{"id":4876,"date":"2016-12-18T19:55:45","date_gmt":"2016-12-18T14:25:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=4876"},"modified":"2022-07-29T16:47:05","modified_gmt":"2022-07-29T11:17:05","slug":"customize-quick-access-icon-change-windows-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/customize-quick-access-icon-change-windows-10\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Customize the Quick Access icon in Windows 10 or 11"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Quick access is a Windows 10 feature that shows you the list of frequently accessed folders and recent files. Also, under the Quick access section in the File Explorer navigation pane, you can pin your favorite folders.<\/p>\n<p>This post tells you how to change the Quick Access icon from the default slanted blue star icon (in Windows 10) or yellow star (in Windows 11 v21H2 and earlier) to something else of your choice.<!--more--><\/p>\n<h2>Change the Quick access icon<\/h2>\n<h3>For Windows 10<\/h3>\n<p>The quick access icon can be modified by editing the &#8220;<code>DefaultIcon<\/code>&#8221; registry key under the Quick Access {GUID} key, just like the way you customize the icon for any other shell folder in Windows.<\/p>\n<p>Want the yellow star icon instead of the slanted blue one? Here is the registry edit that does that.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Start the Registry Editor and go to the following key:\n<pre>HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\SOFTWARE\\Classes\\CLSID<\/pre>\n<\/li>\n<li>Create a subkey named <code>{679f85cb-0220-4080-b29b-5540cc05aab6}<\/code><\/li>\n<li>Under <code>{679f85cb-0220-4080-b29b-5540cc05aab6}<\/code>, create a key named <code>DefaultIcon<\/code><\/li>\n<li>With the <code>DefaultIcon<\/code> key selected, double-click the <code>(default)<\/code> value in the right pane.<\/li>\n<li>Type in the DLL or custom icon file (.ico) path. Or, to change the Quick Access icon to a yellow star icon used by &#8220;Favorites&#8221;, as in Windows 7, 8, and Windows 11 (21H2 and earlier), use the icon from <code>imageres.dll<\/code>\n<pre>imageres.dll,-1024<\/pre>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4880\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/quick-access-customize-1.png\" alt=\"customize quick access icon\" width=\"680\" height=\"226\" \/>\n<\/li>\n<li>Exit the Registry Editor.<\/li>\n<li>Close all folder windows.<\/li>\n<li>Reopen File Explorer to check if the Quick access icon is refreshed. If not, log off and log back in, or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/exit-explorer-restart-windows-10-8\/\">restart the Explorer shell<\/a> for the change to take effect.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4877\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4877\" style=\"width: 589px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4877\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/quick-access-yellow-star-1.png\" alt=\"customize quick access icon\" width=\"599\" height=\"320\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4877\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Quick access icon in 100% DPI<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4878\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4878\" style=\"width: 590px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4878\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/quick-access-yellow-star-2.png\" alt=\"customize quick access icon\" width=\"600\" height=\"279\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4878\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Quick access icon in 125% DPI<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The yellow star icon may not be the fanciest of the stock icons inside imageres.dll or shell32.dll, nor does it accurately represent the functionality of Quick access. But the post may have served its purpose &#8212; to tell you how to modify the Quick access icon in the registry.<\/p>\n<h3>For Windows 11 v21H2 and earlier<\/h3>\n<p>On Windows 11, the Quick Access icon is already represented by a yellow star icon. If you wish to change it to the new &#8220;Home&#8221; icon (shown in Windows 11 Insider Builds higher than 21H2), follow these instructions for Windows 10. In Step 5, use <code>homeicon.ico<\/code> (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/homeicon.zip\">download link<\/a>) as the icon path.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_26983\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-26983\" style=\"width: 349px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-26983 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/quick-access-home-icon-w11-21h2.png\" alt=\"Quick Access Home icon\" width=\"359\" height=\"220\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-26983\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Changed the Quick Access icon on Windows 11 21H2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Note: The Windows 11 Insider Builds higher than v21H2 already come with the new Home icon for Quick Access; so you don&#8217;t need to edit the registry for that. And, the Quick Access feature (and the icon&#8217;s caption) is changed to &#8220;Home&#8221; in the latest builds.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-26863\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/w11-home-quick-access-1.png\" alt=\"remove &quot;home&quot; in windows 11 explorer\" width=\"540\" height=\"332\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>See also: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/remove-quick-access-other-shell-folders-file-explorer\/#home\">Remove &#8220;Home&#8221; File Explorer in Windows 11<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Quick access is a Windows 10 feature that shows you the list of frequently accessed folders and recent files. Also, under the Quick access section in the File Explorer navigation pane, you can pin your favorite folders. This post tells you how to change the Quick Access icon from the default slanted blue star icon &#8230; <a title=\"How to Customize the Quick Access icon in Windows 10 or 11\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/customize-quick-access-icon-change-windows-10\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about How to Customize the Quick Access icon in Windows 10 or 11\">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":[8,869],"tags":[425,441],"class_list":["post-4876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-windows-10","category-windows-11","tag-quick-access","tag-registry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4913,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/rename-quick-access-shellfolder-windows-10\/","url_meta":{"origin":4876,"position":0},"title":"How to Rename Quick Access Shortcuts in Windows 10 File Explorer","author":"Ramesh","date":"December 21, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Quick access is a handy feature in Windows 10 that lets you pin your frequently used folders. But it has its drawbacks. One of the biggest hindrances is that Quick access doesn't let you rename the pinned items. There are situations especially in a production environment where you want to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"rename quick access pinned folders - libraries","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/library-add-network-folders.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1440,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/remove-quick-access-other-shell-folders-file-explorer\/","url_meta":{"origin":4876,"position":1},"title":"Remove Quick access and User Folders from File Explorer in Windows 10\/11","author":"Ramesh","date":"January 17, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Quick access, introduced in Windows 10, replaces the Favorites feature present in the earlier versions of Windows. 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In addition, File Explorer in Windows 10\/11 by default displays the special user folders at the top, as well\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"remove \"home\" in windows 11 explorer","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/w11-home-quick-access-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/w11-home-quick-access-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/w11-home-quick-access-2.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2848,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/pin-google-drive-navigation-pane\/","url_meta":{"origin":4876,"position":2},"title":"How to Add Google Drive to Explorer Navigation Pane","author":"Ramesh","date":"April 11, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"When you install the Google Drive Sync client, the Google Drive folder is pinned to the Quick Access area, but it isn't shown as a separate category. Whether you're using Google Drive sync in \"Mirror\" mode or the streaming\/virtual drive-letter mode, you can add the Google Drive icon to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"stop google drive pin to quick access","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/google-drive-pin-qa-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/google-drive-pin-qa-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/google-drive-pin-qa-2.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":166,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/clear-recent-files-history-in-a-single-click-in-windows\/","url_meta":{"origin":4876,"position":3},"title":"Clear Recent Files history Using Script in Windows 10","author":"Ramesh","date":"April 7, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Did you notice that in Windows it takes exactly half a dozen mouse clicks to clear the recent items history? This post has a VBScript to clear the recent documents history in a single click in Windows 10 and earlier. Clear Recent Files history in Windows In Windows 10, here\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"clear quick access history","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/w10\/w10-quickaccess-3.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":254,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/file-explorer-slow-working-green-progress-bar-foldertype\/","url_meta":{"origin":4876,"position":4},"title":"File Explorer &#8220;Working on it&#8221; Showing Green Progress Bar","author":"Ramesh","date":"April 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Summary: Windows 10's File Explorer stalls saying \"Working on it...\" during the folder type automatic discovery process. 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