Drive Icon Change

How to Change a Drive Icon in Vista​

   Information

This will show you how to change any drive icon that uses a drive letter to whatever icon you want in a user account. These will be the ones that show up in Computer with a drive letter.

   Note

• This is not to fix a missing or changed drive icon that just happened out of the blue, but to replace it with one you want instead of the default one. If the drive icon went missing or changed to some odd one, then try rebuilding the icon cache first. See: How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Vista
• If you want to also rename the drive, then see: How to Rename a Drive in Vista

   Warning

The icons you decide to use must be a 256x256 bit .ico (icon) file, not .png, to be used in Vista without viewing problems. A png file must be converted to a 256x256 ico file before it can be used. To convert a PNG to ICO you must use a program such as this with a free 30 day trial program called: Axialis IconWorkshop: Axialis IconWorkshop Download Page

   Tip

• The default icon path for the C:\ drive is located at C:\Windows\System32\imageres.dll,30.
• Here's a good location for some free icons: deviantArt: Dock Icons
• If your default drive icon is missing or was changed and you did not do it with the methods below, then look for a hidden (not always hidden though) autorun.inf when you open the drive letter in Computer and right click on the autorun.inf file and click on Delete. Next, approve the deletion.

EXAMPLE: METHOD ONE Before and After Drive Icon Change

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EXAMPLE: METHOD TWO Before and After Drive Icon Change

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OPTION ONE

For a Single User Account

NOTE: This will only change the drive icons for the user account that you are currently logged on in.

1. Open the Start Menu.​

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2. In the white line (Start Search) area, type regedit and press Enter.​

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3. Click on Continue in the UAC prompt.​

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4. In regedit, go to: (See screenshot below step 5)​

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HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes​

5. In the left pane, right click on Classes and click on New and Key.​

NOTE: If you already have the Applications key under Classes, then go to step 7.​

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6. Type Applications and press Enter. (See screenshot below)​

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7. In the left pane, right click on Applications and click on New and Key.​

NOTE: If you already have the Explorer.exe key under Applications, then go to step 9.​

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8. Type Explorer.exe and press Enter. (See screenshot below)​

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9. In the left pane, right click on Explorer.exe and click on New and Key.​

NOTE: If you already have the Drives key under Explorer.exe, then go to step 11.​

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10. Type Drives and press Enter. (See screenshot below)​

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11. In the left pane, right click on Drives and click on New and Key.​

NOTE: If you already have the Drive Letter (EX: C) key under Drives, then go to step 13.​

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12. Type the drive letter (EX: C) you want to change the drive icon for and press Enter. (See screenshot below)​

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13. In the left pane, right click on the drive letter (EX: C) and click on New and Key.​

NOTE: If you already have the DefaultIcon key under the drive letter, then go to step 15.​

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14. Type DefaultIcon and press Enter. (See screenshot below)​

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15. In the right pane, right click on (Default) and click on Modify.​

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16. To Restore the Default Drive Icon​

A) Empty the Value data field and click on OK. (See screenshot below step 17)​

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B) Go to step 19.​

17. To Change the Drive Icon​

A) Type in the full path of where the icon is saved at and click OK.​

(EX: C:\Users\Everyday\Downloads\HDD Black.ico)​

NOTE: The icon will need to remain in it's location for as long as you are using it. You can use any icon (.ico file) you want, or one that came with Vista. (EX: A .dll file path) See the How to Use a DLL OR EXE Icon Library Filebelow.​

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18. The registry should look similar to this now. (See screenshot below)​

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19. Close regedit.​

NOTE: The change will be immediate. If you have Computer open, then you may need to press F5 to refresh the window to see the new icon. If you used a wrong icon size for the drive icon, then you may need to change the window's icon size in the View or Views menu to a smaller size.​

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20. Repeat steps 11 to 19 if you want to add another drive letter icon to change.​

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21. In some cases, you may need to restart the computer to apply the changes.​

   Tip

How to Use another Icon from Vista

   Tip

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A) Download and install the free program IconViewer for your 32-bit or 64-bit Vista.​

NOTE: This program will add a Icons tab to files (ex: imageres.dll) that contain a icon library in them so you can see the icons available in it.​

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B) In Windows Explorer, navigate to C:\Windows\System32\imageres.dll and right click on imageres.dll, click on Properties, and click on the Icons tab.​

NOTE: You can use any of the Vista files that include icons in them that you want though. This is just the most common one.​

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C) Scroll through the icons and make note of the icon number of the one you want to use to replace the default file extension icon with, then close the properties window. (see screenshot below)​

NOTE: For example, icon number 36 for the default C drive icon.​

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OPTION TWO

For All User Accounts

NOTE: This method can be helpful for using with optical (DVD) or removable drives.
CREDIT TO: Member:AvatarOfTheShip

1. Open the Start Menu.​

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2. In the white line (Start Search) area, type regedit and press Enter.​

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3. Click on Continue in the UAC prompt.​

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4. In regedit, go to: (See screenshot below step 5)​

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HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer​

5. In the left pane, right click on explorer.exe and click on New and Key.​

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6. Type DriveIcons and press Enter. (See screenshot below)​

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7. In the left pane, right click on DriveIcons and click on New and Key.​

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8. Type the drive letter (EX: D) you want to change the drive icon for and press Enter. (See screenshot below)​

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9. In the left pane, right click on the drive letter (EX: D) and click on New and Key.​

NOTE: If you already have the DefaultIcon key under the drive letter, then go to step 11.​

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10. Type DefaultIcon and press Enter. (See screenshot below)​

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11. In the right pane, right click on (Default) and click on Modify.​

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12. To Restore the Default Drive Icon​

A) Empty the Value data: field and click OK. (See screenshot below step 13)​

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B) Go to step 15.​

13. To Change the Drive Icon​

A) Type in the full path of where the icon is saved at and click OK.​

(EX: C:\Windows\System32\imageres.dll,31)​

NOTE: The icon will need to remain in it's location for as long as you are using it. You can use any icon (.ico file) you want, or one that came with Vista. (EX: A .dll file path) See the How to Use a DLL OR EXE Icon Library Fileabove.​

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14. The registry should look similar to this now. (See screenshot below)​

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15. To Rename the Dive ​

NOTE: This is helpful for something like a DVD (optical) drive since they cannot be renamed through the normal method here: How to Rename a Drive in Vista​

If you do not want to rename the drive, then skip this step and go to step 16 below instead.​

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A) In the left pane, right click on the drive letter (Ex: D) and click on New and Key. (See screenshot below)​

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B) Type DefaultLabel and press Enter.​

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C) In the right pane, right click on (Default) and click on Modify.​

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D) Type the name you want (Ex: DVD-RW) and click OK. (See screenshot below)​

NOTE: To Restore the Default Drive Name, leave this blank.​

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E) The registry will now look similar to this. (See screenshot below)​

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16. Close regedit.​

NOTE: The change will be immediate. If you have Computer open, then you may need to press F5 to refresh the window to see the new icon. If you used a wrong icon size for the drive icon, then you may need to change the window's icon size in the View or Views menu to a smaller size.​

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17. Repeat steps 7 to 16 if you want to add another drive letter icon to change.​

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18. In some cases, you may need to restart the computer to apply the changes.​

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That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

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• How to Change a Folder Icon in Vista
• How to Change a Shortcut Folder or File Icon in Vista
• How to Change the Open Folder Icon in Vista
• How to Change a Folder Preview Picture in Vista
• How to Change a Icon in the Control Panel in Vista
• How to Restore and Change a Desktop Icon in Vista
• How to Change the Desktop Control Panel Icon in Vista
• How to Delete and Extend a Partition with Disk Management in Vista
• How to Shrink and Create a Partition with Disk Management in Vista
• How to Add, Change, or Remove a Drive Letter in Vista
• How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Vista
• How to Show or Remove Drive Letters from Displaying in Vista and Windows 7
• How to Rename a Drive in Vista
• How to Disable or Enable Low Disk Space Warning in Vista
• How to Increase Hard Drive Performance in Vista
• How to Remove or Show Drives in the Vista and Windows 7 "Send To" Context Menu
• How to Restrict or Unrestict Drive Access in Vista
• How to Hide or Unhide a Drive in Vista
• How to Create a Drive Shortcut in Vista
• How to Change a File Extension Type Icon in Vista
• How to Mount or Dismount a Drive or Partition to a Folder in Vista
• How to Retain the DVD Drive Icon if Disappeared from Computer
• How to Change the Vista Default Folder Icon

 

[Brink]

Darius,

This is a persistant little bug. LOL

Does leaving the drive letter changed allow the icon to stay?


Shawn

 

[Darius]

Shawn,

Yes, an annoying one. On the other hand I am learning a lot during getting rid of it.

To answer your question: when the drive letter was changed to 'M' (and don't ask why I chose 'M'...), the letter changed but the icon remained generic.
Then I rebooted and changed letter again to 'E'. As I said, an 'E' icon came up correctly for a few seconds, then changed again to generic.

Counting on your help...

Darius

 

[Brink]

Darius,

We pretty much tried all the simpler ideas that I know of. You would expect something like this as being more likely from an external drive. LOL

The only other thing I can think of is to delete the partition and Extend it back to another partition, then recreate the partition. If this does not reset it, I do not know what else will other than a full wipeout of all partitions and starting over with a reinstall. It will be some work, but it should work. Just be sure to backup the drive first.

If you need these:

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/95418-disk-management-delete-extend.html

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/95398-disk-management-shrink-partition.html

Shawn

 

[Darius]

Shawn,

I will pass on this one. This would require restoring backed up data and reinstalling the programs; too much time--unfortunately my duties prevent me from dedicating all my free time to fixng bugs in Vista...
For the sake of completeness: I tried to resize and move partition using a third party tool (Partition Manager), i.e., do it "outside" Vista. No change.

I am going to treat it as I would treat a dent on a new car: ugly, but it's not the biggest problem and you have to live with it.

Thank you for all your help.

On different note, I have a few questions about the Vista user interface, which behaves differently than XP interface I am familiar with, and I don't want to post it here. Selfishly I am planning on using your knowledge again. Where is the best place to post such a question on this forum?

Best,

Darius

 

[Brink]

Darius,

I do not blame you. It is a lot of work for such a minor thing. You can do like I do, add it to a list for reasons to do a reinstall. When there are enough minor issues listed, you can reconsider a reinstall then. Of course, with all the things I try on my computer, it does not take to long to break it and have to do a reinstall. LOL

You can post the question in the General Discussion forum. You should get some good replies from there.

Shawn

 

[AvatarOfTheShip]

You can also do it this way: HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
Make a key called DriveIcons, and, under that key, make a key for every drive you want to assign an icon to, say, C Under C make a new key DefaultIcon, and under it, a REG_SZ value. Give this the path to the icon. You can also make a key called DefaultLabel under the drive key, which can be useful for optical drives (call one 'Source' and one 'Target', say, or one 'Popeye' and the other 'Bluto')

 

[Brink]

Hi AvatarOfTheShip,

Thank you for the great tip. It has been added as METHOD TWO in this tutorial, and here:

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/120247-drive-name-change.html

Shawn

 

[AvatarOfTheShip]

Thanks Brink. Glad it was of use.

 

[jim817]

Thank you. It worked great. As a side note, I used a 128x128 .ico size, not 256x256 and it worked.

 

[ggbib]

I'm a try this one too, this forum is more work than i thought, i have tons of other things to fix/setup. You all are helping unlock vista for me, thank you yet again.

I have gotten a few laughs as i dig through the tutorials. Most would take me years to resolve.

vista64dotcomrox

j

 

[Brink]

LOL J.,

Do not sell yourself short. Just ask questions for what you do not understand and I or someone will be sure to help the best that we can.

Enjoy and have fun,
Shawn

 

[jim817]

If I may ask Brink, what's the icon for the hard drive you used in the screenshot? Where can I find that?

 

[Brink]

Hi Jim,

It's the same one boxed in red below step 4 (How to Use a DLL OR EXE Icon Library File) in Method One. imageres.dll,30

I believe you will only see that icon when it is used as a larger icon like for a shortcut instead of this smaller drive icon.

Shawn

 

[jim817]

I'm sorry, where can I find that and what would I enter into the registry key to use it?

Also, we're talking about the black hard drive icon right?

 

[Brink]

Jim,

Nope, I thought you meant the default one. LOL

It took a bit to find it again but here it is:

View attachment HDD_Black.zip < Click to Download

You can add it by using Method One in this tutorial and type the path of where you will have the icon stored in step 17.

Shawn

 

[jim817]

Thank you.

 

[Brink]

You welcome Jim.

 

[claustrawberry]

shawn, if use method two, are removable drives or USB port icon also changed? i've got 4 usb port, so can i change it into 4 diffrent icon??

 

[Brink]

Hi Claustrawberry,

As long as they each show up with a driver letter in Computer, then you should be able to change each icon for them per drive letter using Method Two.

 

[claustrawberry]

thanks..
i'll try it =)