How To Make Custom Icons For Folders In Windows 10

Personalizing your icons is a great mode to make a PC uniquely yours. Permit's take a look at the different ways Windows lets you customize your icons.

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

Windows has some congenital-in icons you lot can cull from, but in that location is also an untold number of icons you tin download from sites like IconArchive, DeviantArt, and Iconfinder—all of which accept loads of gratuitous icons. And if you lot can't find something you like, yous can even make loftier-resolution icons out of any image.

Once you accept the icons of your dreams, save them in a safe identify—some of these processes will require they stay in a particular location on your PC. In other cases, yous'll probably want them there only in instance something goes incorrect and you accept to re-utilise them.

Change Your Desktop Icons (Estimator, Recycle Bin, Network, and And so 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 prove them all on the desktop. Windows 8 and 10 don't show any of the desktop icons except for Recycle Bin, and even Windows 7 doesn't show them all. For a complete rundown, cheque out our guide to restoring missing desktop icons in Windows 7, 8, or 10.

But yous tin still alter how these icons appear elsewhere on your arrangement. To do so, yous'll need to admission the "Desktop Icon Settings" window to plow these icons on and off or to alter the associated icons. In Windows 10, y'all can access this window through Settings > Personalization > Themes > Desktop Icon Settings. In Windows 8 and 10, it's Control Panel > Personalize > Change Desktop Icons.

Employ the checkboxes in the "Desktop icons" section to select which icons you want on your desktop. To modify an icon, select the icon you want to change and and then click the "Change Icon" push.

In the "Change Icon" window, you lot tin can select any icon you want from the built-in Windows icons, or you tin click "Browse" to locate your own icon files.

If y'all browse for your own icons, y'all can select any EXE, DLL, or ICO file. Afterwards selecting the file, the "Modify Icon" window volition show the icons independent in the file yous selected. Click the ane yous desire and then click "OK." Here, we're changing the "This PC" icon to use ane that looks more like a laptop than a desktop.

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

And if you want to reverse the alter, yous can e'er go back to the "Desktop Icon Settings" window, select the icon you want to change back, and so click "Restore Default."

Alter Binder Icons

Changing the icon for a folder is not only a adept way to pretty things up, but also to call attention to of import items. To change a folder icon, correct-click the folder you desire to modify and then choose "Properties."

select properties from a folder's context menu

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

In the "Change Icon" window, you tin select whatever icon y'all want from the born Windows icons, or yous tin can Click "Browse" to locate your own icons.

If you browse for your own icon file, y'all tin select whatever EXE, DLL, or ICO file. Later selecting the file, the "Change Icon" window will show the icons contained in the file you selected. Click the one you desire and then click "OK." Here, we're changing the icon for this folder to a reddish 1 to make information technology stand out more.

And dorsum in the backdrop window, click "OK."

click OK to exit properties window

The folder should now show up with the new icon.

This feature works past creating a hidden Desktop.ini file within the folder that contains a few lines of data something similar the following:

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

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

And if you want to fine-tune how folders wait and operate on your PC, you should besides explore how to customize binder views with Windows' 5 templates and how to customize folder view settings in Windows.

Modify the Icon for a Type of File

You tin also change the icon for specific file types (those that end in certain extensions) so that all files of that type use the new icon. Why bother to practise this? Suppose, for case, you use an paradigm editing programme that uses essentially the same icon for all the different types of image files it supported—PNG, JPG, GIF, and and so on. You might discover it more than convenient if each of those file types used a different icon, and so they were easier to distinguish—peculiarly if you keep multiple file types in the same binder.

Unfortunately, there'southward no congenital-in way to practise this in Windows. Instead, you lot'll need to download a gratuitous tool to do the job: File Types Director by Nirsoft. Nosotros've got a complete guide to using File Types Director to change the icon for a certain file type, so if you recollect this would be useful for you, give information technology a read!

filetypesman window

The i blazon of file that File Types Director is not good at treatment, though, is executable (EXE) files. For that, we've got some other gratis tool recommendation: Resource Hacker. And of course, we also have a guide on using information technology to alter the icon for an EXE file.

Change the Icon of Whatsoever Shortcut

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

choose properties command on shortcut's context menu

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

This opens the standard "Alter Icon" window nosotros've seen a couple of times already. Choose one of the default icons or scan to any EXE, DLL, or ICO file that contains icons. Afterward making and applying your selection, you lot'll come across the new icon in File Explorer, on the Desktop, or on the taskbar if you have your Shortcut pinned there.

If you lot desire, you lot tin even customize those shortcut icons further by removing (or irresolute) the arrow overlays or preventing Windows from adding the "- Shortcut" text.

Change the Icon of Apps that Are Pinned to the Taskbar

Icons that are pinned to your taskbar are really shortcuts—they just don't have the arrow overlay and "- Shortcut" text normally associated with shortcuts. Equally such, you can customize their icons in nearly the same mode that yous customize any shortcut icon. You only need to continue a few things in mind:

You tin can only customize the icons of apps that are really pinned to the taskbar. If the icon is merely on the taskbar because the app is currently running and it isn't pinned in that location, you can't customize it. So, pin it offset.
If an app is pinned, but is currently running, yous'll need to close the app before yous can alter the shortcut icon.
Just right-clicking a pinned app shows you the app'southward jumplist. To admission the regular context menu instead, concord the Shift key downwardly while correct-clicking the icon. Choose "Properties" from that menu and then the residuum of the procedure will be familiar to yous from the previous section.

choose properties command on taskbar shortcut's context menu

Alter the Icon of any Bulldoze in File Explorer

There's no simple built-in way to alter the icons for drives in Windows. That doesn't hateful you can't practise it though. The piece of cake mode is to apply a free app named Drive Icon Changer. In that location'due south also a mode that works a bit differently and involves a little Registry editing. Yous tin read all about both methods in our guide to changing drive icons in Windows.

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

Hopefully, this gives you enough information about changing icons that you tin can make things await only the way you desire them.