How To Customize Folder Icons On Windows 10

Personalizing your icons is a great way to make a PC uniquely yours. Let's take a look at the different means Windows lets yous customize your icons.

RELATED: How to Make an Icon for Windows 10 or 11 Out of Any Image

Windows has some congenital-in icons you can choose from, just at that place is also an untold number of icons you can download from sites like IconArchive, DeviantArt, and Iconfinder—all of which accept loads of gratuitous icons. And if you tin't find something you like, you tin can even brand high-resolution icons out of whatsoever image.

In one case you take the icons of your dreams, save them in a prophylactic identify—some of these processes volition require they stay in a particular location on your PC. In other cases, y'all'll probably want them in that location only in instance something goes incorrect and you have to re-apply them.

Change Your Desktop Icons (Computer, Recycle Bin, Network, and And then On)

Icons like This PC, Network, Recycle Bin, and your User folder are all considered "desktop icons," even though mod versions of Windows don't show them all on the desktop. Windows viii and 10 don't show whatsoever of the desktop icons except for Recycle Bin, and even Windows seven doesn't prove them all. For a complete rundown, check out our guide to restoring missing desktop icons in Windows 7, viii, or x.

Simply you tin can still change how these icons appear elsewhere on your system. To do and then, yous'll need to access the "Desktop Icon Settings" window to turn these icons on and off or to alter the associated icons.  In Windows x, you tin can admission this window through Settings > Personalization > Themes > Desktop Icon Settings. In Windows 8 and x, it'due south Command Panel > Personalize > Alter Desktop Icons.

Use the checkboxes in the "Desktop icons" section to select which icons you desire on your desktop. To change an icon, select the icon you want to change and then click the "Modify Icon" button.

In the "Change Icon" window, y'all tin can select whatsoever icon you desire from the built-in Windows icons, or you can click "Browse" to locate your ain icon files.

If yous browse for your own icons, you tin can select whatsoever EXE, DLL, or ICO file. Subsequently selecting the file, the "Change Icon" window will show the icons contained in the file you selected. Click the one you desire and so click "OK." Here, we're changing the "This PC" icon to employ one that looks more like a laptop than a desktop.

After changing your icon, you should see the new icon used in File Explorer, on the Desktop, and in the taskbar when the folder is open up.

And if you lot want to opposite the change, you tin can ever go back to the "Desktop Icon Settings" window, select the icon y'all want to change dorsum, and and then click "Restore Default."

Change Folder Icons

Irresolute the icon for a folder is non but a good way to pretty things upwardly, but also to call attending to of import items. To change a binder icon, right-click the folder you want to modify and so cull "Backdrop."

In the folder's properties window, switch to the "Customize" tab and and so click the "Change Icon" button.

In the "Change Icon" window, you can select any icon you want from the congenital-in Windows icons, or yous can Click "Browse" to locate your ain icons.

If yous browse for your ain icon file, you can select any EXE, DLL, or ICO file. After selecting the file, the "Modify Icon" window will testify the icons contained in the file you selected. Click the 1 you desire then click "OK." Here, we're changing the icon for this binder to a red one to make information technology stand out more.

And back in the properties window, click "OK."

The folder should now prove up with the new icon.

This feature works by creating a hidden Desktop.ini file inside the folder that contains a few lines of data something like the post-obit:

[.ShellClassInfo] IconResource=D:\Walter\Documents\Icons\Oxygen-Icons.org-Oxygen-Places-folder-red.ico,0 [ViewState] Mode= Vid= FolderType=Generic

This is ane of the cases where you absolutely must continue the ICO file in whatever location you had it when you applied the icon. Put information technology somewhere yous know you won't delete information technology starting time, or make the ICO file subconscious.

And if yous desire to fine-tune how folders look and operate on your PC, you should also explore how to customize folder views with Windows' five templates and how to customize folder view settings in Windows.

Modify the Icon for a Blazon of File

You can also change the icon for specific file types (those that stop in certain extensions) so that all files of that blazon use the new icon. Why carp to do this? Suppose, for example, you lot use an prototype editing program that uses essentially the same icon for all the dissimilar types of image files it supported—PNG, JPG, GIF, and so on. Y'all might find it more user-friendly if each of those file types used a different icon, so they were easier to distinguish—especially if yous keep multiple file types in the aforementioned binder.

Unfortunately, there's no built-in way to do this in Windows. Instead, you lot'll need to download a free tool to practise the job: File Types Manager by Nirsoft. We've got a complete guide to using File Types Director to change the icon for a sure file type, and then if you think this would be useful for yous, give it a read!

The one blazon of file that File Types Managing director is not skillful at handling, though, is executable (EXE) files. For that, we've got another free tool recommendation: Resources Hacker. And of course, we also have a guide on using information technology to modify the icon for an EXE file.

Change the Icon of Any Shortcut

Changing the icon for a shortcut in Windows is also pretty uncomplicated and works the same whether it's a shortcut to an app, folder, or even Command Prompt command. Right-click the shortcut and choose "Properties."

On the "Shortcut" tab, click the "Change Icon" push.

This opens the standard "Change Icon" window nosotros've seen a couple of times already. Choose ane of the default icons or browse to any EXE, DLL, or ICO file that contains icons. After making and applying your choice, you'll see the new icon in File Explorer, on the Desktop, or on the taskbar if you have your Shortcut pinned there.

If you desire, yous can even customize those shortcut icons farther by removing (or changing) the arrow overlays or preventing Windows from adding the "- Shortcut" text.

Alter the Icon of Apps that Are Pinned to the Taskbar

Icons that are pinned to your taskbar are really shortcuts—they simply don't have the pointer overlay and "- Shortcut" text commonly associated with shortcuts. As such, you can customize their icons in nigh the same way that y'all customize any shortcut icon. You just need to keep a few things in mind:

• Y'all can only customize the icons of apps that are actually pinned to the taskbar. If the icon is only on the taskbar because the app is currently running and it isn't pinned there, you can't customize it. So, pin it beginning.
• If an app is pinned, but is currently running, you lot'll need to close the app before yous can modify the shortcut icon.
• Just right-clicking a pinned app shows you the app's jumplist. To access the regular context menu instead, concur the Shift key down while correct-clicking the icon. Cull "Properties" from that menu and then the rest of the process will be familiar to y'all from the previous section.

Change the Icon of any Drive in File Explorer

There's no simple built-in way to change the icons for drives in Windows. That doesn't mean you tin't practice it though. The easy way is to use a free app named Drive Icon Changer. There's too a way that works a flake differently and involves a lilliputian Registry editing. Y'all can read all near both methods in our guide to changing drive icons in Windows.

Drive Icon Changer is the easiest way, though you tin can do it from the registry if you'd prefer not to utilize extra software.

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Hopefully, this gives you plenty information virtually changing icons that you can make things expect simply the fashion yous want them.

Source: https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/13631/customize-your-icons-in-windows-7-and-vista/

Posted by: musialanated1978.blogspot.com

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