{"id":327,"date":"2008-06-11T23:07:06","date_gmt":"2008-06-11T17:37:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=327"},"modified":"2020-11-29T06:05:14","modified_gmt":"2020-11-29T06:05:14","slug":"change-open-folder-icon-explorer-and-registry-editor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/change-open-folder-icon-explorer-and-registry-editor\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Change the Default Folder Icon in Windows"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Customizing and hacking the user interface (&#8220;Shell&#8221;) in Windows is fun. If you want to change the default folder icon with your custom .ico file, this article tells you how. Instructions apply to all versions of Windows, including Windows 10.<\/p>\n<h2>Change the Default Folder icon in Explorer<\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>Launch <b>Regedit.exe<\/b> and navigate to the following location:\n<pre>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Explorer\\Shell Icons<\/pre>\n<\/li>\n<li>Create two REG_SZ values namely 3 and 4. To create a new value, from the Edit menu click New, click String Value.\n<div class=\"newline\"><em>(Value number 3 points to the shell icon #3 which is the <b>closed folder<\/b> icon and 4 is supposed to be the <b>open folder<\/b> icon in earlier versions of Windows. However, new versions of Windows, such as Windows 10 doesn&#8217;t distinguish open vs closed folder icons.)<\/em><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>For both values <code>3<\/code> and <code>4<\/code>, change the data which points to your custom icon file &#8212; e.g., <code>d:\\icons\\folder.ico<br \/>\n<\/code><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3648\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/06\/change-folder-icon-color-3.png\" alt=\"change folder icon in Windows\" width=\"650\" height=\"190\" \/><\/li>\n<li>Exit the Registry Editor.<\/li>\n<li>Logoff and log back in for the icons to refresh. Alternatively, restart the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/exit-explorer-restart-windows-10-8\/\">Explorer shell<\/a> or force an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/refresh-icon-cache-windows-7-quickly\/\">icon refresh<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h4>Screenshots<\/h4>\n<p>Here are a couple of variations I used and how they appear.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3650\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3650\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-3650 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/06\/change-folder-icon-color-1.png\" alt=\"change folder icon in Windows\" width=\"650\" height=\"423\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3650\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Blue folder icon from imageres.dll)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3649\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3649\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-3649 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/06\/change-folder-icon-color-2.png\" alt=\"change folder icon in Windows\" width=\"650\" height=\"423\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3649\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Green folder icon from imageres.dll)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>There are some neat icons inside <code>shell32.dll<\/code> and <code>imageres.dll<\/code>. Also, there are sites that provide fancy folder icons which you can download for free. Here are some icons I extracted from Shell32.dll and Imageres.dll which you can use.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3646\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/06\/change-folder-icon-color-5.png\" alt=\"change folder icon in Windows\" width=\"364\" height=\"132\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Download <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/folder_icons.zip\">folder_icons.zip<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"rp\"><strong>RELATED:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/change-default-icon-file-type-windows\/\">How to Change the Icon for a File Type in Windows<\/a><\/div>\n<h3><b>Setting a different &#8220;Open&#8221; folder icon<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>You can set a different icon for the &#8220;open&#8221; folder (vs &#8220;closed&#8221; folder). Note that the setting has no effect in Windows 10&#8217;s File Explorer. But Registry Editor in Windows 10 respects the open folder icon.<\/p>\n<p>For example, in the <code>Shell Icons<\/code> key, if you set the value data for the string value <code>3<\/code> to the following:<\/p>\n<pre>c:\\windows\\system32\\shell32.dll,137<\/pre>\n<p>It appears like this:<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3647\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3647\" style=\"width: 392px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-3647 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/06\/change-folder-icon-color-4.png\" alt=\"change folder icon in Windows\" width=\"402\" height=\"190\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3647\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Windows 10&#8217;s Registry Editor shows the open folder icon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><b>Registry File<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Download <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/openfolder.zip\">openfolder.zip<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In earlier versions of Windows, the custom &#8220;open folder&#8221; icon is reflected in the Explorer navigation pane as well.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 147px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/openfoldericon1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"157\" height=\"131\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Folder pane in Vista)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure style=\"width: 196px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/openfoldericon3.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"206\" height=\"108\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Folder pane in XP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure style=\"width: 90px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/openfoldericon2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"100\" height=\"84\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(RegEdit in Vista)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Hope you found the above tips useful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Customizing and hacking the user interface (&#8220;Shell&#8221;) in Windows is fun. If you want to change the default folder icon with your custom .ico file, this article tells you how. Instructions apply to all versions of Windows, including Windows 10. Change the Default Folder icon in Explorer Launch Regedit.exe and navigate to the following location: &#8230; <a title=\"How to Change the Default Folder Icon in Windows\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/change-open-folder-icon-explorer-and-registry-editor\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about How to Change the Default Folder Icon in Windows\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[441],"class_list":["post-327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-windows","tag-registry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":26716,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/duplicate-desktop-icons-in-windows\/","url_meta":{"origin":327,"position":0},"title":"Fix for Duplicate Desktop Icons in Windows","author":"Ramesh","date":"May 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Every time when you place a file or a shortcut on your Desktop, you may get 2 identical icons. If one icon is deleted, the other icon will also be removed if you refresh the Desktop. The path for both icons would be the same. You may be wondering what\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27932,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/customize-contacts-folder-icon-windows\/","url_meta":{"origin":327,"position":1},"title":"How to Customize the Contacts Folder Icon in Windows","author":"Ramesh","date":"September 3, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The Contacts folder is a shell folder that can be relocated like any other shell folder like Documents, Music, Pictures, etc. However, unlike other shell folders, the Contacts folder doesn't have a \"Customize\" tab in the property sheet. You may be wondering how to change the Contacts folder icon. We'll\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"contacts folder - customize tab change icon missing","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/contacts-folder-change-icon-missing.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":984,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/fix-desktop-icons-layout-not-saved-restart\/","url_meta":{"origin":327,"position":2},"title":"Fix for Desktop Icons Layout Not Getting Saved Upon Restarting Windows","author":"Ramesh","date":"January 24, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Windows saves the desktop icon layout when the user logs off, and the setting is read during logon. Recently I came across a case where the desktop icons rearrange to their default positions after a restart or logoff\/login cycle. This turned out to be a Permissions issue with a registry\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"exit explorer windows 10","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/exit-expl-w10.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3355,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/desktop-icons-tiles-view-mode-fix\/","url_meta":{"origin":327,"position":3},"title":"Desktop looks like a regular folder or Changes to Tiles view mode","author":"Ramesh","date":"August 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"If your Desktop has suddenly changed to \"Tiles\" view mode on your Windows computer, you may have accidentally hit a shortcut key that switches the folder view mode. It's also possible that the FFlags registry value data is incorrect. 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FxVisor allows you to either way to modify or remove the shortcut overlay\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/articles\/content_images\/fxvisor.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}