Windows 10: Change Icon of Shortcut in Windows 10

How to: Change Icon of Shortcut in Windows 10

How to Change Icon of a Shortcut in Windows 10


A shortcut is a link to an item (such as a file, folder, or app) on your PC. You can create shortcuts and then place them in a convenient location, such as on the desktop, so that you can easily access the item that the shortcut links to. Shortcuts can be distinguished from the original file by the arrow that appears overlayed on the icon.

This tutorial will show you how to change the icon of a LNK or URL shortcut in Windows 10.



Here's How:

1. Right click or press and hold on the .lnk or .url shortcut file, and click/tap on Properties.

2. Click/tap on either the Shortcut tab for a .lnk file or the Web Document tab for a .url shortcut, and click/tap on the Change Icon button. (see screenshots below)





3. Click/tap on Browse, navigate to and select the .ico, .icl, .exe, or .dll file that contains the icon you want to use, click/tap on Open, select the icon, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshots below)

*note Most of the default icons used by Windows 10, are located in the files below.

• C:\Windows\System32\imageres.dll
• C:\Windows\System32\shell32.dll

4. Click/tap on OK to apply. (see screenshots below step 2)


That's it,
Shawn


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:)

 

Blue Arrows on folder and file icons

Those are the shortcut arrows.

Shortcut Arrow Icon - Change, Remove, or Restore in Windows 10
Shortcut Arrow Icon - Change, Remove, or Restore in Windows 10

 

How to change the icon of a shortcut in Windows 10?

I still cannot select the "Change Icon" button under the properties tab. It is "greyed out" and won't let me choose it. Any suggestions?

 

Hello boweasel, *Smile

I like using OPTION THREE in the tutorial below to create a website shortcut with to make sure the custom icon you use sticks.

Internet Website Shortcut - Create - Windows 7 Help Forums

 

Thanks for your reply Shawn. Before I read your response I was busy doing some non-tenforums solution searching and I ran across someone who posted that their icon cache needed to be rebuilt since it had become corrupted. That poster was also getting the blue globes as his IE desktop shortcuts.

I saw no earthly reason why the icon cache would have become 'corrupted' in a brand new laptop, but it triggered a memory about something I'd read in another tenforums tutorial. Sure enough, here is another of your splendid tutorials -
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/...dows-10-a.html. I used Option One - To Rebuild the Icon Cache using a BAT file. Downloaded it, ran it, and the icon for my wife's AOL Webmail went back to what it was when I first created it. You mention in your other tutorial (the one you supplied a link for) that those icons are stored in the folder C:\Users\User-Name\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files. I assume that they would be in the same location on a W10 computer? I can't really check here, since the wife is busy catching up on all the 'wonderful' (cough) information she'd missed on Facebook.

 

Great news. *Smile

That's the correct location for Internet Explorer for the icon. However, you can use any icon (.ico) file you like, say from Google.