How to Change Open Folder Icon in Windows 7 and Windows 8

   Information

This will show you how to change the active icon used to indicate which folder is expanded or opened in the Windows Explorer Navigation Pane, Start Menu All Programs, and registry folder tree to any custom icon that you want instead in Windows 7 and Windows 8.

   Warning

• You can only do this while logged in to a administrator account.
• This will affect all user account's active open folder icons on the computer.

EXAMPLE: Active Open Folder
NOTE: This is the Windows Explorer navigation with the default open folder icon (left screenshot) and a custom open folder icon (right screenshot).

OPTION ONE

To Change Default Open Folder Icon

1. Press the Windows + R keys to open the Run dialog, type regedit, and press click/tap on OK.

2. If prompted by UAC, then click/tap on Yes.

3. In regedit, navigate to the location below. (see screenshot below)

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer

4. In the left pane, right click on the Explorer key, and click on New and Key. (See screenshot above)

5. Type Shell Icons, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: If Shell Icons is already here, then you can skip steps 4 and 5.

6. In the right pane of Shell Icons, right click on an empty space, and click on New and String Value. Type 4, and press Enter. (see screen shot below)

7. Double click/tap on 4 to modify it. (see screenshot above)

8. Type in the full path of the icon that you want to use as the new open folder icon. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: If you change the icon's location (path), then you must also change the location here in step 8 as well for the folder to still display that icon in Windows Explorer.

   Tip

These are some good icon paths to use:

• C:\Windows\System32\shell32.dll,-290
• C:\Windows\System32\shell32.dll,-246

9. The registry will now look similar to this with your icon path under the Data column in the right pane instead. (see screenshot below)

10. Close Regedit.

11. Log off and Log on, or restart the computer to apply the new open folder icon.

OPTION TWO

To Restore Default Open Folder Icon

NOTE: This option assumes that you did OPTION ONE above to change the default folder icon.

1. Press the Windows + R keys to open the Run dialog, type regedit, and press click/tap on OK.

2. If prompted by UAC, then click/tap on Yes.

3. In regedit, navigate to the location below. (see screenshot below)

Code:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Icons

4. In the right pane of Shell Icons, right click on 4, and click/tap on Delete. (See screenshot below)

5. Click/tap on Yes. (See screenshot below)

6. Close Regedit.

7. Log off and Log on, or restart the computer to restore the default yellow open folder icon.

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Change the Windows 7 Default Folder Icon
• How to Change Windows 7 Default Folder Icons using Resource Hacker
• How to Change the Windows 7 Default User Folder Icons
• How to Change Windows 7 Default Control Panel Icons
• How to Change a Library Icon in Windows 7
• How to Change the Default Libraries Icon in Windows 7
• How to Change a Drive Icon in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8
• How to Change Windows 7 System Icons Using Resource Hacker
• How to Change a Folder Icon in Vista and Windows 7
• How to Remove the Lock Icon from Files and Folders in Windows 7
• How to Change, Remove, or Restore the Shortcut Arrow Overlay Icon in Windows