Windows 10: Change or Restore Desktop Folder Icon in Windows

How to: Change or Restore Desktop Folder Icon in Windows

How to Change or Restore Desktop Folder Icon in Windows


The desktop is the main screen area that you see after you turn on your PC and sign in to Windows. Like the top of an actual desk, it serves as a surface for your work. When you open apps or folders, they appear on the desktop. You can also put items on the desktop, such as files, folders, and shortcuts, and arrange them however you want.

By default, your personal Desktop folder is located in your account's %UserProfile% (ex: "C:\Users\Brink") folder.

This tutorial will show you how to change or restore the default Desktop folder icon for your account in Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10.


CONTENTS:

• Option One: Change Desktop Folder Icon in Properties
• Option Two: Change Desktop Folder Icon in desktop.ini file
• Option Three: Restore Default Desktop Folder Icon in Properties
• Option Four: Restore Default Desktop Folder Icon in desktop.ini file

EXAMPLE: Desktop folder










OPTION ONE [/i] Change Desktop Folder Icon in Properties
1. If you haven't already, you will need to add the Customize tab to Desktop folder properties.

2. Open your Desktop folder's current location (ex: "C:\Users\Brink") in File Explorer (Win+E). (see screenshot below)



3. Right click or press and hold on the Desktop folder, and click/tap on Properties.

4. Click/tap on the Customize tab, and click/tap on the Change Icon button. (see screenshot below)



5. Follow the steps below to select an icon: (see screenshots below)

*note The %SystemRoot\System32\shell32.dll and %SystemRoot\System32\imageres.dll files contain most of Windows default icons.

• Click/tap on the Browse button.
• Navigate to and select the icon library (ex: .dll) or .ico file you want to use, and click/tap on Open.
• Select the icon you want to use, and click/tap on OK.

6. Click/tap on OK to apply (see screenshot below step 4)





OPTION TWO [/i] Change Desktop Folder Icon in desktop.ini file
1. Press the Win+R keys to open Run, copy and paste %UserProfile%\Desktop\desktop.ini into Run, and click/tap on OK to open that file. (see screenshot below)

*note If you changed the default location of your Desktop folder, then you will need to substitute %UserProfile%\Desktop in the path above with the actual full path of your Desktop folder's current location instead.



2. In the IconResource= line in the desktop.ini window, change the full path to the full path of the icon you want to use. (see screenshot below)

*note If you do not have a IconResource=<icon path> line, then you will need to add it.



3. Click/tap on File (menu bar), click/tap on Save (Ctrl+S), and close the desktop.ini window. (see screenshot below)



4. sign in to apply.





OPTION THREE [/i] Restore Default Desktop Folder Icon in Properties
1. If you haven't already, you will need to add the Customize tab to Desktop folder properties.

2. Open your Desktop folder's current location (ex: "C:\Users\Brink") in File Explorer (Win+E). (see screenshot below)



3. Right click or press and hold on the Desktop folder, and click/tap on Properties.

4. Click/tap on the Customize tab, and click/tap on the Change Icon button. (see screenshot below)



5. Click/tap on the Restore Defaults button. (see screenshot below)



6. Click/tap on OK to apply (see screenshot below step 4)





OPTION FOUR [/i] Restore Default Desktop Folder Icon in desktop.ini file
1. Press the Win+R keys to open Run, copy and paste %UserProfile%\Desktop\desktop.ini into Run, and click/tap on OK to open that file. (see screenshot below)

*note If you changed the default location of your Desktop folder, then you will need to substitute %UserProfile%\Desktop in the path above with the actual full path of your Desktop folder's current location instead.



2. In the IconResource= line in the desktop.ini window, change the full path to %SystemRoot%\system32\imageres.dll,-183. (see screenshot below)

*note If you do not have a IconResource=<icon path> line, then you will need to add it.



3. Click/tap on File (menu bar), click/tap on Save (Ctrl+S), and close the desktop.ini window. (see screenshot below)



4. sign in to apply.

That's it,
Shawn


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:)

 

Windows vista x64 computer icon always changing

what icons are you referring to?
In the Windows Explorer list or desktop?

 

Cannot change desktop icon

Sometimes a desktop icon changes from what it was to a plain white folder. Might be something I did but not sure what.

To change it to the icon I want, I go:

1. Rt-click icon > Properties > Change icon
2. I select the icon I want from the thumbnails of icons.
3. Click OK
4. Click Apply

But the icon does not change. It just stays looking like a white folder.
HOWEVER, if I pin the icon to the taskbar, the icon on the taskbar does look like the icon I selected in step-2. So the change is registered with Win10 but the icon on the desktop just doesn't change.

Any ideas on how to fix this?

 

Changing and locking a custom icon to a folder?

I want to change a few folders icons and fix the icon to the folder so if its moved to other computers the icon wont change is there any way of doing this thanks,

 

Windows 10 desktop icons not in order

In ccleaner, did you uncheck cleaning the icon cache... have not used in a while; however, I think that is what the option is called.

Now, if you are setting the icons and they move after you have set the settings and not changed them... you may have the "Random Windows 10 Icon movement problem".
Some people have this and some don't.

Here is a thread on the problem at Windows10 forums: Windows 10: Folder View Settings and Desktop Icon Positions Not Saving

 

Change Folder Icon in Windows 10


I just acquired a new laptop running Windows 10 and am trying to change the icons of the folders in the StartUp "Program" folder so that they would stand out a little better. I used my admin account and followed all the steps listed above, but when I clicked on "Apply", nothing happened. The same basic windows folder icon remained attached to the folder. I also tried to go into Properties and capitalize some of the folder names, but that didn't work either. Looks like something is protecting them, but I cannot figure out what it is much less how to get around this blockage, Any suggestions?