Windows Icon Management isn’t perfect. In fact it is down right annoying the way Windows handles specialized icons. Folder icons can easily be customized by going into folder properties and choosing an .ICO icon file. However, if the folder is moved to another location or is on an external drive, the icon customization disappear. Icon customization will also not work after re-installing Windows or using the same folder on another Windows PC.
Don’t worry! There is an easy fix. Windows stores icon customization information in the folder itself. Therefore by amending the script once, your icon customization will become permanent. Just follow the following steps.
Place the icon you want to use in the folder itself. Afterwards, just type the following in the command bar to view the file:
X:\…\Foldername\desktop.ini
And replace all data with the following
[.ShellClassInfo]
IconFile=”icon name”.ico
iconindex=0
IconResource=”icon name”.ico,0
Insert the icon name of your icon as relevant and its done!
If you don’t find the desktop.ini file, it mean that folder has no previous customization. You can create it quite easily by opening notepad and saving the file “desktop.ini” in the folder’s directory. Be sure to set “Save as type” to “all files”.
This is what my external HDD looks like on any Windows PC. 🙂
