blank matlab icon on taskbar after a change in matlab directory.

The original matlab directory is c:\matlab\r2023 and r2023 was moved to c:\ to replace c:\matlab and renamed as matlab r2023. Matlab still works properly except that the matlab icon on the taskbar becomes blank. How to change this icon to the original matlab icon?

Answer 1

[Manikanta Aditya]

Hi @feynman feynman,

To restore the MATLAB icon, you should right-click on any impacted MATLAB icons, select 'Properties' and click on the 'Change Icon...' button. From here, click 'Browse' and navigate to the matlab.ico file that is located in your $MATLAB/bin/<arch> folder, where $MATLAB is your installation directory. You will then need to click Apply.

By default, the full path to the matlab.ico file is:

• For Professional - C:/Program Files/MATLAB/{release}/bin/win64/matlab.ico
• For Students - C:/Program Files (x86)/MATLAB/{release}/bin/win32/matlab.ico

Refer the following reference to know more:

• Why does my MATLAB icon look like a sheet of paper on my Windows-based computer? - MATLAB Answers - MATLAB Central (mathworks.com)

Thanks!

[feynman feynman]

Thanks a lot for the answer. Clicked on the icon on the desktop and followed the exact workflow. Nothing changed. There has been nothing wrong with the icon on the desktop but the icon on the taskbar.

[Manikanta Aditya]

Unpin the old MATLAB icon from the taskbar, and create a new shortcut and then pin the new shortcut to the taskbar.

For creating a new shortcut, follow these steps:

• Navigate to the new MATLAB installation directory. For example, C:\matlab r2023\bin\win64 for a 64-bit installation.
• Locate the matlab.exe file.
• Right-click on matlab.exe and select "Create shortcut."

Also as a workaround try clearing the icon cache:

• Open File Explorer and navigate to C:\Users\<YourUsername>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer.
• Locate and delete the files named iconcache_*.
• Restart your computer to rebuild the icon cache.

I hope this helps.

[feynman feynman]

The approach of pinning a new shortcut to the taskbar works. Thank you so much.

[Manikanta Aditya]

Great to know @feynman feynman