How Do I Change Folder Icons in Windows 11?
There are three icon types we’ll look at: Standard ones using the default yellow folder icon; special folders like This PC, Network, and Recycle Bin displayed on the desktop (if you have them enabled); and hard drive icons visible in the This PC folder. How you edit these folder icons depends on the folder type:
Standard Folders
The icon for regular folders is changed via the folder’s properties window.
Desktop Icons
To change desktop icon folders for the Recycle Bin and other special folders, you’ll go to a dedicated section in Settings. The new folder icon is reflected immediately. If it isn’t, use the refresh button near the file path at the top of File Explorer to force it to change.
Drive Icons
Another folder-like icon you can change in Windows 11 is the one used for hard drives. However, because there isn’t an easy-to-access setting to do this, you have to change the Windows Registry.
Using Custom Folder Icons
There are plenty of built-in icons to choose from when changing a folder’s icon, but they’re the same ones found on every Windows 11 computer. To add something different to your setup and maybe even help identify your folders more quickly, you can make custom icons. There are four things you need to do:
Ensure the icon is square. Downloading icons from sites made for this, like Flaticon, is ideal, but you can also crop pictures yourself. It should be in the ICO format. A free tool like FileZigZag can perform this type of conversion. Put the ICO file in a folder that won’t be moved or deleted in the future. If Windows can’t find the icon file in its original folder, the icon will automatically revert to its default form. Change where Windows looks for folder icons. For example, use the Browse button in the steps above instead of picking from the selection provided.
