Below I will be guiding you through how to customize the Windows Library icons which can be found in the Start Menu.
Here you can see a demonstration of what we will be covering:
This process will take only a few minutes to complete and will be done in three simple steps.
Required Tools
There are a few required items that are as follows:
- Notepad++will allow you to edit the Windows XML file that holds the information for the icon. Follow the on-screen Notepad++ installer to complete the install
- Alternatively any type of code editor will work.
- The icons themselves. Be sure to pick out four icons; one for Documents, Pictures, Music and Videos. A great website to find .ICO icons is IconArchive.
- A little bit of computer knowledge.
Step 1 – Finding your pictures
Once you have found your new icons to replace the stock Windows icons be sure to save them to the desktop for now; we will be moving the icons to a more permanent home in step #2. Make sure that you also rename the icons to something memorable such as Documents.ICO
We’re going to be using the icons below for the purpose of this demonstration:
You now need to create a new home for your icons. Make your way to your C: drive and find the Windows folder.
Once inside the Windows folder press the New Folder button in the top menu. Create a new folder and name it “Icons”.
Once you’ve copied over your new icons into the newly created Icons folder you can continue to Step 2.
Step 2 – Finding the Libraries
Next we need to edit the Windows XML file that contains the icon information. Make your way to this Windows directory:
C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Libraries
Note: Replace “USERNAME” with your PC’s name. Example: “JoeUser”.
This is where Notepad++ comes in to play. Right Click on either Documents, Music, Pictures, or Videos and press Edit with Notepad++.
You’re about to see a bunch of coding, but don’t worry!
Step 3 – Change Windows Directory
We now need to edit the file so that Windows can understand where our new icons are located. In Notepad++ find the <iconReference> tag which is on line #7.
This is the directory that Windows will be looking at.
Paste in the location of where you have saved your icon. If you have followed the guide then the location of the icon will be:
C:\Windows\Icons\Documents.ico
Note: Documents.ico should be replaced with the file name you used for each icon.
Remember that capital letters do, in fact, count! Be sure to name your icons correctly.
Once finished go ahead and save the file in the top menu of Notepad++.
Finish
There you have it. Your Windows Start Menu icons have now been altered to your own custom pictures. To change the other icons such as Music, Photos and Videos repeat from Step #2 but edit the file you wish to change.
In case you wish to restore the original icons back to default settings the stock icon references are here:
Music: imageres.dll,-1004
Documents: imageres.dll,-1002
Videos: imageres.dll,-1005
Pictures: imageres.dll,-1003
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