Customize shell icons

Tweak #36 - June 26, 2002

Many tweak sites and tweaking programs contain a registry hack to replace a specific icon in the Windows shell. The most common of this is probably the Recicle Bin icon, but some others are very popular too.

However, they don't provide a general way to change system icons.

This tweak will let you change all icons in the Windows shell.

The tweak

Go to the registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Icons

By default this key exists but is empty. In this key, add string values that have a number as their name.

The value of the newly created string values should be the full path of the file containing the icon.

If the file contains more than one icon, then the filename should be followed by a comma and then the index of the icon.

Example: To change the icon for a normal folder to icon 7 in c:\myfile.dll, create the following string value:

"3" = "C:\myfile.dll,7"

The settings may not take effect immediately. To activete them, you may have to delete the following file:

ShellIconCache

This is a hidden file in the Windows (or WinNT) directory.

Full list of all icons that can be replaced:

0 Unknown File Type

1 Default document

2 Default application

3 Closed folder

4 Open folder

5 5 1/4 floppy

6 3 1/2 floppy

7 Removable drive

8 Hard disk drive

9 Network drive

10 network drive offline

11 CD drive

12 RAM disk

13 Entire network

14 Network Service

15 My Computer

16 Printer Manager

17 Network Neighborhood

18 Network Workgroup

19 Start Menu Programs

20 Start Menu Documents

21 Start Menu Settings

22 Start Menu Find

23 Start Menu Help

24 Start Menu Run

25 Start Menu Suspend

26 Start Menu Docking

27 Start Menu Shutdown

28 Sharing overlay (hand)

29 Shortcut overlay (small arrow)

30 Default printer overlay (small tick)

31 Recycle bin empty

32 Recycle bin full

33 Dial-up Network Folder

34 Desktop

35 Control Panel

36 Program Group

37 Printer

38 Font Folder

39 Taskbar

40 Audio CD

41 Novel Tree

42 ?

43 IE favorites

44 Start Menu Logoff

45 ?

46 ?

47 Lock

48 Hibernate