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 purposes of illustration) for which you want to change the icon.
1. Click Start, type Regedit.exe and press ENTER
2. Navigate to the following branch:
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:
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):
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).
Once noted down the icon index, simply cancel the icon picker dialog and close folder properties dialog.
For example, to set the 260th icon in Shell32.dll (contains a text pad icon), type the following path:
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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- Change the Open Folder Icon in Windows Explorer and Registry Editor
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Everything works, got mp3, m3u, and flac with different icons, all opening in Winamp, thanks!
I didn’t feel like restarting, so as in the link I pressed start…default programs…set your default programs… and made firefox my default, which it already is.
.jpg and .png have different icons, but both open with Windows Photo Viewer.
This is what I would like: .m3u and .flac to have different icons, but both open in winamp.
Thanks, this was a big help. But you should add an explanaition on how to “manually add the DefaultIcon key.” I decided to right click on the abcfile and found I could choose Key as an option.
Also, my Windows 7 doesn’t have a Change Icon option on the Customize tab. There is a section for “Folder pictures” with Choose File that lets you browse for a file.
I used this as a workaround by copying the image I wanted into the Pictures folder and using that path in step 7.
A little help please. I want to use the XP icon for a .cfg file in Win7. Where is it in XP and where do I put it in Win 7 [when I have found it in XP]? This is for MSFSX .cfg files. Thanks, Charlie.
hi! where do i go if UserChoice says “Application/SomethingInstalled.exe”? thanks!
VB6? You need an upgrade, my friend.
From VB6 IDE menu “Project\ Properties”, select “Make”-tab”. There’s “Icon”-drop down, select the form which has the icon you want for your EXE-file.
Is there any way to change the icon of just one file? I made a program and compiled it to an .exe and I don’t want it being the VB6 icon(i know, it’s old). But I have windows 7. I could do it on my old windows XP computer, but not on my new one
.abc is a fictitious file type extension given as an example.