No green checkmark. No red exclamation point. Just a plain, vanilla folder icon staring back at you.
Did the commit fail? Is the repo broken? No. It's usually just Windows being Windows.
The Problem: The "15 Icon" Hunger Games
As many of you know (and as discussed in this StackOverflow nightmare), Windows has a hard limit on how many "Overlay Icons" it can load. The limit is 15.
In the old days, this was fine. But today? Dropbox wants 5 slots. OneDrive wants 7. Google Drive wants another 5. By the time TortoiseSVN or Git shows up to the party, the bouncer tells them the club is full.
The result? Your version control status is invisible because OneDrive needed to tell you that a desktop.ini file is "syncing."
The Solution: Icon Overlay Manager
We got tired of manually hacking the Registry (RegEdit) every time a Windows Update decided to reset our preferences. So, we built a tool to fight back.
Meet the Icon Overlay Manager. It is a simple system tray utility designed to prioritize TortoiseSVN/Git overlay icons by lowering the competing handlers that clog up your registry.
And then, added a list where you can order the icons priority. So you can prioritize any other icons.
How it works
Instead of fighting with registry keys manually, this tool sits quietly in your system tray (look for the shield icon). When your icons disappear, you simply:
Right-click the shield icon.
Select "Prioritize SVN/Git Icons".
It reorders the list by your preferences.
Select "Restart Explorer" to apply the changes instantly without a reboot.
Installation is simple
We didn't want a complex installer. Inside the zip file, just double-click INSTALL.bat.
This script will:
- Create a shortcut in your Startup folder so it runs on login.
- Launch the tray app immediately.
Get the Tool
Stop letting the Cloud bully your Tortoise. Download the zip file below and get your green checkmarks back.
Happy Committing!