[Guide] How to Change Default Folder Icons in Windows - AskVG http://www.askvg.com/guide-how-to-change-default-folder-icons-in-w...

Tech Support Windows 10 Windows 8 Windows 7 Vista XP Office Software

Themes Firefox Chrome IE Opera Etc

[Guide] How to Change Default Folder Connect with Us

Icons in Windows
RSS feed | Email newsletter
Twitter | Facebook | Google+ |
This tutorial has been written by AskVG reader
YouTube
"Slinky Grafix".

This simple method of changing the standard, default

and ugly folder icons in Windows operating system has
existed for many years and does not involve modifying Latest Articles
any system file using Resource Hacker or any other
tool. It can be applied easily with the help of a simple Now You can Activate Windows
10 Using Windows 7, 8 or 8.1
Registry tweak.
Product Key

To make it easier to follow, this tutorial has been Windows 10 Preview Builds
broken down into 2 parts: Changelog and History

PART 1: How to change default folder icon Windows 10 Preview Build 10565
for PC Available for Download
PART 2: How to customize individual folder icon
Download Genuine Microsoft
PS: Also see the "Tips for Using Customizing Icons" Office Setup Media for Offline
Installation
given at the end of this tutorial.
[Review] Which DTH Service
So without wasting time lets start the tutorial: Provides Maximum HD Channels
in India?
PART 1: How to Change Default Folder Icon
[Fix] Apps and Programs
Automatically Minimize in
Windows 10
1. On your keyboard press WIN+R keys together to
open the Run dialog box. Now type regedit and click [Dark Theme] Make Mozilla
on OK button to launch Registry Editor. Firefox Look-Like Microsoft Edge
Web Browser
2. Now go to following Registry key:
[Fix] Desktop Icons Position and
Folder View Settings Problem in
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft Windows 10

1 of 9 15-Oct-15 12:36 AM
[Guide] How to Change Default Folder Icons in Windows - AskVG http://www.askvg.com/guide-how-to-change-default-folder-icons-in-w...

\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer

3. With the Explorer key highlighted, right-click on it

and in the pop-up menu select New -> Key option.
Name this new key as Shell Icons

4. Now in right-side pane, right-click on a blank area

and in the pop-up menu select New -> String Value,
do this twice and name these string values to 3 and 4

5. Double-click on each String and set their value to

C:\Icons\Folder.ico

6. Now close Registry Editor and open an Explorer

Window.

7. Open C: Drive and create a new folder and set its

name as Icons

8. Open Icons folder and place the icon file (.ICO) you
want to use as your new folder icon in this folder. Name
this new icon file as Folder.ico

2 of 9 15-Oct-15 12:36 AM
[Guide] How to Change Default Folder Icons in Windows - AskVG http://www.askvg.com/guide-how-to-change-default-folder-icons-in-w...

9. Now restart your computer to take effect.

Once the computer restarts, open an Explorer window

and you should see your new folder icons.

TIP:

If you like to view large folder icons as shown in the

image above, you can change this in the "View" menu
on the Explorer toolbar. To make large icons show
correctly you'll also need to enable "Always show
icons, never thumbnails" option in the "Folder
Options" menu:

3 of 9 15-Oct-15 12:36 AM
[Guide] How to Change Default Folder Icons in Windows - AskVG http://www.askvg.com/guide-how-to-change-default-folder-icons-in-w...

NOTE:

The change mentioned above in the "Folder Options"

has one undesirable effect which prevents thumbnail
images appearing on some files. Thankfully however,
there's a simple solution to this problem. You'll need to
download and install the free program called "Sage
Thumbs". Sage Thumbs will restore those missing
thumbnail images once more:

See this interesting AskVG article on Sage Thumbs

for download link

PART 2: How to Customize Individual Folder Icon

So if you've got this far, you might have noticed that

some Windows Icons have not changed, especially in
the "Users" folder. Changing these individual folder
icons or any others for that matter is very easy to
accomplish.

Simply right-click on the folder you wish to change and

in the "Properties" tab, select the "Customize" tab.
Here you can choose another icon of your choice.

Here's a before screenshot:

4 of 9 15-Oct-15 12:36 AM
[Guide] How to Change Default Folder Icons in Windows - AskVG http://www.askvg.com/guide-how-to-change-default-folder-icons-in-w...

Here's a screenshot after customization:

Tips for Using Customized Icons

Can I use any kind of Icon?

=> No! Only icons with the file extension '.ico' can be
used. Windows 10 can show very large icons in the
Explorer window, each icon is made up of several icons
of differing sizes, typically these sizes are as follows:

256, 64, 48, 40, 32, 24, 20, 16 [All icons are 32-bit

5 of 9 15-Oct-15 12:36 AM
[Guide] How to Change Default Folder Icons in Windows - AskVG http://www.askvg.com/guide-how-to-change-default-folder-icons-in-w...

true color + Alpha channel]

If you're not sure about a particular size, open the icon

in an icon editor to see what sizes are contained within
the icon. There are many free icon editors available for
this purpose. My favorite is IcoFX.

Where can I get customized icons?

=> Luckily there are many icon resources available

online, here are some of my favorites:

deviantart.com/browse/all/customization/icons
/os/win/

iconarchive.com

findicons.com

veryicon.com

Share this article: Facebook | Twitter | Google+ |

Reddit | Tell a friend

Posted in: Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8 / 8.1,

Windows Vista, Windows XP

Other similar articles that may interest

you

Collection of Best Registry Tweaks to Speed Up Your

Windows

Download Windows Media Center, Silverlight, SQL

Server and Desktop Player Wallpapers from
Microsoft

Explorer7Fixes: Enable Sort Header (Column Header)

in All File View Modes in Windows 7 Explorer

6 of 9 15-Oct-15 12:36 AM
[Guide] How to Change Default Folder Icons in Windows - AskVG http://www.askvg.com/guide-how-to-change-default-folder-icons-in-w...

How to Get Shared Folder Icon Back in Windows

Explorer in Windows 7

How to Disable Aero Glass Border Frame in Windows

Live Messenger (WLM) in Windows Vista and 7?

Registry Tweak to Force Automatic Restart in

Windows 8 After Installing Important Updates

Comments

Lewis

Nice tutorial. Will come handy. Thanks Slinky Grafix"

and AskVG for posting it. :)

Asrin475

Nice Tips!, Thanks you Guys!

Chris (Slinky Grafix)

@Lewis - @ Asrin475

You're welcome guys! :)

I'm now working on my next tutorial for changing the

folders using a modified system. I've already
implemented this myself to great success by modifying
the 'imageres.dll' file, the bonus of which means that all
image thumbnail previews continue to work without
additional software.

Stay tuned...

Himanshu

Hi Vishal,
Greeting of the day!!!!!
I have Dell Inspiron 14 with genuine windows 8.1 single
language pre loaded. I had try the upgradation through
windows update but every time i got an installation

7 of 9 15-Oct-15 12:36 AM
[Guide] How to Change Default Folder Icons in Windows - AskVG http://www.askvg.com/guide-how-to-change-default-folder-icons-in-w...

error. as my net connection is too slow so i decided to

download ISO file. Now i am trying to upgrade windows
8.1 but setup ask for product key. I don't have product
key of windows 8.1 because there is no sticker of
product key in back of my laptop. there is only sign of
widows and a confirmation code.
I have also read the article and all related article to that.
but all thing is correct in my laptop as i had reserve my
update through windows 10 app.
Please suggest any working solution.

VG

^^ Just click on SKIP option i setup wizard. Check

"IMPORTANT NOTE:" given at the end of following
tutorial:

http://www.askvg.com/how-to-perform-clean-
installation-of-windows-10/

synapse

Good tutorial, just want to add my 2 cents, for this task I

am using FolderIco, it allows to change folder icons
much faster.

Chris (Slinky Grafix)

Yes 'FolderIco' is a simple yet effective way to change

the colour of your icons and some people may prefer
this option however it doesn't allow the user to apply
custom icons. Also it should be mentioned that
FolderIco does not allow the user to change all default
Open/Close folders at once like this tutorial
demonstrates.

Leave a Comment

Name (required)

Email (will not be published)

8 of 9 15-Oct-15 12:36 AM
[Guide] How to Change Default Folder Icons in Windows - AskVG http://www.askvg.com/guide-how-to-change-default-folder-icons-in-w...

(required)

Website or Blog

go to home | back to top

2015 askvg.com | about | contact | privacy | copyright policy | sitemap | best of

9 of 9 15-Oct-15 12:36 AM