How to Customize the Library Icons in Windows 7

© Ramesh Srinivasan | Windows 7 | 28th January 2009

Windows 7 does not provide a GUI to change the icons shown for Libraries, and the Libraries don’t use the icon references provided in the desktop.ini file. Here is a nice way to customize the Library icons in Windows 7.

Thanks to Bogo for this excellent tip!

Changing the Library icon in Windows 7

1. Start Notepad

2. Click Start, type the following path and press ENTER:

%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Libraries

3. Drag the library (for which you want to change the icon) into the Notepad window.

4. Add the following entry after the line <isLibraryPinned>

<iconReference>Path-to-Icon</iconReference>

For example, to assign the 84th icon (index starts from 0) from Shell32.dll, type the following line:

<iconReference>SHELL32.DLL,84</iconReference>

Note: The <iconReference> line may already exist for the default Libraries. For custom Libraries, you need to add it manually.

5. Save the file and close Notepad. Press F5 to refresh the Libraries window to see if the Library icon has changed.

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8 Comments

  1. Jason
    said this on Thursday, July 15th 2010 11:19 pm

    I can’t paste any Library on to Notepad, i did it once, and can’t do it anymore…
    Anybody know why? I also rebooted the PC and nothing…

  2. Jennifer
    said this on Tuesday, March 23rd 2010 11:25 pm

    doesn’t work for Windows 7…

  3. zmin
    said this on Friday, March 5th 2010 7:53 pm

    external icons only get displayed at 32×32 :( please help

  4. Lu
    said this on Sunday, February 21st 2010 1:15 am

    Hello. Just one question… How/where do I find the path-to-icon. I have created some icons myself, but I have no idea what to enter as their path on the notepad. Thanks for your help!

  5. Mr. Bungle
    said this on Wednesday, November 11th 2009 6:30 am

    You can use this free utility to change library icons, and also add network locations and a few other things:

    http://zornsoftware.talsit.info/?p=3

  6. Windows 7: Folder & Library Icon Customization « Windows 7 — by Anura Guruge
    said this on Tuesday, November 10th 2009 9:09 am

    [...] is not easy. So yes, I found how I can customize the library icons using NOTEPAD.  For example, this article on how to do it. But it is a hack. Plus, I looked at my icon options. Nothing there I really [...]

  7. Windows 7: Folder & Library Icon Customization « New Hampshire – The Live Free or Die State
    said this on Tuesday, November 3rd 2009 5:54 am

    [...] is not easy. So yes, I found how I can customize the library icons using NOTEPAD.  For example, this article on how to do it. But it is a hack. Plus, I looked at my icon options. Nothing there I really [...]

  8. Kai Sellgren
    said this on Sunday, May 31st 2009 9:27 pm

    I made an application to do this automatically, download it here: http://rapidshare.com/files/239282431/Library_Icon_Changer.zip.html

    :)

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