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I'm trying to update the icons on the taskbar in Windows 10 by just deleting and copying shortcut files (*.lnk) to the QuickLaunch folder:

%AppData%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\TaskBar

We have an important application that has frequent updates through the year. Each update changes part of the folder path slightly (6.1 becomes 6.2 becomes 6.3, etc). Part of what our users expect is a Taskbar icon for this program. I can push the software update out easily through SCCM, but the taskbar icon is not part of the installer, so I have an additional script I use to also delete the old shortcut file from the taskbar folder and copy a new shortcut file I prepared in place from a shared folder.

This worked great for the Windows 7 version of this folder, but Windows 10 seems to use the folder in combination with some kind of database. The result of running the script is the database is not updated. The icon remains on the taskbar, but it looks for the old shortcut file.

Where is this database located, and how I can update it or cause it to refresh from a simple powershell or (preferrably) batch script?

In case it matters, our Windows 10 deployment does have the recent Anniversary update (1607).

Joel Coehoorn
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  • See if this answer helps...http://superuser.com/a/171135/40928 – Moab Aug 15 '16 at 20:24
  • The vbscript in the 2nd answer there may do half of what I need. It looks at each item in that folder and pins it _if not already pinned_. So I can just drop any shortcut I want in the folder, run the script, and new items are there. Removing old items will still take some work, but I may be able to adapt the script for that as needed. Add an answer for this, and you'll at least get an upvote. – Joel Coehoorn Aug 15 '16 at 21:25
  • Links are not answers, at best this is a duplicate question but I will leave it as is. – Moab Aug 15 '16 at 21:26
  • A link plus a summary can be okay. If you won't, then I'll post back here with vbscript code to sync everything together after I have a chance to write it... but it may be a couple weeks. I'm at the front of this project looking in. – Joel Coehoorn Aug 15 '16 at 22:25

1 Answers1

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Running this command updates or refreshes the icons in Windows 10:

ie4uinit -show

In previous versions of Windows, you'd use:

ie4uinit -ClearIconCache

Src: How to Refresh or Clear the Icon Cache Quickly Using IE4UINIT.exe

w32sh
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  • It didn't work. This would allow me to update the icon that displays on the taskbar if I changed it for the shortcut, but it didn't add a new shortcut I placed in the folder and when I pinned it manually and deleted the shortcut it just changed the icon on the taskbar to the default "unkown file" icon, but did not remove it. – Joel Coehoorn Aug 16 '16 at 13:42
  • I tested with Notepad shortcut (deleted existing shortcut and created new one with different path, and gave the shortcut the original name `Notepad.lnk`) and it worked fine here. If it's not working with other programs, may be this has to do with `AppModelUserID` thing. As a workaround you may try this portable [tool here](https://deployhappiness.com/pin-programs-to-the-taskbar-in-windows-10/) to Pin items to taskbar, if your company allows it. – w32sh Aug 16 '16 at 14:39