In the Windows 10 operating system, the icons of almost all folders are the same, and you can partially change their appearance only by changing the themes. In general, this is enough for most users, but there are those who prefer to customize the system interface in more detail, including changing the icons of certain (or all) directories. Let’s see how this can be done in the top ten. First you need to find and download the desired icon (set of icons), which we want to replace the standard one (file format – “ico”). For example, search engines on the Internet can help us with this.
After we have found what we were looking for, we do the following:
- Right-click on the folder whose icon we want to change. In the context menu that opens, select the “Properties” item. Go to folder properties in Windows ten
- In the properties that appear, go to the “Settings” tab, where we click on the “Change icon” button. Change folder icon in Windows Ten
- We can select an icon from the proposed library (SHELL32.dll) or by clicking the “Browse” button, go to the selection of the previously downloaded icon. In our case, we choose the last option. Selecting an icon for a folder in Windows Ten
- A window will open in which you need to go to the folder in which the desired icon is stored. After selecting it, click “Open”. Selecting an icon for a folder in Windows Ten
- You will be returned to the previous window, where we confirm the selection by pressing the OK button. Confirming folder icon change in Windows Ten
- And again click OK to exit the folder properties and save the changes. Confirming changes made to folder properties in Windows Ten
- The folder icon should change to the selected one. In some cases, you may need to press the F5 key to refresh the state of Explorer. Folder with changed icon in Windows 10
Note: To restore the default icon, in the selection window, click on the “Restore default values” button.
Restore default value when changing folder icon in Windows ten
In addition to downloading ready-made icons, users have the ability to create their own, for example, through the IcoFX app. Read more about this in the 4th section of our article – “How to change icons on the Windows Ten desktop”.
Change the icons of all folders
The easiest and safest way is to make changes through the Registry Editor. You can also edit the resources of the SHELL32.dll system library, however, this is a more complicated and risky method, so we will not consider it.
Note: before making any changes to the system registry, we recommend that you create a restore point to which you can roll back the system in case of possible problems.
So, the algorithm of actions is as follows:
Press the key combination Win + R. In the “Run” window that opens, type the command “regedit” and press Enter (or OK).Launching Registry Editor through the Run window in Windows 10
In the Editor window, follow the path:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ExplorerExplorer folder in
Windows Ten Registry Editor
Open the contents of the “Explorer” folder and select the “Shell Icons” section. If there is no such section, right-click on the “Explorer” folder, in the menu that opens, select the “New” – “Section” command.
Creating a new key in Windows Ten Registry Editor
Give the desired name to the new section (“Shell Icons”) and click Enter. Creating a new key in
Registry Editor
In the same way, create a string parameter named “4”. New string options in Windows Ten Registry Editor
Double-click to open the properties of both parameters in turn, specify the path to our icon as values, and then click OK. Adjusting the value of a string parameter in the Windows 10 Registry Editor The location of the file can be found in its properties, which are opened via the context menu.
File location in Windows 10
As a result, the content of the section looks as follows. String parameters in Windows Ten Registry Editor
Launch the Task Manager. This can be done, for example, through the Search line. Launching Task Manager via the Search bar in Windows Ten
Right-click on the “Explorer” line and select the “Restart” command in the menu that opens. Restarting File Explorer in Windows 10 Task Manager
Note: With the selected icon, the catalogues will be shown only if they are displayed as small icons, a list or a table.
- Changed folder icons in Windows Ten Explorer
- In other cases – only if the folder is empty.
- Tile view mode in Windows Ten Explorer
- To fix this, in any open folder in Explorer, go to the “View” tab, where we click on the “Options” button.
Also check: windows 11
Go to folder options in Windows Ten
In the window that opens, switch to the “View” tab, in the additional parameters of files and folders, put a check mark next to the item “Always display icons, not thumbnails. ” When ready, click OK.
Enabling folder icons to always appear instead of thumbnails in Windows 10. Now all folders, regardless of which display option is selected, will be shown with the icon that we have chosen. Tile view mode in Windows 10 Explorer
Set the main catalogue picture
In accordance with the standard settings, Explorer in the display modes “content”, “tile”, “regular / large / huge icons” shows in the folder icon up to the first 4 pictures that are in it.
Display Mode Large Icons in Windows ten Explorer
But we can manually select the desired image:
- Create or download a picture, then go to the folder in which it is located. Switch to the “View” tab, in which we enable the display of file extensions. Enabling file extension display in Windows ten
- Right-click on the image file, in the menu that opens, select the “Rename” command (or by selecting the file, just press the F2 key ). Renaming a file via the context menu in Windows Ten
- Change the name and extension to “Folder.gif”, press Enter, and then confirm the change by pressing the “Yes” button. Confirming extension change when renaming a file in Windows 10
- Copy / move the file to the folder for which we want to set this image as a preview. Moving a file from one folder to another in Windows 10
- Now we see exactly our picture as a preview of the contents of the folder. Folder with content display in Windows 10
Alternative method
- Go to the folder properties via the context menu. Go to folder properties in Windows 10
- In the “Settings” tab, click the “Select file” button. Selecting a file as a folder image in Windows Ten
- In the window that opens, specify the path to our image and click “Open”. Selecting a file as a folder image in Windows ten
- We save the changes by clicking OK. Confirming changes to folder properties in Windows Ten.
Conclusion
Thus, users of the “dozens” have the opportunity to change the icon for a specific or for all folders using standard operating system tools, as well as select an image that will be shown as a preview of the content in certain display modes.