You can change this from Properties.

Not wanting to choose one of the canned icons for a site; wanting the designated icon for the website to appear on the shortcut— just as it’s always done

Hello Spirit2go, Are you using a drag-and-drop method when you get those FF icons? There is an issue with that method associated with UAC. Take a look at this article, if you missed it, Drag and Drop Errors - How to Fix.

I'm sorry then, I don't remember Firefox doing that at all.

Slipping the Cheese; thanks so much, the article def outlines the problem I'm having. UAC was disabled, but the Launcher Process says "disabled due to failure". I located the launcher.exe in a file and deleted that and fully enabled UAC again - still won't work. I tried the copy & past of the URL onto the desktop for a shortcut, still same problem..

If the launcher.exe file is still in your Recycle Bin, restore it. The Launcher Process for Firefox is written into the Firefox executable.

Type about:support in the address bar, press enter, and check to see if Launcher Process is Disabled Due To Failure.

If so, type about:config in the address bar, press enter and select "I Accept The Risk." Type launcher in the search bar at the top. The list will automatically populate to one entry - browser.launcherprocess.enabled - double-click it to toggle it to False, then, double-click it again back to True.

Restart Firefox.

Try creating a shortcut again.

although launcher.exe was no longer in recycle bin - I followed your other instructions - toggling launcher process from false to true - tried another shortcut - still not working. Have I royally screwed up by deleting launcher.exe?

You didn't "royally screw up" Firefox but, I can't tell you what launcher.exe belongs to. I don't have it anywhere on my Win10.

After you toggled launcherprocess, did you close Firefox and open it again? Just checking.

I reinstalled Firefox to see if launcher.exe came back but it didn't. Yes, after I followed your instructions, the launcher process said 'enabled', I went to about:config and toggled true/false. I then restarted Firefox and tried a shortcut -

Firefox has a built-in Safe Mode. Let's check that none of your extensions are effecting this operation.

Click the Menu button. Go near the bottom and select Help. Select Restart With Add-ons Disabled. A dialog will appear, select Restart. Firefox will close and another dialog will appear. Select Restart In Safe Mode. (Not Refresh)

After Firefox opens try to drag-and drop a desktop shortcut.

Good to know about this Safemode option in Firefox, but it did not work to change shortcut - still came over as the website but with the Firefox "Fox" icon pic.

Which website did you visit? Let me try to duplicate the problem.

Thank you...

I've been trying several, but as an example:

saltandserenity.com is one that comes over , also Chase.com

Chase works fine. The Salt & Serenity site didn't. However, I did not see any type of logo. Only a huge header with the sites name. There is no favicon on the History, either. This seems to be a site specific issue.

As far as Chase is concerned, and other sites as well, trying the Verify Integrity tool might help. Type about:support in the address bar. Scroll down to Places Database. (It's near the bottom.) Click the Verify Integrity button. Try Chase again.

so, I scrolled down to Places Database and clicked 'Verify Integrity' button. a list of things came up there. then went out to chase website and did a drag & drop. Still no good. was there another step after clicking on verify integrity button?

No other steps as far as I know.

I've run out of fixzits but, leave this thread open. A moderator should review it soon. Maybe they have a trick up their sleeve or something that I overlooked.

Tip: Do Not do a Refresh. Honestly, it causes more headaches than it's worth. It's a Last Resort option.

Hello Spirit2go,

Stab in the dark, but maybe clearing the icons cache might work (?) :

https://neosmart.net/wiki/clear-icons-cache/#How_to_clear_the_icons_cache_in_Windows10

Also see :

https://windowsreport.com/fix-corrupted-desktop-icons-windows-10/

thanks for trying... I will leave it open. I did think of Refresh, but decided against.

will review advice from McCoy and post anything useful

Was able to delete Icon_Cache, restarted computer. Firefox icon still coming up randomly. For instance with Chase.com - the true icon comes up for that, but if I want to create a shortcut for Chase.com/login - to reach my personal account by dragging and dropping that URL- the firefox icon comes up. I will leave this open just in case, but for the moment - just going to have to suck it up and stop being frustrated by this issue. Thanks everyone