FileZilla 3.47.0: turns all shortcuts black

[Stevec5088]

I first reported this as a FZ Pro problem. But this week, FileZilla 3.46.3 auto-upgraded to 3.47.0 (64-bit), and now the problem occurs with the non-Pro version. I was able to clear the problem by uninstalling the 64-bit FileZilla, and installing the 32-bit version (FileZilla_3.47.0_win32-setup.exe)

Here's the background:
I am using a Windows 10 64-bit machine. I got tired of every shortcut on the screen having the little arrow applied by Windows, so I made a change in Regedit. Now, every time I start the 64-bit version 3.47.0, it turns all the shortcuts into black rectangles. I have to go into Task Manager and restart Windows Explorer to return them to normal view. Uninstalling the 64-bit version, and installing 32-bit version cleared the problem.

Last week it was the other way around: the non-Pro FileZilla 64-bit version 3.46.3 did not turn the shortcuts black.

Here's the regedit steps to get rid of (or bring back) the arrows:
--- How to Remove Arrows on Icons ---
Regedit: Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
in Left pane, Rt-click on" Explorer"
Add new key: Rt-click on Explorer in left pane, then New, then Key.
Name it "Shell Icons". (space included) Shows up on left pane. Click it.
In the right pane: Rt-click, New, String Value, name it "29"
Rt-click 29, Modify, set value to: %windir%\System32\shell32.dll,-50
Restart Windows Explorer from Task Manager (start Task Manager by rt-click on task bar)
If you did the above steps correctly, the arrows are gone. To get them back, delete the "Shell Icons" key in the left pane.

[botg]

That's either a bug in your operating system or a third-party shell extension you have installed.

Please try a fresh Windows installation with the only third-party program installed being FileZilla. If the problem persists, contact Microsoft for further assistance.

[Stevec5088]

Well, I see it more as a bug in FileZilla. Every time FileZilla starts in Windows 10, you can see all the shortcut icons on the desktop flash off then back on in a short instant. No other apps do that. There is some sort of operation FileZilla is doing in its startup process that causes this.

You can google black box shell icons, and read more on the problem, and there are other ways to remove the Windows arrows. Another method is to replace the "%windir%\System32\shell32.dll,-50" with a link to a blank.ico. Unfortunately, this method also fails after starting Filezilla several times. The Filezilla with blank.ico causes all the shortcuts to change to a white page with the corner turned down.

I can live with restarting Windows Explorer from the Task Manager occasionally, but Filezilla is such a useful tool that I use it multiple times a day. I sure wish someone could fix it so it doesn't flash all the desktop icons when it starts.

[botg]

Using an Internet search engine confirms that this is a bug in Windows. Contact Microsoft for assistance.

[Stevec5088]

I imagine MS gets tons of contacts. Is there an official place to submit problem reports? I'll be happy to write this one up.

[boco]

Do you use the Explorer Dark Mode? Does the problem persist if switching to Light?

For Windows 10, there's the official Feedback Hub, built right into Windows (it's an UWP App).
You could also join the Insiders, test it with new builds, and, if it still exists, report it through the Insider Hub.

What the tweak does is replacing the normal overlay icon (the arrow) with icon 50 from shell32.dll (which seems to be a transparent layer). The icon is as old as the tweak (I know it from Windows 95). Now, either that icon has some problems in Windows 10 due to its age, or there is a general alpha channel problem when refreshing icons.
You could try the alternate way, using a custom blank icon, described here:

Code: Select all

https://winaero.com/blog/remove-shortcut-arrow-overlay-in-windows-10/

This method has the big advantage of not being reliant on shell32.dll, where MS could replace the four transparent icons at any time with something useful, or remove them altogether. Note that MS is currently in the process of modernizing all Windows icons.

[Stevec5088]

I use whatever the default mode of WinExplorer. I don't think it's "dark mode".

I tried the blank.ico, and the problem still occurs.

[boco]

Yeah, seems to be a bug in Windows 10, and MS doesn't care much. Personally, I'm exchanging the big, ugly overlay icon with the classic one from XP, that one is much smaller.

[Stevec5088]

This seems to work: download/save the "transparent.ico" from WindowsTenForums (see below). It does NOT need to be stored in the C:\Windows\System32 folder. I just use one I created -- C:\ProgFiles, where I keep local tools.

Change the "29" string value to <path>\transparent.ico

Code: Select all

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/8974-shortcut-arrow-icon-change-remove-restore-windows-10-a.html

[boco]

That's actually the same method I posted earlier, using a blank icon. Well, let's see how it turns out.

Unfortunately the linked site contains Google tracking Spyware, thus I had to make it non-clickable.

[Stevec5088]

Well, I tried the blank icon, and it did not work. It resulted in a white page -- with the corner bent down -- when the problem shows up. The "transparent.ico" seems to be different. ...But now that I put the blank.ico into the registry line, I cannot get it to fail.

The one thing that I have also tried, that MAY have alleviated the problem is to clear out all the IconCache*.db files, as shown at:

Code: Select all

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/5645-rebuild-icon-cache-windows-10-a.html