How to change Recycle Bin Desktop Icon

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Desktop Icons - Change or Restore Default Icon

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Change how the Recycle Bin looks - Windows Vista Help

The change referenced will only give you a selection from the pre-stored icons. To change it permanently to the pictures you indicated (and they look a lot better), you have to modify the imageres.dll file, like you do to change the start-up sound. If you use another file to store the icons, you will have to hit F5 to change the icon from full to empty after you empty it.

The recycle bin icons are at 54 and 55 under the icons section of imageres.dll as I recall (sorry I am not on my Windows 7 system, so I can't be more specific.)

When you go to change them, the program will complain that it out of resources, as I recall. Just say OK and go forward with the changes.

I can provide a better description of the way to do the change after I get on my Windows 7 system, in about 8 hours. Sorry.

Hang in there - I'll get the full write-up here when I get to my machines. :)

(Still a little while to go - apparently my offer of working "compressed time", where I work 4 hours and they pay me for 8, hasn't achieved much management support, so I'll be out until about 3PM Texas time and then on my machines.)

After you click on Change Icon, click on the Browse button (step 3B in tutorial below) to select a icon of your own instead. :)

Desktop Icons - Change or Restore Default Icon

PROBLEM: If the icons aren’t in the “imageres.dll” file, you have to hit F5 on a clean spot on the desktop to refresh the icons or try a registry hack to get them to automatically change.


SOLUTION:
1. Take ownership (here's how to do that -Take Ownership Shortcut ) of "imageres.dll" in Windows\system32.
2. If you haven't got already, download ResHacker (NOTE: Reshacker doesn´t work with x64-files. You need Restorator or Anolis Resourcer (Freeware) Anolis - Home > The remainder will refer to ResHacker, please make the adjustment mentally for x64)
3. Make a folder - "change-recycle" for example - and put into it a copy of “imageres.dll” from windows\system32.
4. Also in the folder put a copy of “reshacker.exe”. (I just unzipped reshacker into the working folder.)
5. Move copies of the new icons for full and empty into the folder.

Now you're ready to make the changes.

6. Run reshacker and open imageres.dll by clicking on "File | Open". With imageres.dll in the same folder, it will appear as an option.
7. Open the folder “Icon Group”
8. Go to folder number 54 – that is the “full” recycle bin set of icons. When you open it, you get an error that you are out of system resources. Ignore it, click OK.
9. Go to “Actions” and click on “replace icon”.
10. Click "browse" to see the icons in the folder you're in, and select the one for a full recycle bin.
11. Repeat for number 55, the empty recycle bin entries.
12. Save the file (I use “save as” and named it “imageres-2.dll”).
13. Exit reshacker.
14. Open windows\system32 and re-name “imageres.dll” to “imageres-old.dll”.
15. Move in the new “imageres.dll” (rename it if you did a “save as” with a different name).

At this point you’re set.

16. Right click on the desktop and select “personalize”.
17. Select “change desktop icons” on the upper left side and click on the one for the full recycle bin.
18. You should be in windows\system32\imageres.dll, if not, browse to there (This will only be necessary if you have previously changed the icon to something else, and the changed icon is in another file)
19. Scroll to the new icon and click OK. Repeat, doing the selection for the empty icon.

Now you’re done. The recycle bin will change automatically.

NOTE: If you want to change other icons, you can install the free program Icon Viewer to add a Icons tab to the Properties pages of files that contain icons in them. For example, with the imageres.dll file. It will let you easily see the number to use for the icon.