


A weird one, but it bugs me not knowing what the cause of this was though :confused:
 
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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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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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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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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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Well, I guess if it happens again... . :confused:

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

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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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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.

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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