{"id":855,"date":"2009-02-10T11:46:08","date_gmt":"2009-02-10T11:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=855"},"modified":"2021-05-31T14:28:53","modified_gmt":"2021-05-31T08:58:53","slug":"prevent-themes-from-changing-desktop-icons-windows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/prevent-themes-from-changing-desktop-icons-windows\/","title":{"rendered":"Prevent Themes from Changing Desktop Icons and Mouse Cursors"},"content":{"rendered":"

A theme<\/a> file can contain references to custom Visual Styles, namespace icons, mouse pointers, window metrics, colors and other visual elements. If you wish to preserve the existing icons for the namespace items such as Computer, Documents, Recycle Bin, Network etc, you can change a setting so that applying a custom theme does not affect the existing desktop icons and mouse cursors.<\/p>\n

Lock down the desktop icons during theme change<\/h2>\n

Right-click on the Desktop and choose Personalize<\/p>\n

Click the Change desktop icons<\/b> link in the left pane<\/p>\n

Note: Alternately, you can use the following command to launch this dialog, which works in Windows 7 through Windows 10.<\/p>\n

control desk.cpl,,0<\/pre>\n
Uncheck the following option and click OK<\/p>\n
Allow themes to change desktop icons<\/h4>\n
<\/p>\n
Lock down the mouse pointers during theme change<\/h2>\n
Right-click on the Desktop and choose Personalize<\/p>\n
Click the Change mouse pointers<\/b> link in the left pane<\/p>\n
Uncheck the following option and click OK<\/p>\n
Allow themes to change mouse pointers<\/h4>\n
<\/p>\n
The above settings apply to all versions of Windows, including Windows 10.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A theme file can contain references to custom Visual Styles, namespace icons, mouse pointers, window metrics, colors and other visual elements. If you wish to preserve the existing icons for the namespace items such as Computer, Documents, Recycle Bin, Network etc, you can change a setting so that applying a custom theme does not affect … 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_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[593],"class_list":["post-855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-windows","tag-themes"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1075,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/fix-recycle-bin-icon-not-refresh-custom-icons-windows-7\/","url_meta":{"origin":855,"position":0},"title":"[Fix] Recycle Bin Icon Does Not Refresh Correctly","author":"Ramesh","date":"August 29, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"When you use a custom icon (.ico) file to customize the Recycle Bin Empty & Full icons manually or via a desktop theme, the Recycle Bin icon may not update or refresh correctly when emptying the Recycle Bin or when you add items to it. In some cases, the issue\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows"","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"recycle bin does not refresh","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/w7-rbin-custicon-3.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24029,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/desktop-icons-spacing-messed-up-fix\/","url_meta":{"origin":855,"position":1},"title":"[Fix] Desktop Icons Spacing is Messed Up in Windows","author":"Ramesh","date":"May 11, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Occasionally, your desktop icons may be spaced out too far or very close to each other in Windows. The desktop icon spacing may sometimes be messed up after installing a video driver update. In some cases, the vertical spacing may be fine, but the horizontal spacing may be messed up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows"","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"desktop icon spacing incorrect","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/desktop-icons-widely-spaced.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/desktop-icons-widely-spaced.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/desktop-icons-widely-spaced.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":762,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/explore-desktop-context-menu-vista\/","url_meta":{"origin":855,"position":2},"title":"How to Add “Explore” to the Desktop Context Menu in Windows","author":"Ramesh","date":"November 3, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This post shows how to add \"Explore\" to the desktop right-click menu. This tip is especially for users who hide the desktop icons for a plain desktop but want to quickly access the Desktop folder when required, without toggling the Show Desktop Icons option in the context menu. Add \"Explore\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows"","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/archived\/desktop-expl.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1035,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/share-desktop-theme-common-all-users\/","url_meta":{"origin":855,"position":3},"title":"How to Install a Desktop Theme For All Users in Windows 7, 8 and Windows 10","author":"Ramesh","date":"April 21, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"A theme is a combination of desktop background pictures, Window colors, sound scheme and a screensaver. Windows 7 introduces a new file format (.themepack) which is basically a .cab file that can contain images, audio files for sound scheme, mouse cursors, icons and the .theme file itself. This file format\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows"","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/w10\/fruitninja-pg2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":68028,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/user-icon-looks-regular-folder-windows-11\/","url_meta":{"origin":855,"position":4},"title":"Windows 11 User icon looks like a Regular folder","author":"Ramesh","date":"December 16, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"After adding the user profile icon to the desktop (via Settings > Personalization > Themes > Desktop icon settings), the user icon may look like a regular folder with the generic yellow folder icon. Users expect the icon to appear like the one below. 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