While the default Windows icons get the chore done, they aren't particularly exciting. If you lot desire to put a personal spin on your computer, irresolute Windows 10 icons is a great way to exercise this.

We'll show y'all how to change icons on Windows 10, including programme and folder icons. With a bit of work, yous'll accept an all-new interface with a unique look! While nosotros focus on Windows 10 here, these tips largely work the same on Windows 11.

Where to Observe Custom Icons for Windows 10

Earlier you start changing your electric current Windows 10 icons, you lot demand some new icons to supercede them with. The OS has a few additional icons congenital-in, just they're not that great.

Flaticon is a great resources for all your Windows icon needs. The site contains millions of loftier-quality icons arranged in thousands of user-friendly packs. You can grab everything in a pack at once, or download unmarried icons.

FlatIcon Computer Icons

The site offers downloads in several formats. Nosotros recommend downloading them in PNG for easy conversion to the ICO format. Keep all the raw downloads in a binder chosen PNG Icons or similar.

If you don't find what y'all're looking for here, try Findicons, IconArchive, or GraphicBurger. Nosotros've also looked at some bang-up Windows icon packs in the past.

Converting PNG Images to ICO Icons

Windows uses ICO files for its icons. Thus, you'll need to convert images from PNG (or other paradigm formats) before you utilize them as icons.

ConvertICO offers an easy way to practice this. Y'all tin can upload upward to l PNG images at once to convert them into the ICO format. If you adopt, you lot can also enter the URL of an prototype yous desire to convert, cutting out the center step of downloading the PNG.

ConverICO Converter

Continue all your ICO files in their own folder. Brand sure you put this somewhere permanent, as moving icon files subsequently you have assigned them will interruption the link, requiring you to set them up once more.

How to Alter Program Icons in Windows 10

Windows 10 makes it easy to change the program icon for a shortcut, just non the principal executable. Thus, you lot should make a desktop shortcut for the app icon you want to change, if you don't have one already.

To exercise this, search for an app in the Start menu, and then correct-click its proper name and choose Open file location. In the resulting binder, right-click the program name and cull Send to > Desktop (create shortcut).

Now you can modify the new shortcut on your desktop. Right-click it and choose Backdrop to open a new window. Here, switch to the Shortcut tab and click the Change Icon button at the bottom.

You'll see a list of alternative icons included in the app, if there are whatever. To prepare your own icon, click Scan and navigate to the identify where you saved your ICO files.

Windows Change Program Icon

Double-click one to select it, so cull OK on both open up dialog boxes. That's all you have to exercise to change a program icon in Windows 10.

Pinning Custom Icons to the Taskbar

Want to customize the icons on your Taskbar too? The easiest manner to do this is to follow the steps to a higher place to create custom desktop icons. After that, merely right-click a shortcut and choose Pin to Taskbar.

If you lot'd rather, yous tin customize an icon already pinned to your Taskbar. While property Shift, right-click the app icon and choose Backdrop. From here, y'all can follow the same steps every bit above to set up a new icon.

Windows 10 Taskbar Icons Properties

You may need to await a few moments for changes you make in this way to take effect.

How to Change Individual Folder Icons in Windows 10

Changing a binder icon is similar to the in a higher place process: to brainstorm, right-click the folder you'd like to change and choose Properties.

On the resulting window, switch to the Customize tab. Select the Alter Icon button at the bottom to select a new icon from your calculator. Windows includes many default icons for this, but most of them are erstwhile-school and ugly. Hit Browse to locate your custom icons instead.

Windows Select New Folder Icon

If yous e'er alter your mind, only open this window and choose Restore Defaults to become the original folder icon dorsum.

How to Change All Windows Folder Icons at In one case

Want to change all the standard folder icons on your computer with one action? You'll take to dig into the Registry to do and then.

Retrieve that it's possible to impairment your system past modifying the Registry, then take care not to touch on any other values while inside.

First, blazon regedit into the Start bill of fare to open the utility. You'll need to provide administrator permissions to continue. Navigate to the post-obit location:

          HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer        

At present, right-click on the Explorer folder in the left navigation tree and select New > Central. Name the new fundamental Beat out Icons, then select it in the left panel. In the blank space on the right, right-click and cull New > Expandable String Value. Set up its name equally 3. Repeat this to create some other string called four.

Windows Registry Editor Folder Icons

At present, double-click the 3 cord y'all just fabricated. In the Value data field, enter the location of your folder icon in quotes. An easy way to do this is by holding Shift while right-clicking your ICO file, then selecting the Copy as path selection. It should look something like this:

                      "C:\Users\User\Documents\ICO Icons\folder.ico"                  

Repeat this for the 4 string, and so click OK and exit the Registry Editor.

Windows Registry Folder Icon Change

If you don't see the change accept event upon opening a new File Explorer window, you'll need to restart File Explorer for your changes to take effect. To do this, press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open the Task Manager. Click More details to expand it if needed. On the Processes tab, find Windows Explorer. Right-click this and choose Restart.

This should apply your new icon to all folders. To remove this in the future, simply delete the Vanquish Icons Registry central you created.

Windows 10 Custom Folder Icons All Folders

We tested this method every bit working in Windows 10 version 20H2, but other users have reported that information technology has no effect. Your mileage may thus vary depending on your version of Windows ten.

How to Alter File Icons by Type

Normally, for each file blazon, Windows shows an icon of the default plan. If you'd like to change this, you can use a gratuitous utility called FileTypesMan to change the icon for whatsoever file type.

After downloading and running it, printing Ctrl + F to locate the file type you want to change. Double-click information technology in the list to open a new window with many more options. Next to the Default Icon field, yous'll see a ... (ellipsis) button.

Click this and you lot'll open the familiar Windows dialog box that lets y'all change the icon.

Windows FileTypesMan Change Icon

Using this, you can prepare separate icons to distinguish file types, even if they open in the same plan. You might want to make it easier to highlight JPG and PNG files at a glance, or spot old Md Word files non using the newer DOCX format, for instance.

How to Modify Drive Icons in Windows

Drive Icon Changer Windows

Want to change the icons that you see in This PC for your diverse computer drives? A costless utility called Drive Icon Changer makes this piece of cake.

Information technology's like to FileTypesMan mentioned above, but much more bones. Simply select a drive and the desired icon, and it volition utilise them for you lot after a restart. That's all it takes.

How to Create Blank Taskbar Icons

Ordinarily, all of your Taskbar icons announced alongside each other. If you'd similar to add together some space—peradventure to divide icons by type—you can reach this with a workaround.

Creating Dummy Batch Files

To kickoff, create a new binder somewhere you tin keep permanently. Name it Spaces or something similar. Inside this folder, right-click once again and choose New > Text document. Double-click the file to open it.

Inside the text file, enter the post-obit. This will create a batch file that'southward a dummy; information technology immediately opens and closes a Command Prompt window if you click on it.

          @echo            off
exit

After this, go to File > Relieve As. In the saving dialog box, give the file a name ending in .BAT. If yous desire to create multiple spaces, you should then copy, paste, and rename the file so you have several named Space1.bat, Space2.bat, and then on.

Windows Create Dummy Batch Files

Set a Bare Icon

Windows has blank icons built-in. Simply in our testing, these tin can appear equally black squares on your Taskbar instead of transparent boxes, which is no practiced. This means you'll demand to quickly make your own "blank" icon.

Open up an image editor (we used Paint.Cyberspace) and hit Ctrl + Shift + R to change the canvass size. Create one that'south perfectly square; 256x256 volition work. Press Ctrl + A to select the entire epitome, then printing Del to erase it. This will create a transparent square when saved equally a PNG.

Notwithstanding, if you leave it similar this, you lot'll run into the aforementioned blackness block problem. Thus, you lot demand to take the Pencil tool, zoom in, and use information technology to depict a single pixel in a corner of the image. This will finer be invisible when it sits on your Taskbar.

Paint.Net Single Pixel Transparent

Save the file every bit a PNG, then use an online converter as mentioned above to catechumen this into an ICO file.

Creating and Pinning Shortcuts

Now, right-click each Space file you made and cull Create shortcut, as you'll demand a shortcut, not the principal BAT file, in lodge to change the icon. Then right-click each shortcut file, select Properties, and utilize the Change Icon button to select your new blank icon.

In one case this is washed, you'll need to add ane more than element in order to add these shortcuts to your Taskbar. In the Shortcut tab of each BAT file, enter explorer in forepart of everything in the Target box. Make sure at that place's a space before the opening quotes.

Windows Create Blank BAT Shortcut

Now you can right-click all your Space files and cull Pin to taskbar. They'll appear as bare icons, allowing you lot to elevate them wherever you like and group your other icons.

Windows 10 Spaced Icons Taskbar

How to Change the Desktop Icon Size on Windows x

Merely want to adjust the size of Windows 10 icons on your desktop? That's an easy set. On the desktop, you can correct-click whatsoever empty space and choose View to select Small icons, Medium icons, or Big icons.

If you don't similar i of those presets, hold the Ctrl primal and scroll your mouse wheel. This gives you more granular control over icon size.

Windows 10 Change Desktop Icon Size

In a File Explorer window, you'll find more than size options under the View menu. The method of scrolling your mouse wheel while holding Ctrl works, also.

Windows ten Desktop Icons Missing?

If you don't see whatever icons on your desktop, chances are that y'all've hidden them all. Getting them dorsum takes only a few clicks. Right-click anywhere on your desktop, and so select View > Evidence desktop icons if information technology's not already checked. With this enabled, yous should encounter your desktop icons with no problem.

If this didn't set up your trouble, your computer may be in tablet mode, which prevents your desktop icons from showing. To disable tablet mode, visit Settings > Organization > Tablet.

Finally, if y'all're missing the default Windows 10 system icons, you'll need to restore them in some other carte du jour. Go to Settings > Personalization > Themes and on the right side of the window, select Desktop icon settings.

This will launch a new window where you lot can toggle the icons for This PC, your user folder, Network, Control Panel, and the Recycle Bin. While here, you tin can also change the icons for these shortcuts if you want.

Windows 10 Change Desktop Icon Options

Customize Every Icon in Windows

Now you lot know how to change nearly every icon on your Windows organisation. Whether yous want to completely overhaul everything or just want to change a few shortcut icons, you accept the tools to personalize your computer in a fun fashion.

If yous honey personalization, it thankfully doesn't end here. There are many other means to customize the expect and experience of your Windows environment.

How to Change the Look and Feel of Your Windows 10 Desktop

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