"Change Icon" grayed out

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

I get a plain vanilla icon with my desktop shortcuts for Excel, Word, etc.
Word Perfect, Photoshop, etc., are all OK. When I select the Excel shortcut,
for instance, and click "Properties," the "change icon" button is greyed
out. It didn't used to be that way.

Any suggestions about how to fix this will be appreciated. (This problem
goes back before my earliest restore date.)

Some shortcuts created by Windows installer programs have the Target field and the Find Target and Change Icon buttons grayed out when viewing the shortcut's Properties in the Shortcut tab. These shortcuts seem to rely on Class entries in the Registry to locate the icon file and icon number within the icon file. If that icon file is deleted, moved, or that registry entry is changed the shortcut will display the standard broken icon with no easy way to figure out where the problem is or fix it.

For Microsoft Office products, you can use Regedit and search for "wordicon.exe", "xlicons.exe", "pptico.exe", "outicon.exe", "accicons.exe", "misc.exe", etc. and make sure these files exist where the Registry values say they should. A reinstall of Microsoft Office will fix icon problems like this.

It would be helpful to have a utility that can display the icon's path, filename, and icon number for shortcuts where the Change Icon button is grayed out to assist in troubleshooting where the icon appears to be broken, but I'm not aware of such a problem. If someone knows of such a utility, do tell.