How to change icons in Windows 7: instructions, simple methods and tips

Sometimes users wonder how to change icons in Windows 7. This is a simple task, but not every user is familiar with it. In fact, the processes do not require any special skills or knowledge. It is enough to follow the simplest instructions to complete the task. Below we will look at the best ways to replace icons in Windows.

How to restore the standard appearance of shortcuts on the desktop?

Right click on desktop

and select “Properties” in the context menu.
Go to the "Desktop" tab. Click the "Customize desktop" button. Go to the “General” tab and check the boxes next to the icons that you want to place on your desktop
.

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Changing icons in Windows 7

There are two methods for accomplishing this task. Each of them has its own characteristics and will be most effective in different situations. Let's take a closer look at these processes.

Method 1: Manually installing a new icon

In the properties of each folder or, for example, executable file, there is a menu with settings. There we find the parameter we need, which is responsible for editing the icon. The whole procedure looks like this:

1. Right-click on the required directory or file and select “Properties”.

Go to the “Settings” or “Shortcut” tab and find the “Change Icon” button there.

Select the appropriate system icon from the list, if it contains one that suits you.

If you do not find a suitable option, click on “Browse” and through the browser that opens, find your previously saved image.

Select it and click on “Open”.

Don't forget to save your changes before exiting.

You can find images on the Internet, most of them are freely available. For our purposes, the ICO and PNG formats are suitable. In addition, we recommend that you read our other article at the link below. In it you will learn how to manually create an ICO image.

As for standard icon sets, they are located in three main DLLs. They are located at the following addresses, where C is the system partition of the hard drive. They can also be opened through the “Browse” button.

Method 2: Installing an icon pack

Knowledgeable users manually create sets of icons, developing a special utility for each that automatically installs them on the computer and replaces the standard ones. This solution will be useful for those who want to install icons of one type at a time, transforming the appearance of the system. Such packs are selected and downloaded by each user at his own discretion on the Internet from sites dedicated to Windows customization.

Since any such third-party utility modifies system files, you need to lower the control level to avoid conflict situations. You can do it like this:

Open Start and go to Control Panel.

Find “User Accounts” in the list.

Click on the “Change User Account Control settings” link.

Move the slider down to Never Notify, and then click OK.

All that remains is to restart the PC and go directly to installing the package of images for directories and shortcuts. First, download the archive from any trusted source. Be sure to check the downloaded files for viruses using the VirusTotal online service or an installed antivirus.

The following is the installation procedure:

Open the downloaded data through any archiver and move the directory located in it to any convenient location on the computer.

If there is a script file at the root of the folder that creates a Windows restore point, be sure to run it and wait for it to complete. Otherwise, create it yourself so that if something happens, you can return to the original settings.

Open the Windows script called “Install” - these actions will start the process of replacing icons. In addition, in the root of the folder there is most often another script responsible for deleting this set. Use it if you want to return everything to the way it was before.

We recommend that you familiarize yourself with our other

How to change a file icon?

Let's do it the same way! Right-click on the file, go to the “Properties” section, but here go to the “Shortcut” tab, click “Change Icon”.

By following these simple rules, you can gradually change all the folder and file icons to the ones you like best. The folder icons are all the same, so they most often need to be replaced. Then you will be able to distinguish them not only by name, but also by color and shape.

Now that you have tidied up your folder icons, you need to figure out how easy they are to use. Some programs are best used in a portable version, so that in case of emergency you can always have them at hand, namely on a flash drive. However, in this case, folders with programs become like a dump, and searching for an .exe file in them to launch becomes inconvenient. You can solve this problem by creating separate shortcuts located in the root of the flash drive. These “smart guys” independently launch all the necessary programs on absolutely any computer, regardless of where you place the storage device.

2. Return to its root and click on an empty space with the right mouse button. Now select the “Create” and “Shortcut” functions.

3. After that, we need to specify the path to it like this:

%windir%system32cmd.exe /C start /B /D *path to the program folder* *path to the program folder**file name.exe*

When you write it, don’t forget to include the backslash ““. In our case it looks like this:

%windir%system32cmd.exe /C start /B /D SoftOpenOffice SoftOpenOfficeX-ApacheOpenOffice.exe

To replace a regular shortcut, right-click it and select the bottom line in the context menu - “Properties”. This way you will open a window with information and controls for the properties of this icon.

Go to the “Shortcut” tab and click the “Change Icon” button - it opens another additional window.

Select a new shortcut type from the existing list or click the Browse button to search for other icon sources. Such a source can be library files (with the dll extension) or executable files (with the exe extension). But more often, icons contained in files with the ico extension are used for replacement.

Click the “OK” button in the icon change dialog after you decide on its new appearance.

To replace icons that do not have a “Shortcut” tab in their properties window (“My Computer”, “Network Neighborhood”, “Trash”), you need to open the “Desktop Elements” panel. If you are using the Windows XP operating system, then click the free desktop space, right-click, select Properties from the menu, go to the “Desktop” tab and click the “Desktop Customization” button.

If you have Windows 7 installed, then the steps in the previous step can be replaced with the following: first open the menu on the Start button and launch Control Panel. Then enter the word “personalization” in the search field, and in the search results, click the “Personalization” link. In the left pane of the window, select the line “Change desktop icons”.

If you are using Windows Vista, you also need to launch the control panel from the main menu, on the “Appearance and Personalization” page of which there is the same “Personalization” link. It opens the same page with the line “Change desktop icons” in the left panel, which you need to click.

There is an alternative way to replace all shortcuts on
the desktop
- changing the theme. Each theme has its own set of icons, and the variety of themes that can be found on the Internet is enormous. Unfortunately, not all versions of the OS allow you to change themes - for example, Windows 7 “Starter” does not have this option.

You can find many interesting collections of icons on the Internet. If you decide to use them and replace the icons

on your
desktop
, you need to know which components to work with so that everything goes well.

One of the properties of an object is the appearance of its icon. Like many other properties, it can be changed. However, it is necessary to distinguish between icons and object labels. Changing a shortcut is very easy, but an icon is a little more difficult, especially if the icon is a standard one.

How to change the folder icon in a shortcut.

Right-click on the shortcut icon to get to its properties. If this is really a shortcut (and not a full-fledged object icon), then the dialog box (as of today) of its properties has tabs: General, Shortcut, Security, Details, Previous.

We are interested in the tab - Shortcut, which has a command button Change icon (Change icon). Click on it and the Change Icon dialog box will open. Here you can choose an icon that suits your taste.

Icons are supplied either in collections (libraries) or included with programs. Libraries can have dozens, if not hundreds of icons to choose from. Programmers usually include one or two, and sometimes several, icons with their programs so that the user can choose the one he likes best.

In the dialog box - Change Icon there is a field for entering the name of the file from which you want to borrow the icon. It is possible that the window - Change icon - has opened so that the address of some library has already been entered in this field, as in the figure below - then you have a wide choice.

But the window could open with the address of some program, and then the choice is small.

However, this is not important, because using the Browse button you can view the entire computer and find all the icons included in both libraries and programs.

Click the button - Browse - a dialog box will open - Change icon:

which is similar to the standard file opening window. Inspect the contents of your hard drive, paying attention to files with the extension .DLL and .EXE. After selecting any file, click the Open button. Don't be afraid, in this case the programs will not launch. Here, the Open command will only show those icons that are available in the program or in the library. If they are not there, a message will appear, and then the experiment can be repeated with another file. When you find what you need, select the icon you like and close the “Change Icon” window with the OK button.

To shorten your search a little, we will give the addresses of several standard icon collections:

♦ C:WINDOWSSYSTEM32shell32.dll - a collection of Windows system icons;

♦ C:WINDOWSSYSTEM32pifmgr.dll – collection of custom icons;

C:WINDOWSmoricons.dll is a collection of special Windows icons.

In addition to these collections, you can use icons of any programs. For example, the program C:WINDOWSwinfile.exe has not one icon, but four. Three of them are missing anyway - use them if they suit you.

(standard file icons).

In Windows operating systems, all files of the same type are displayed with one standard icon. Here is an example of one of several types of standard icons:

A Word document with an extension (.DOC or DOCX) looks like the picture above.

Changing standard icons is as easy as we did with shortcuts, because in the object properties dialog box, which opens from the context menu, there is no tab - Shortcut and, accordingly, there is no Change icon button.

However, this operation is still possible.

Let's try changing the standard Word icon to something different. This file was created as a regular folder; accordingly, all files of this type are assigned this standard icon.

To change it, we need to change the properties of the entire file type.

1. To manage the properties of file types, use the File Types tab in the Folder Options dialog box. It opens by clicking Start > Settings > Folder Options > File Types.

2. In the Registered file types list, find the Microsoft Word Document type and click the Change button - the Change file type properties dialog box will open.

3. In this dialog box, click the Change icon button - the already known Change icon window will open. Use it to find another icon and apply it. From now on, all documents created in the Microsoft Word 2000 word processor will appear with a different icon.

Since there are no system tools for changing standard file types in Windows 7, except by editing the registry, I recommend using a program that can be downloaded from https://defaultprogramseditor.com/. There is enough information on this program on the Internet, so go for it.

In order to change the icon for a regular folder, look like:

Right-click on such a folder, then in the dialog box - properties and get into the following window:

PS

I would like to remind you about the folder - My Documents - how do you approach it? Consumer or professional? Link to article: .

Microsoft has done a great job, redrawing almost from scratch all the interface elements of the Windows 7 operating system. Many visual effects have been added to its design themes, making using the computer a more colorful and vibrant experience. Despite the fact that most users enthusiastically accepted the introduced innovations, there are still those who are not satisfied with this interface.

There can be many reasons for this: some computers become “clumsy” when using new graphics, visual effects distract attention or interfere with the usual functions. In addition, someone could simply get used to their favorite icons and unique design themes on previous versions of the OS, and now, after the update, they want to return everything to the way it was.

Methods for solving the problem

It is worth paying attention to the fact that there are a lot of options for the development of events. When thinking about how to change icons in Windows 7, you need to understand that the algorithm of actions will depend on the situation.

At the moment you can change:

• labels;
• folder pictures;
• image of the Start menu;
• operating system "Trash" icon.

In addition, you can cope with the task:

• using programs;
• manually;
• through system services of the operating system.

In fact, everything is simpler than it seems. And even a schoolchild will be able to change the folder icon in Windows 7 and more.

Video on replacing standard icons in the seven

Watch the visual video instructions on how to change standard icons to your own: Thus, if you want to change the icons of folders, files and other objects in Windows 7, you can use the capabilities of the operating system itself. It is enough to download the pictograms from the Internet as individual icons or as a whole collection. Installing icons will only take a few minutes, even if you use third-party programs.

Change file type( )

This method allows you to change the appearance of individual documents. Moreover, everything can be done without programs - only built-in tools are used. You have the opportunity to include files in *.ico . These can be existing or downloaded icons from the Internet.

It is important to note that this way you can only change the appearance of the shortcut.

There are several steps you need to take:

1. Select the file whose appearance you want to change. Call up the context menu on it and click “ Properties ”.
2. Next, go to the “ Shortcut ” tab, where we select the “ Change Icon ” button.
3. A new window will appear. It will contain pictures that are provided by the system specifically for this type of document or program. We select standard icons or click “ Browse ”, where we indicate the path to the desired icon.
4. Confirm with the “ Apply ” button and then “ Ok ”.

Changing folder view( )

Changing the icon for a folder allows you to distinguish it from a number of others that are identical. We perform several movements:

1. We find the directory that we need to change and call the context menu on it with the right button.
2. At the end of the list, click on the “ Properties ” line.
3. A new window will open where we need to select the “ Settings ” tab.
4. At the bottom you will see the “ Change icon ” button, which we click on.
5. A small window will appear where we are asked to select from a list of standard icons.
6. If you want to use new icons, indicate “ Browse ”, where you select the ones you need.
7. We confirm the actions using “ Apply ” and “ Ok ”.

This method also works on Windows 10. If you suddenly change your mind and decide to return everything as it was before, we go through the first four points from the list. And then select “ Restore default values ”. Clicking this button will restore the standard icons.

IconPackager( ) program

Among those who like to change the appearance of the operating system, the IconPackager utility is quite popular. Using the program you can quickly and easily select what you want:

1. Download the installation distribution and install using the prompts.
2. We prepare the drawings that we want to install.
3. Let's launch the application. A window will open where you need to click “ Continue ”.
4. Below we will see new icon set options. If you want to add your own, select “ Add icon package ”.
5. A list will open where you need to click “ Install from disk ”. Explorer will launch, in which we indicate the path to the desired file.
6. Click “ Open ”, after which a collection of all pictures will appear.
7. Click “ Apply icon package ”. This will save the new icons. Afterwards, the application will display a message about restarting Explorer and the taskbar. Click " Ok ".
8. For a few seconds, all existing icons will disappear. After which you will be able to immediately see the innovations.

If some individual elements were not taken into account in the pack, their appearance will remain the same.

Sometimes there are situations when you need to return icons back. To do this, select the file and click on “ Windows Default Icons By: Microsoft ”. And then click on “ Apply icon package ”.

Other Applications( )

Some users encounter a situation where the tools listed above are not enough. So, for example, you want to select a file with the extension *.png , but you can only change it to *.ico . There are other programs to solve the problem.

For example, AveIconifier 2 is a relatively small piece of software. The application allows you to automatically and quickly convert files from one to another format.

If you intend to change not just one individual element, but a collection at once, the IrfanView utility will come in handy.

However, you should never forget about the IconTo application. The program is equipped with the ability to change the appearance of individual system objects. So, for example, you installed new icons for all folders. But you still want to highlight one directory among the rest. This is where this utility comes in handy. It is also worth saying that it is suitable not only for the operating system version seven from Microsoft, but also for Windows 8.

So that you can more clearly familiarize yourself with the topic of changing icons, you can watch the video. Everything you need is explained here in detail.

Well, as you can see, there are various tools that allow you to quickly and without any hassle change the appearance of files on your computer. Try and experiment.

I hope you found this article helpful. Subscribe and you can learn a lot more about your computer.

Cart and its correction

How to change the trash icon in Windows 7? This question is of interest only to individual users. Usually the cart remains without any adjustments. It is very comfortable.

If you want to change the picture of the “Cart” service, you can cope with the task using the previously proposed algorithm of actions. But after step 3 you will have to select “Trash”, only then click on “Change icon”.

The steps taken help change the image of the trash can in Windows 7. It is recommended not to experiment - the user is more accustomed to seeing a regular trash can as a “Trash”.

Installing icons using IconPackager

There is another way to change folder icons to any others. To do this, you can use the convenient IconPackager utility.

1. The program will open directly to you. Icons will appear at the bottom of the screen. If you plan to replace the icons with photos downloaded from the network, then click “Add icon package”. A drop-down list will appear in which you need to select “Install from disk”. This will take you to Explorer, which will provide the path to the file. All you have to do is click on the “Open” button, from where you can see the entire collection of icons.
2. Click on “Apply icon packge” to agree to changing the appearance of the icons. The program will inform you that Explorer and the taskbar are restarting. Click OK. The reboot will appear as all the icons disappearing, but it won't last more than a few seconds, so don't worry. You will now see the newly installed icons.

If there are no icons for certain types of files or programs in your collection, the icons for these objects will remain the same - without changes. It happens that you need to return the icons back. In this case, in the same program, click on “Windows Default Icons By: Microsoft” at the bottom of the screen from the available icons and apply the rule by clicking on “Apply icon package”.

Other programs for changing icons

To install icons, the tools suggested above are not always enough. For example, you liked an icon, but it is presented only in the PNG extension, while installing new icons requires the ICO extension. In this case, two programs will be useful:

• IrfanView is a utility that comes in handy if you need to convert an entire collection of icons at once.

Another program is IconTo. Its capabilities lie in the fact that you can assign specific picrograms to individual system objects. For example, you replaced the folder icons, but for one very important one you want to use a unique icon. This is where IconTo can help.

How to change a folder icon.

To change the folder icon, hover the cursor over the desired folder and press the right mouse button. A list will appear. Select “Properties” in it.

A window with icons will appear. You can choose your favorite folder icon from this list or select an icon from downloaded icons.

If you want to select an icon among the icons you have downloaded, then to do this, click the “Browse” button, go to the folder with icons, select the one you like among them and click “Open”, then click “OK” in the windows that appear. The icon you like will be applied to the folder.

For example, here is the folder that I got.

Recovering Old Images

How can I change the icons in Windows 7 back? Often, users upgrade their operating systems, and then do not know how to return the initial Windows settings. Coping with the task at hand can sometimes be difficult. Especially if you don’t know where the archives with system (initial) icons are stored.

Standard pictures can be found in the following ways:

• C:\Windows\System32\shell32.dll;
• C:\Windows\System32\imageres.dll;
• C:\Windows\System32\ddores.dll.

It is at these addresses that you can find standard Windows icons. They are restored according to the principles presented earlier.

Important: if you don’t want to search for the corresponding image archives, you can simply click on the “Restore default” button in the “Change icon…” menu. Then the operating system settings will be restored.