Icons will not show in True Color!

[Frank]

I have a Windows 2000 machine that will not show icons in true color. I have the display set to True Color (32 Bit), and the "Show icons using all possible colors" option checked. Is there a fix for this? Thanks!

[darkmark327]

Does everything else work as true color, e.g. can you make a gradient in photoshop without banding?

Then we can see whether the problem lies with the display not being 32 bit or windows doing what it does best, which is spawn weird problems

[Frank]

I do not know how to make a gradient in photoshop, but If I go to neowin, all the colors look normal.

[Jazza]

Have you tried installing new video drivers?

[Frank]

This I have not tried, but that will probably be a good first step.

[Max Veteran]

Isn't there the "Show icons using all availalble colours" option somewhere?

[Frank]

Yes there is. And it has been checked.

[Max Veteran]

Oh, didn't read the first post properly! *slaps me round face with wet fish*

Are you using TweakUI? I done something in Windows XP which turned the icons to 256-bit afterwards (bug in software).

[DELTA75329]

  Fowen said:

Yes there is. And it has been checked.

Uhh...yea, that screenshot looks fine on this end. Looks 32-bit enabled to me.

Yet it shows as not 32-bit on your end...? very weird. :ermm:

[Frank]

The pictures and everything looks fine, but the REAL icons (see first post) are like 256 Color icons. I have seen people have this very same problem, just don't know if there was ever a resolution.

/Edit: Here is another Screeny of my settings:

[Frank]

I am not sure if this user has Tweak UI installed. I will see if I can find a option in there if it is.

[DELTA75329]

:huh:

Of course you've rebooted right?

If you have Tweak IU, go to the repair tab and rebuild the icons.

Another idea is to reset the color pallette: set 256 colors, reboot, then set 32-bit color, reboot.

(Kickstarting the settings might help)

[darkmark327]

Well, you don't need to post a gradient or anything, your screenshot of desktop options shows that your video drivers aren't at fault, because those icons are workign fine.

So something is wonky with your desktop, we just have to find out what. I second using tweakui and rummaging through the settings. Other than that, are you sure you're not using any programs that go and screw with the color depth? I know that's happened to me, and when I come back the icons are screwy until it exits completely.

[Rob Veteran]

Same thing is happening on my laptop - 256-colour icons in Win2k despite the fact that gradients all work fine in Photoshop and the like. Never did find a solution.

[Yuxi]

  absolutemaxpayne.co.uk said:

Are you using TweakUI? I done something in Windows XP which turned the icons to 256-bit afterwards (bug in software).

That happened it to me too! And rebuilding the icons DOES NOT help. :angry:

[Frank]

Tweak UI was NOT installed on the machine. I installed Tweak UI, rebuilt the icons, and vuala! It was all better. I have been using Tweak UI since Windows 95, I dunno why I did not think to try it.

Yuxi: You may want to un install Tweak UI, and download the newest version. This may help your problem.

[Yuxi]

It is the the latest version, version 2.10.

I do have XP Pro SP1.

[Jason the Eighty Eighth]

the gradient on your title bar seems like there are no real problems concerning the colour.

[darkmark327]

Just a long shot, but maybe you have something screwy with active desktop? Make sure there's no errant web items or anything.

[alfador]

I'm not sure about 2000, but in XP I had this problem, and the reason was that:

[HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics]

"Shell Icon BPP"="32"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics]

"Shell Icon BPP"="32"

those two registry keys were set to 32. When you reset them to 16, it will look normal. The reason is that when the icon bpp is set to 32, they only look good under a 32 bit color display (24 or 16 looks crappy). When set to 16 bpp, they will look good under 32, 24, or 16.

[darkmark327]

You don't need to worry about HKU\Default, that's merely the user that runs the logon dialog box.

Try the HKCU one though, I think I remember that fixing a similar problem for me a long time ago. It also let you get high color icons in 95 : )