Folder Icon Change

How to Change a Folder Icon in Vista and Windows 7​

   Information

This will show you how to change a folder icon to any icon you would like.

   Note

You will not be able to change a protected system folder icon. For example: C:\Windows, C:\Program Files, C\Windows\System32, etc...

   Tip

• To fix the User Folders instead, see: How to Fix a Personal User Shell Folder Displayed as a Standard Yellow Folder Icon in Vista
• To change all of the default yellow folder icons, you can change the Folder key's default icon full path to one you want instead using step 6 on in this tutorial.

   Warning

If you change the folder icon, the folder will no longer show a thumbnail preview of it's content. It will show your icon instead.

EXAMPLE: Before and After Icon Change

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Here's How:

1. Right click on the folder and click on Properties.​

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2. Click on the Customize tab. (see screenshot below)​

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3. To Change the Folder Icon​

A) Click on the Change Icon button.​

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B) Select a icon and click on OK to apply. (see screenshot below)​

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NOTE: Some common icon locations in both Vista and Windows 7. ​

• C:\Windows\System32\imageres.dll (Recommended one to use)
• C:\Windows\System32\shell32.dll
• C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe

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OR​

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C) Click on Browse to choose a icon of your own. (see screenshot above)​

NOTE: For the best icon size results, use a 256x256 pixel .ico (Icon) file.​

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D) Navigate to where you have the icon saved. (see screenshot below)​

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E) Select the icon and click on Open.​

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F) Click on OK to apply. (see screenshot from step 4 above)​

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4. To Restore the Default Folder Icon​

A) Click on the Restore Defaults button. (see screenshot below step 3A)​

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That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

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• How to Change a Folder Preview Picture in Vista
• How to Change a Shortcut Folder or File Icon in Vista
• How to Change the Open Folder Icon in Vista
• How to Change a Icon in the Control Panel in Vista
• How to Fix a Personal User Shell Folder Displayed as a Standard Yellow Folder Icon in Vista
• How to Change a Drive Icon in Vista
• How to Restore and Change a Desktop Icon in Vista
• How to Change the Desktop Control Panel Icon in Vista
• How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Vista
• How to See the Folder Size in Vista
• How to Hide a Folder or Shortcut Icon in Vista and Windows 7
• How to Change a File Extension Type Icon in Vista
• How to Change the Vista Default Folder Icon
• How to Change the Windows 7 Default Folder Icon
• How to Change Windows 7 Default Folder Icons using Resource Hacker

 

[Brink]

Hello Mr.Burns, and welcome to Vista Forums.

You might give the same method here a try to change the default folder.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/88515-folder-icon-change-post1035777.html#post1035777

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[MRBurn86]

Haha! I'm a dummy. The answer I was looking for was right above my post :P

Anyway, didn't work :| I double checked the steps through the registry, and I'm pretty confident I did what I was supposed to. However, even after log on/log off and a restart, nothing changed. I tried with and without the ,0 at the end.

I hate to be a bother but, any ideas? Thanks again.

Burn

*edit: The laptop I own used to be my wife's. My old one crashed so I bought her a new one and took this one (which was only about a month old anyway), but, instead of creating a new user, I just changed the user name, name of computer, and owner. Even though I changed the user name, the location of the file still contains her user name instead of the one I changed it to. For example, the location for this particular file I want is: C:\Users\Brittany\Pictures\Icons\Hydro Pro\ICO\DefaultFolder.ico Even though the user name 'Brittany' was changed and no longer exists. Every other icon I've changed so far hasn't had any problems, but could thid be why it's not working?

I've tested it by moving the file to other locations, and get the same result. But, I thought it would be worth mentioning anyway

Once again, thanks a million if you can be of any assistance.

 

[Brink]

Burn,

You should be able to use the trial version of Vista Manager to change the folder icon in it's Custimazation feature.

The only way to change the C:\Users\(user-name) folder name is to create a new account and delete the old one. Just changing the name of an account in User Accounts (in Control Panel) will not do it, and only tie both names to that account instead.

 

[scrutin]

As I am one of those dinosaurs who insists on Windows Classic start menu, my folder icons do not have a customize tab. Fortunately there is a work-around which may be also be useful for other customizations in the Classic view.
In addition to the account you normally use, which is classic, start another account and keep it in the Vista start menu and other features. In this account folders will have a customization tab which you can use to change the icon. When you restart and click on your regular account, you will find that the icon will reflect the changes you made in the other account.
I do not know what the relationships are between different accounts and how or why their screens have different contents, but this particular trick does work.

 

[PayPaul]

I too am looking for a way to change the icon for folders in a batch process. It's very tedious to do the customization one by one. Is this one of those things which requires either a third party non-free software or perhaps there's a workaround such as changing all the desktop.ini file attributes to reflect the icon I want to display? The latter also seems a bit tedious but I do feel I'm onto something there. Please help save some time if you can.

 

[Brink]

Hello Paul, and welcome back to Vista Forums.

If you wanted to change the icon for all folders to a specific icon, then this tutorial would be better for that instead.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/246303-folder-icon-change-vista-default-folder-icon.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn