While the default Windows icons get the task done, they aren't particularly heady. If you lot want to put a personal spin on your computer, irresolute Windows 10 icons is a great manner to do this.

Nosotros'll evidence yous how to modify icons on Windows ten, including program and folder icons. With a bit of work, you'll have an all-new interface with a unique look! While nosotros focus on Windows 10 here, these tips largely work the same on Windows eleven.

Where to Find Custom Icons for Windows 10

Earlier you kickoff irresolute your current Windows ten icons, you demand some new icons to supplant them with. The OS has a few boosted icons built-in, merely they're not that great.

Flaticon is a bang-up resource for all your Windows icon needs. The site contains millions of high-quality icons arranged in thousands of convenient packs. You can catch everything in a pack at once, or download single icons.

FlatIcon Computer Icons

The site offers downloads in several formats. Nosotros recommend downloading them in PNG for piece of cake conversion to the ICO format. Keep all the raw downloads in a folder called PNG Icons or like.

If you don't observe what you're looking for here, try Findicons, IconArchive, or GraphicBurger. Nosotros've besides looked at some bang-up Windows icon packs in the by.

Converting PNG Images to ICO Icons

Windows uses ICO files for its icons. Thus, yous'll need to convert images from PNG (or other epitome formats) before you use them equally icons.

ConvertICO offers an easy way to practise this. Yous tin can upload up to 50 PNG images at once to convert them into the ICO format. If you prefer, you tin as well enter the URL of an epitome y'all want to convert, cutting out the centre step of downloading the PNG.

ConverICO Converter

Continue all your ICO files in their own folder. Make sure you put this somewhere permanent, every bit moving icon files afterward you take assigned them volition break the link, requiring you to set them up over again.

How to Change Programme Icons in Windows 10

Windows 10 makes it easy to change the program icon for a shortcut, simply not the main executable. Thus, you should make a desktop shortcut for the app icon y'all want to alter, if you lot don't accept one already.

To do this, search for an app in the Commencement carte, so right-click its proper name and cull Open up file location. In the resulting folder, right-click the program name and cull Send to > Desktop (create shortcut).

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

You'll see a listing of alternative icons included in the app, if there are whatsoever. To set your ain icon, click Browse and navigate to the place where you saved your ICO files.

Windows Change Program Icon

Double-click one to select it, so choose OK on both open up dialog boxes. That'due south all you have to practice to change a programme icon in Windows 10.

Pinning Custom Icons to the Taskbar

Desire to customize the icons on your Taskbar too? The easiest way to do this is to follow the steps above to create custom desktop icons. Afterward that, just correct-click a shortcut and choose Pin to Taskbar.

If you lot'd rather, you lot tin can customize an icon already pinned to your Taskbar. While holding Shift, right-click the app icon and choose Properties. From here, you can follow the same steps equally to a higher place to set a new icon.

Windows 10 Taskbar Icons Properties

You may need to look a few moments for changes yous make in this way to take event.

How to Modify Individual Folder Icons in Windows 10

Irresolute a folder icon is like to the higher up process: to brainstorm, correct-click the folder y'all'd like to change and choose Properties.

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

Windows Select New Folder Icon

If you e'er modify your mind, simply open up this window and choose Restore Defaults to get the original folder icon back.

How to Change All Windows Folder Icons at One time

Want to alter all the standard folder icons on your computer with one activity? You'll have to dig into the Registry to exercise so.

Remember that it'due south possible to damage your arrangement past modifying the Registry, so take intendance non to impact any other values while inside.

First, type regedit into the First menu to open the utility. Y'all'll need to provide administrator permissions to continue. Navigate to the post-obit location:

          HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer        

Now, right-click on the Explorer folder in the left navigation tree and select New > Cardinal. Name the new primal Shell Icons, so select it in the left console. In the bare space on the right, right-click and choose New > Expandable String Value. Set its proper noun as 3. Repeat this to create another string called 4.

Windows Registry Editor Folder Icons

Now, double-click the 3 string you just fabricated. In the Value information field, enter the location of your folder icon in quotes. An easy way to do this is by property Shift while right-clicking your ICO file, then selecting the Re-create as path option. It should wait something like this:

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

Repeat this for the iv string, so click OK and get out the Registry Editor.

Windows Registry Folder Icon Change

If you don't run across the modify take 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 up the Task Manager. Click More details to expand it if needed. On the Processes tab, notice Windows Explorer. Right-click this and choose Restart.

This should utilize your new icon to all folders. To remove this in the future, simply delete the Crush Icons Registry central yous created.

Windows 10 Custom Folder Icons All Folders

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

How to Change File Icons by Blazon

Normally, for each file type, Windows shows an icon of the default plan. If you'd like to modify this, you lot can use a free utility chosen FileTypesMan to change the icon for whatever file type.

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

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

Windows FileTypesMan Change Icon

Using this, you tin set up separate icons to distinguish file types, even if they open up in the same programme. You might desire to brand information technology easier to highlight JPG and PNG files at a glance, or spot erstwhile DOC Word files non using the newer DOCX format, for instance.

How to Change Drive Icons in Windows

Drive Icon Changer Windows

Desire to change the icons that you come across in This PC for your diverse estimator drives? A free utility called Bulldoze Icon Changer makes this easy.

It'southward similar to FileTypesMan mentioned above, merely much more than basic. Merely select a drive and the desired icon, and it will apply them for you afterwards a restart. That'due south all it takes.

How to Create Bare Taskbar Icons

Usually, all of your Taskbar icons appear aslope each other. If you'd like to add some space—possibly to split icons by blazon—y'all can achieve this with a workaround.

Creating Dummy Batch Files

To start, create a new binder somewhere you can keep permanently. Proper name information technology Spaces or something similar. Inside this folder, correct-click again and choose New > Text document. Double-click the file to open it.

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

          @repeat            off
exit

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

Windows Create Dummy Batch Files

Fix a Blank Icon

Windows has bare icons built-in. Just in our testing, these can appear as black squares on your Taskbar instead of transparent boxes, which is no good. This means you lot'll demand to quickly brand your own "bare" icon.

Open an prototype editor (nosotros used Pigment.NET) and hit Ctrl + Shift + R to alter the canvas size. Create one that's perfectly square; 256x256 will work. Press Ctrl + A to select the entire epitome, then printing Del to erase it. This will create a transparent square when saved as a PNG.

However, if you leave it like this, you lot'll run into the same black block problem. Thus, you need to take the Pencil tool, zoom in, and use it to draw a single pixel in a corner of the image. This will effectively be invisible when information technology sits on your Taskbar.

Paint.Net Single Pixel Transparent

Save the file equally a PNG, and so use an online converter as mentioned in a higher place to catechumen this into an ICO file.

Creating and Pinning Shortcuts

Now, right-click each Space file you lot made and choose Create shortcut, every bit you'll need a shortcut, not the main BAT file, in gild to change the icon. Then right-click each shortcut file, select Properties, and use the Alter Icon button to select your new blank icon.

Once this is done, you'll need to add together one more element in lodge to add these shortcuts to your Taskbar. In the Shortcut tab of each BAT file, enter explorer in front end of everything in the Target box. Make sure there's a space before the opening quotes.

Windows Create Blank BAT Shortcut

Now y'all can right-click all your Space files and cull Pivot to taskbar. They'll appear as blank icons, allowing you to drag them wherever y'all like and group your other icons.

Windows 10 Spaced Icons Taskbar

How to Change the Desktop Icon Size on Windows x

But want to adjust the size of Windows 10 icons on your desktop? That'due south an easy fix. On the desktop, you can right-click whatever empty space and choose View to select Small-scale icons, Medium icons, or Large icons.

If you don't like i of those presets, concur the Ctrl key 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 notice more than size options under the View menu. The method of scrolling your mouse cycle while holding Ctrl works, too.

Windows 10 Desktop Icons Missing?

If you don't see any icons on your desktop, chances are that you've subconscious them all. Getting them dorsum takes but a few clicks. Right-click anywhere on your desktop, then select View > Show desktop icons if it'south non already checked. With this enabled, you should run across your desktop icons with no problem.

If this didn't set your problem, your reckoner may be in tablet mode, which prevents your desktop icons from showing. To disable tablet way, visit Settings > Organisation > Tablet.

Finally, if you're missing the default Windows x system icons, you'll need to restore them in another card. Get to Settings > Personalization > Themes and on the right side of the window, select Desktop icon settings.

This will launch a new window where you can toggle the icons for This PC, your user binder, Network, Command Console, and the Recycle Bin. While here, you lot can also modify the icons for these shortcuts if you want.

Windows 10 Change Desktop Icon Options

Customize Every Icon in Windows

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

If you beloved personalization, information technology thankfully doesn't end here. There are many other means to customize the look and experience of your Windows environment.

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

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