In this guide, we will show you a nifty method using which you can bring back Google Chrome and other related PWA shortcut icons. Recently, numerous users have voiced their concern that the app icons for numerous Progessive Web Apps appear to be broken. This is only happening on the Windows platform and for the Google apps, including the likes of Gmail and Google Drive.
So this begs the all-important question- is the Silicon Valley giant aware of this bug? Well, here comes the – this is not a bug but rather an intended change! Yes, you heard that right. So here’s what’s actually happening. Google has recently rolled out a new standard for web app icons and every PWA that doesn’t adhere to those standards will have their icons replaced by a blank placeholder or appear broken altogether.
It would have been much better if Google had at least replaced it with the generic app icon, if not for the PWA icon. But since that is not the case, we did some investigation and found out that there does exist a nifty workaround using which you can address this concern. So without further ado, let’s check it out.
How to Bring Back Google Chrome & PWA Shortcut Icon
To get this job done, we will be using a Registry Editor tweak. Before that, it is recommended that you take a registry backup, just to be on the safer side.
- Open Registry Editor and head over to the following registry key:
Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ChromeHTML\DefaultIcon
- The default value for this key will be:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe,10
- You should change it to
C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe,0
- Now open Task Manager via Ctrl + Shift + Esc
- Then right-click on Windows Explorer and select Restart.
That’s it. These were the steps to bring back the Google Chrome and other PWA shortcut icons. If you have any queries concerning the aforementioned steps, do let us know in the comments. We will get back to you with a solution as soon as possible.
