How to Change the Icon for a File Type in Windows 7 and Vista

Windows XP and earlier Operating Systems include the most useful File Types tab in the Folder Options applet. This tab was removed in Windows Vista and Windows 7 and replaced by Default Programs, which lacks many features that the File Types tab has. This forced users to look for third-party utilities to manage file type associations and customize the icons. This article provides information on how to manually change the icon for file types in Windows 7 and Vista.

Customizing the Icon for a File Type

(For illustrative purposes, let’s assume that you have a custom file type .abc for which you want to change the icon.)

1. Click Start, type Regedit.exe and press ENTER

2. Navigate to the following branch:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ FileExts \ .abc \ UserChoice

3. In the right-pane, note down the value data for Progid (e.g. abcfile). This is the user chosen (via Default Programs) Programmatic Identifier for the file extension.

4. If the UserChoice branch does not exist, navigate to the following branch:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ .abc

5. In the right-pane, note down the (default) value data (e.g. abcfile). This is the Prog ID for the file extension.

6. Navigate to the following key (where abcfile is the Prog ID noted in Step 2 or Step 4 above):

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ abcfile \ DefaultIcon

Note: If the DefaultIcon key does not exist by default, you need to create it manually.

7. In the right-pane, double-click (default) and mention the path to your custom icon (.ico file or reference to an icon resource from a EXE/DLL file).

For example, to set the 260th icon in Shell32.dll (contains a text pad icon), type the following path:

C:\Windows\System32\Shell32.dll,260

8. Exit the Registry Editor.

Restart Windows for the icon change to take effect. In case it doesn’t, you can force a icon refresh manually, or try rebuilding the icon cache using Disk Cleanup.

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7 Responses to “How to Change the Icon for a File Type in Windows 7 and Vista”

Ramesh Srinivasan

said this on Sunday, October 25th 2009 9:02 am

@Zee33: Check this URL:
http://www.winhelponline.com/blog/how-to-customize-library-icons-windows-7/
Zee33

said this on Sunday, October 25th 2009 12:08 am

I’ve been trying to change my icons for music & pictures in the windows 7 os with no luck . even looked in the registry . Even tried iconpackager from stardock . Any Ideas ? icon packager did a good job , just couldnt change those 2 . Help Please ?
philo

said this on Thursday, February 19th 2009 6:36 pm

oops…

you’re right….my mistake. Thanks for your graciousness m8

Ive been in IT for 9 years, and I avoid the Registry whenever possible–
but thanks for posting these DIY steps anyway

cheers
Ramesh Srinivasan

said this on Thursday, February 19th 2009 5:54 pm

@Rudd: To view the icon picker dialog box, right-click on any shortcut on your computer and choose Properties. Click the “Change Icon” button. Note down the icon index of the icon you’d like.

The index starts from “0″. Count it from top to bottom, and then move on to next column.
Rudd

said this on Thursday, February 19th 2009 1:06 pm

What native program was used to browse the icon resources in step #7? How does one determine the icon #?
Ron

said this on Friday, February 13th 2009 12:19 am

This is brilliant and a very helpful trick that has come at an opportune time for me. Thank you very much.

@Phillo, i will say this before someone else less friendly does. This article is about how to do it manually so you do not need another program. I am sure if you re-read the article you will understand, and maybe learn something.

Thanks again.
Ronald
Philo

said this on Thursday, February 12th 2009 7:42 am

Yep….this will work.

OR…

try Creative Element Power Tools. It has a program called File Type Doctor which will do the same job in an easy-to-use GUI

http://www.creativelement.com/powertools/

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