Solved Need Help: Missing Flash Drive Icons in File Open/Save Dialog box

M

mookiemeister

New Member
Hi,

My PC has problem displaying flash drive icons correctly in file open and file save dialog boxes.

On my Dell Inspiron, there are 4 flash drives (Compact Flash, SD, Memory Stick, and xD/SM). The 4 drives' icons display fine from Windows Explorer but all 4 drive icons are missing in File Open and File Save dialog boxes. The problem exists in every application's file open and file save that I checked so I'm thinking it's a problem with Vista and not with specific application.

I'm running Vista x64 Home Premium.

Has anyone else encounter this problem? Does anyone have a solution for fixing these missing icons?

Thanks in advance for any help.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 530
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Duo CPU E7400 @ 2.8GHz
    Memory
    6GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel G33/G31 Express Chipset
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 25" SyncMaster T260HD
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1200
    Hard Drives
    750GB SATA
    PSU
    300W
    Case
    Dell Inspiron Case
    Cooling
    Fan - Maximum Heat Dissipation 162W
    Mouse
    Logitech LX3 Optical Mouse
    Keyboard
    Dell
    Internet Speed
    768kbps
    Other Info
    Triple Boot With Windows 7 x64 and Ubuntu Linux 10.04 x64
Ok. Thanks for the tip. I'll give it a try.

Sorry if this is obvious, but where can I get the most up-to-date MS Controller driver you mentioned?
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 530
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Duo CPU E7400 @ 2.8GHz
    Memory
    6GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel G33/G31 Express Chipset
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 25" SyncMaster T260HD
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1200
    Hard Drives
    750GB SATA
    PSU
    300W
    Case
    Dell Inspiron Case
    Cooling
    Fan - Maximum Heat Dissipation 162W
    Mouse
    Logitech LX3 Optical Mouse
    Keyboard
    Dell
    Internet Speed
    768kbps
    Other Info
    Triple Boot With Windows 7 x64 and Ubuntu Linux 10.04 x64
I went to Device Manager and right click on each of the 4 flash drives and select 'Update Driver Software...' and then 'Search Automatically for Updated Driver Software'. It stated that my drivers for the 4 flash drives are all up-to-date.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 530
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Duo CPU E7400 @ 2.8GHz
    Memory
    6GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel G33/G31 Express Chipset
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 25" SyncMaster T260HD
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1200
    Hard Drives
    750GB SATA
    PSU
    300W
    Case
    Dell Inspiron Case
    Cooling
    Fan - Maximum Heat Dissipation 162W
    Mouse
    Logitech LX3 Optical Mouse
    Keyboard
    Dell
    Internet Speed
    768kbps
    Other Info
    Triple Boot With Windows 7 x64 and Ubuntu Linux 10.04 x64
I couldn't find a driver called MS Controller you mentioned. But I reinstalled the Card Reader driver that came with the Dell, then I went to Dell web site and updated the BIOS from 1.0.15 to 1.0.18. It seems to fix the problem. Now the icons are displayed in the file open/save dialog boxes inside applications. On the other hand, before it used to display distinct icons for each of the 4 drives, now it just display 4 generic 'Removeable Disk' icons. Not a biggie.

I just noticed there is a driver called 'Matrix Storage Manager' on the Dell web site for my system. Is this the MS Controller you mentioned before?
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 530
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Duo CPU E7400 @ 2.8GHz
    Memory
    6GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel G33/G31 Express Chipset
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 25" SyncMaster T260HD
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1200
    Hard Drives
    750GB SATA
    PSU
    300W
    Case
    Dell Inspiron Case
    Cooling
    Fan - Maximum Heat Dissipation 162W
    Mouse
    Logitech LX3 Optical Mouse
    Keyboard
    Dell
    Internet Speed
    768kbps
    Other Info
    Triple Boot With Windows 7 x64 and Ubuntu Linux 10.04 x64
I just noticed you referred to my PC as 'your laptop' in your previous post. In case it makes any difference, my PC is Dell Inspiron as I mentioned in the original post and it's a desktop PC, not a laptop.

Anyways, thanks for your helpful suggestions.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 530
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Duo CPU E7400 @ 2.8GHz
    Memory
    6GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel G33/G31 Express Chipset
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 25" SyncMaster T260HD
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1200
    Hard Drives
    750GB SATA
    PSU
    300W
    Case
    Dell Inspiron Case
    Cooling
    Fan - Maximum Heat Dissipation 162W
    Mouse
    Logitech LX3 Optical Mouse
    Keyboard
    Dell
    Internet Speed
    768kbps
    Other Info
    Triple Boot With Windows 7 x64 and Ubuntu Linux 10.04 x64
Not really... it's a long story...

Well, it turned out that when I reinstalled the Card Reader driver, in addition to changing the 4 different flash drive icons to the same generic icon, it also displays 'Safely Remove Hardware' icon in the notification area of the task bar. So when I click on 'Safely Remove Hardware' the 4 flash drives from this icon in the notification area, it actually removed the 4 drives so I have no access to the drives anymore. After that even if I inserted a flash card (I tried SD card and Compact Flash card), no drives would be re-enabled.

So then I decided to Restore Windows to a state before I reinstalled the Card Reader driver. After that, when it rebooted my PC, the 4 flash drive icons went back to the original 4 unique drive icons and the 'Safely Remove Hardware' icon in the notification area disappears so I won't accidentally remove the drives and then couldn't access anymore.

After that I checked different applications' file open/save dialog box, and the 4 flash drive icons are all missing again. So it looks like flashing the BIOS to the latest version didn't fix the problem like I stated before. The problem was fixed because the drives icons were generic icons or something. I don't know.

Oh well. At least it seems to be back to where it was. Should I download and install the Matrix Storage Manager from Dell web site? I compared all the drivers versions listed for my system on Dell and it looks like everything is up-to-date. Everything except the Matrix Storage Manager which wasn't on my Dell Device Driver CD that came with my PC. And when I searched on the web for info on the Matrix Storage Manager, I learned that it's some support for RAID drives which I don't use.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 530
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Duo CPU E7400 @ 2.8GHz
    Memory
    6GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel G33/G31 Express Chipset
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 25" SyncMaster T260HD
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1200
    Hard Drives
    750GB SATA
    PSU
    300W
    Case
    Dell Inspiron Case
    Cooling
    Fan - Maximum Heat Dissipation 162W
    Mouse
    Logitech LX3 Optical Mouse
    Keyboard
    Dell
    Internet Speed
    768kbps
    Other Info
    Triple Boot With Windows 7 x64 and Ubuntu Linux 10.04 x64

Attachments

  • Missing Icons.JPG
    Missing Icons.JPG
    72.5 KB · Views: 441

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 530
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Duo CPU E7400 @ 2.8GHz
    Memory
    6GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel G33/G31 Express Chipset
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 25" SyncMaster T260HD
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1200
    Hard Drives
    750GB SATA
    PSU
    300W
    Case
    Dell Inspiron Case
    Cooling
    Fan - Maximum Heat Dissipation 162W
    Mouse
    Logitech LX3 Optical Mouse
    Keyboard
    Dell
    Internet Speed
    768kbps
    Other Info
    Triple Boot With Windows 7 x64 and Ubuntu Linux 10.04 x64
Ok. I finally fix the missing flash drive icons on my system. I'll mention what I did in case anyone else has this problem. But I don't know if my fix is a hack and might break something else or not.

So what I did was the following:

1) Use regedit and search for the 4 flash drive names shown in Windows Explorer ('Compact Flash Drive', 'Memory Stick Drive', 'xD/SM Drive', 'SD Card Drive'). I found the keys corresponding to the flash drive icons in Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\AutoplayHandlers\DeviceGroups under the keys (TEAC_CF, TEAC_MS, TEAC_SD, TEAC_XDSM).

2) In the data fields, I noticed that the icon files is located in %SystemRoot%\system32\TEACico2.dll.

3) I checked the file using Windows Explorer, IE8 (32-bit), and IE8 (64-bit) and noticed that the file is missing in IE8 (32-bit). And there are some strange temp files (temp.000, temp.001, temp.002, temp.003) in IE8 (32-bit) that is not in Windows Explorer or IE8 (64-bit).

4) Then I did a full search from Windows Explorer for the 4 strange temp files that is showing up in IE8 (32-bit) and found that they are actually located in C:\Windows\SysWOW64 directory.

5) Doing a little more search on the web and from Vista x64 forums, I learned that SysWOW64 is the shadow directory for the older 32-bit applications. When you use file open/save dialog box to navigate to System32 directory, Vista 64 actually shows the SysWOW64 directory.

6) So the solution seems simple. I just copied the TEACico2.dll that has all the 4 flash drive icons from System32 to SysWOW64 directory. And the flash drive icons are all showing up in 32-bit app's file open/save dialog boxes.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 530
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Duo CPU E7400 @ 2.8GHz
    Memory
    6GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel G33/G31 Express Chipset
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 25" SyncMaster T260HD
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1200
    Hard Drives
    750GB SATA
    PSU
    300W
    Case
    Dell Inspiron Case
    Cooling
    Fan - Maximum Heat Dissipation 162W
    Mouse
    Logitech LX3 Optical Mouse
    Keyboard
    Dell
    Internet Speed
    768kbps
    Other Info
    Triple Boot With Windows 7 x64 and Ubuntu Linux 10.04 x64
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