HTML thumbnail icon is broken for Google Chrome

File types and assocations are stored in the Registry, under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT. Interestingly, that branch isn't actually a hive of its own; it's put together on the fly by combining the \SOFTWARE\Classes data from HKEY_CURRENT_USER and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. HKCU takes precedence, but the assoc and ftype utilities look at HKLM.

The Chrome HTML file type is usually found at HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ChromeHTML. If yours is missing or doesn't specify an icon, save this as a .reg and run it:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ChromeHTML]
@="Chrome HTML Document"
"AppUserModelId"="Chrome"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ChromeHTML\Application]
"AppUserModelId"="Chrome"
"ApplicationIcon"="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Google\\Chrome\\Application\\chrome.exe,0"
"ApplicationName"="Google Chrome"
"ApplicationDescription"="Access the Internet"
"ApplicationCompany"="Google Inc."

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ChromeHTML\DefaultIcon]
@="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Google\\Chrome\\Application\\chrome.exe,0"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ChromeHTML\Shell]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ChromeHTML\Shell\open]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ChromeHTML\Shell\open\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Google\\Chrome\\Application\\chrome.exe\" -- \"%1\""

(Remove the (x86) part if your Chrome installation is actually in the plain Program Files folder.)

Now we need to make sure the association between the file extension and file type is correct. Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.html and set the default value to ChromeHTML. That will change the value for your user account, but if you want to make sure it affects all users on the machine, update the version under HKLM as well. You will likely need to log off and back on to see the effect.


I also had this issue months ago. I solved by reinstalling the Chrome. It fixed for me.