Folder Icon - Change Default Icon

whs said:

Very nice, but if you do not want to work with the registry, you may use this simple method - lokks more involved than it really is.

1. Make a .ico from any picture

For that you use this little program on the web - no installation required (speaking of cloud computing, LOL). The following 4 pictures explain the steps:

2. Apply you new .ico to any folder

The following pictures explain this:

Folder Icon Change - Vista Forums

a) Right click on the folder in question and "Open folder location"

b) Right click on subject folder > Properties > Customize tab

c) Go to "Change Icon" and browse to the folder where you stored your .ico

d) Pick your .ico > Apply and you are done

Click to expand...

This definitely is an alternative option but only if one want to change few folder icons, if some has more then 5,000 folders on their HDD this step is tideous and time consuming and going to take forever to change all the icons with these steps.

Amazing tutorial, worked amazingly well! Thanks for the good work. I couldn't be happier with the looks I got by applying this tutorial. Thanx. J

Was this problem ever solved properly, i have the problem where they are both changed but the only changes i see are in the save file popups and stuff like that. i have also tried every solution and none worked.

any help would be awesome im just trying to put the finishing touches on a theme im making

EAZY SOLUTION!

To anybody still trying to still accomplish this i found an easier way then the hassling replacing system files manually way and it works like a charm!

Step 1: Download this software - CustoPack Tools : Customize Windows XP, Vista, 7
Step 2: Open software and click "Create a CustoPack" and then "Create a new Pack" in the bottom right corner and fill out any info and check "Windows 7"
Step 3: Goto "Standard Icons/Folders" and change the top 5 icons to your custom ones.
Step 4: Goto "Pack Finalization" on the left menu and click "Test the Pack"

After applying they should be working fine.. This worked 100% for me if it doesnt there is also a "Purge Icon Cache" under the main menu "Settings and Configurations/System Configurations"

Cheers!

Very Nice post and valuable info. I was looking for this for the past 3 years, eversince I purchased retail windows 7 Ultimate.

Everytime I replace the old file with the new one and do the other two things (Icon cache rebuild and deleting thumbnails), it doesn't work. I check the folders, nothing happened and I check in resource hacker and everything is back before I messed with it. What gives?

SnackCabinet said:

Everytime I replace the old file with the new one and do the other two things (Icon cache rebuild and deleting thumbnails), it doesn't work. I check the folders, nothing happened and I check in resource hacker and everything is back before I messed with it. What gives?

Click to expand...

If you are saving with Resource Hacker to the original location (System32 and SysWOW64) it won't let you do it and changes will not take effect. That's why you probably aren't seeing any changes when you check the files.
Save the modified imageres.dll files to your desktop and then replace them: with systemfilereplacer, after taking ownership of the original files and deleting them or through an elevated command prompt.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

J

Not Working

Hello,
I recently made my windows to look all metro-ey

So I naturally wanted to add folders, too. I followed this tutorial exactly, using System File Replacer to replace imageres.dll, but my folders are still just.... plain old boring normal windows folders

Any help much appreciated.
Thank you for this great tutorial... I just wish it would work. :banghead:
I'm running windows 8.1. with 12gb of ram and intel core i7 4700mq, Intel HD Graphics.
HP Laptop.

An icon works in all the possible sizes when it is a multi-layered one. Can you let me see the icon that you are applying there? Upload any one of them here (zip it and upload it using the paper clip icon of the reply box).

Nervermind, I just used a program called restorator to change the wmploc.dll and imageres.dll, and it did the trick, although I eventually restored the default due to the fact that thumbnails did not display correcly with the icon I was using.
Thanks anyways.

I just tried this tutorial today and everything came out really well. I now have live folders I like instead of those old boring yellow folders. So a big thanks to Arc for taking the time to put this tutorial together. It made a somewhat complex process pretty easy to follow.

Hello. If I´m correct, I only need to use Resource Hacker to create the custom dll and after I can uninstall the program, right?

Also, can somebody point me to some custom icon sets of the open folder? I can't find complete sets in the web. I only found this one, but idk which icon tu use in each number listed in the tutorial:

Elite Folders Iconset (6 icons) | IconTexto

You need Resource Hacker and Replacer. Yes, you can uninstall Resource Hacker after you are done.

This one was my favorite (before shifting to W10): Muro Live folders by msergt on DeviantArt
For more, you may search for Live Folder Icon in DA: Browse Art - DeviantArt

Wow, thank you for the fast reply!

Anyway, I see the icon pack is numbered nicely so we know where to assign each icon. I have only one more question: I see each number listed by the tutorial (3,4,5,6,162), but also a closed folder icon. What should I do with that one?

Open and closed are the same Icon, 3 and 4. See this post: http://www.sevenforums.com/1294482-post7.html

Hello, sorry I didn't post back, but I was kinda busy with work.

Thing is, I can't get this process to work properly. I did everything as the guide says (I downloaded a custom set of icons for the folders, they're red) and changed the windows imageres.dll for the custom one I made. After that, I tried rebuilding the cache with the method you list in another tutorial here, but when I pasted the last line in the command window (DEL "%localappdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer\iconcache*" /A), it tells me that "iconcache*" cannot be found in the path provided (my user name-appdata-local-microsoft-windows-explorer).

After that I reboot, delete the thumbs cache using Disk Cleanu, and it seems to go fine. Reboot again, and my red folders seem to show for most folders, but not for all. For some reason I still get the yellow ones in seemingly random folders in documents and images libraries, some more in the downloads folder. Then, sometimes red folder will turn yellow if I save some new element in them, or viceversa: yellow ones will turn red if any new interaction with them takes place.

Now, today I tried rebuilding the cache closing explorer with the file manager, and then using cmd to use the next commands: cd /d %userprofile%\AppData\Local
del IconCache.db /a
exit


I reboot, delete the thumbs cacche again, and after reboot ALL MY FOLDERS ARE BACK TO BEING YELLOW.

What gives? Could you help me please?

I am having some trouble following along with the tutorial on the other site. I followed what I could but then started having a bit of trouble. (1) When I tried to change the icon for the front of the folder I didn't have one for the icons I wanted to use so I looked online for some with open and closed folders with stuff in them. The images are in png I downloaded the 64X64 size and then converted them all into ico files but I only have the folders icons in size 64X64 should I download all the other sizes as well and convert them to ico also. There are other sizes available like 256X256, 128x128px, 64x64px, 48x48px, 32x32px, 16x16px.







(2) How do I add multiple sizes to the editor in case I decide to use a larger file view in file explorer. When I add the icon the edit is a bit different then from the tutorial. I right click where I need too and it has the option to change icon but when I do all the other stuff gets removed and then I only have 1 size how do I add more sizes and should I?







(3) I do have the changes done for some of them folders like 3,4,5 and 6 but when I get to 162 I'm have to add folders with stuff in them. How do I add multiple folders to one area. In the 162 area is that where I put the folders with the music note, and documents icons inside the folder icons. Like I said still kind of new to this. On other site it says "4. Scroll down to 162, and change it (using the same process, with the icon having some stuff in it) ." I don't know what they mean by stuff unless it is the ones with the symbols in them. Plus I don't know how to add multiple sizes at once. Would I just checkbox the same icons and then select multiple sizes or how would I do this. Thanks in advance for the help.



Plus how should I name the icons if there the same but different sizes. Like open folder 1.ico and then keep going until all sizes match same name. And should I put each icon in there own folder if there multiple sizes.



I'm still pretty new to all of this. Thanks.

If the above comment is to hard to follow please let me know and I will try to explain it better.