Solved Gray X on some desktop files?

I have started seeing gray x's covering a corner of some but not all desktop file icons. The files seem to operate. Is this a problem or identifying something about these files?

Hello wrkeen, and welcome to Eight Forums.

Is this only with shortcuts by chance?

Please post a screenshot showing this to see if it may better help ID what the issue may be.

Gray Xs

These gray X's do seem to be on shortcuts. I never noticed them until a couple of days ago. I don't know if I attached the screen shot here or not.

View attachment screenshot.docx

Gray X's Solution?

I may have an answer to my own question.
I found an article on Windows 7 forum indicating that these gray x's my be overlays indicating that the files are archived on tape and therefore very slow to access. If that's what they are, I don't know what archived to tape means, but the files do not seem especially slow to access compared to some without x's (e.g. iTunes).

From your screenshot, it's not your shortcut arrow overlay since they are in the screenshot as well.

This is what I found below. Are you archiving the files with the gray X on them to tape?


Gray X: This overlay means that the file has been archived to tape and will take a very long time to access.

Gray X solved

That's it Brink . . . thanks!

LOL, looks like we thought of that at the same time.

Archived to tape basically just means saved to a tape drive.

Do you have a tape drive, or accessing these files from a network location that has them on a tape drive?