Fix Icons not showing in Visual Studio Code

Although Microsoft supports Visual Studio Code on Windows 11/10, some users have encountered issues using this software. One such issue is Icons not displaying or appearing correctly or not appearing at all inside Visual Studio Code. Well, we have a workaround for that.

Icons not showing in Visual Studio Code

First of all, let us check why this error has occurred. This is so because Visual Studio Code uses SVG Icons and sometimes these SVG icons are not properly associated with the software. To be precise, the operating system is not able to read and integrate the SVG icons for the software (in this case, Visual Studio Code).

VS code icons disappeared

To fix this, we need to add extension association inside of the operating system as-

image/svg+xml

There are two ways to do this:

1] Using the Command Prompt

First of all, you will need to open Command Prompt with Administrative rights on your machine.

To do this, search for cmd. Then right-click on the file and click on Run as Administrator.

Now type in the CMD window which opens, execute the following command:

REG ADD HKCR\.svg /f /v "Content Type" /t REG_SZ /d image/svg+xml

This will fix your issue, and the icons will start showing normally.

2] Using Registry Editor

Run regedit to open the Registry Editor.

Then, open the key named:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT

Look up for the key labeled:

.svg

Set its Content-Type data value to image/svg+xml

Exit and reboot your computer.

This should fix the icon issue with your copy of Visual Studio Code.

If you still have issues, doubts, and alternate solutions, please let me know in the comments section.

How to show icons in Visual Studio Code?

How do I show the sidebar icons in VS Code?

To show sidebar icons in VS Code, right-click the title bar and select “Layout Controls.” If still hidden, toggle the Secondary Side Bar by running the “View: Toggle Secondary Side Bar Visibility” command (Ctrl+Alt+B) or via “View > Appearance > Secondary Side Bar” in the menu.