Guide: Fix ‘Adobe Acrobat DC and Reader DC Missing Icon’ Issue
For the past few months, I’ve been dealing with an Adobe Acrobat Reader DC installation that didn’t show the correct taskbar icon when I started it. Instead, all I could see was a general looking icon similar to the native Photos app. The problem even affected the menu items in the program’s Start menu. Acrobat Reader DC still worked fine, but the missing icon just annoyed me a lot. And repairing the program did nothing to fix the problem. That’s why I finally took the time to look around for a method to fix it by other means. But what surprised me was the fact that this missing icon bug has plagued users for years. Obviously, Adobe hasn’t done anything to patch it upEven Adobe Acrobat DC (Pro and Standard) seems to be affected. Fortunately, I found a number of ways to get the correct Adobe Acrobat DC or Acrobat Reader DC icon back on the taskbar and Start menu. In my case, the first method immediately fixed the missing icon. So go through it and try out the second method in case that fails.
1. Replace the Start menu item
The first method requires you to replace the faulty Adobe Acrobat DC or Acrobat Reader DC Start menu item with a shortcut based on the program’s executable file. Surprisingly, this will come to an end up fix the problem with the missing icon. I have written the following steps for both versions of Adobe Acrobat. So make sure to make any necessary adjustments where necessary. Step 1: Remove the Adobe Acrobat DC or Acrobat Reader DC shortcut from your desktop. If there is a shortcut for the program pinned to the taskbar, unpin it too. Note: Skip this step if such shortcuts are not on the desktop and taskbar.
Step 2: Open File Explorer, copy and paste the following folder path into the address bar and hit Enter: C: ProgramDataMicrosoftWindowsStart MenuPrograms
Step 3: Find Adobe Acrobat DC or Acrobat Reader DC in the list of shortcuts in the Start menu that appears upHint – it should look like a generic Windows 10 icon. Right-click on the shortcut and click Delete.
Step 4: Open a new copy of File Explorer and then navigate to the following location according to your Adobe Acrobat installation: Adobe Acrobat DC (Pro and Standard) C: Program files (x86) AdobeAcrobat DCAcrobat Acrobat Reader DC C: Program files (x86) AdobeAcrobat Reader DCReader
Step 5: Right-click the executable file named Acrobat (for Adobe Acrobat DC) or AcroRd32 (for Acrobat Reader DC), point to Send To, and then click Desktop. Tip Executable files end with the file extension .EXE. If you are not sure, click the View tab and check the File name extensions box to make all file extensions visible.
Step 6: Go to the desktop, right-click on the newly created Acrobat.exe or AcroRd32.exe shortcut and select Rename.
Step 7: Name Acrobat – Shortcut as ‘Adobe Acrobat DC’ or AcroRd32 – Shortcut as ‘Acrobat Reader DC’.
Step 8: Right-click the shortcut again and select Copy.
Step 9: Open the File Explorer window from Step 2 – if you closed the window, go to the same location again. Right-click on an empty area and select Paste.
Step 10: Click Continue to allow the file explorer to paste the shortcut. When you are done, exit the window.
Step 11: Open Adobe Acrobat DC or Acrobat Reader DC from the desktop shortcut or the Start menu.
And voila! You should see the correct Adobe icon show up on the taskbar. The items in the Start menu should also display the correct icon from now on.
2. Change the default .ICO app
If the above method doesn’t work, then you need to change the file association for ICO files (.ico) from Photos app to Microsoft Paint. To do that, you have to dive into the Windows 10 Settings app. Step 1: Open the Action Center and click All Settings.
Step 2: Click the tile labeled Apps.
Step 3: Switch to the Default apps side tab, scroll down the list of default apps, then select ‘Choose default apps by file type’.
Step 4: Find the file extension labeled .ico (ICO file). Switch the default app for the extension from Photos to Paint.
Close the Settings app and start Adobe Acrobat DC or Acrobat Reader DC. You should see the correct icon on the taskbar. The same goes for the items in the Start menu.
The circus is in town
With the two methods above, you can easily get the Adobe Acrobat DC or Acrobat Reader DC to display icons up correct again. But why is this problem caused in the first place? Adobe probably messed up up the file extensions for their shortcuts in a format that Windows 10 does not actually support. That seems to be the only plausible explanation. That said, you may have to go through the above fixes again if a future Adobe Acrobat or Windows 10 update breaks things or reverts your changes to their defaults. But until Adobe gets their act together, you have no choice but to address this problem repeatedly when it recurs. The next up: Getting blinded while reading PDFs at night? Check out these four great PDF readers with built-in night mode functionality.
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