How to Change or Create Desktop Icons on Windows

Change the system icons on the screen

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Open Start . Click the Windows icon in the lower left corner of the screen, or press the key ⊞ Win.

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Click Settings. It's in the bottom left of the Start window.

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Click the Personalization screen icon located on the Windows Settings page.

You can also access this page by right-clicking an empty space on your desktop and selecting Personalization from the drop-down menu.

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Click the Themes tab. It's on the left side of the Personalization window.

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Click the Desktop icon settings link . It's in the upper right corner of the Themes page. The Desktop Icon Settings window will appear.

If you haven't edited to create a theme, this link will be in the middle of the page, just below the "Related Settings" heading.

You can also click Get more themes in the Store under "Apply a theme" to find more desktop themes. Some themes change the appearance of desktop icons.

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Click to select the icon you want to change.

For example, you can click This PC or Recycle Bin .

Additionally, you can check/uncheck the box next to the icon name at the top of the window to add/remove icons on the desktop.

Check the "Allow themes to change desktop icons" box on this window to enable theme changes related to icons.

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Click Change Icon . It's near the bottom of the window.

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Choose an icon. There are two different types of icons:

System icon – Click an icon in the window.

Custom icon – Click Browse , then click the folder containing your icons from the left-hand window. Select the icon you want to use and click Open .

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Click OK . The icon you choose will be assigned to the program on the screen.

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Click Apply , then click OK to confirm the decision and change the program icon on the desktop to the icon of your choice.

Change shortcut and folder icons

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Open Start . Click the Windows icon in the lower left corner of the screen, or press the key ⊞ Win.

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Click the File Explorer icon. It's on the left side of the Start window.

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Click the Desktop folder . It's in the task column on the left side of the File Explorer window.

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Click the shortcut or folder icon. The shortcut icon has a small white box with an arrow below, in the left corner of the icon.

You cannot change the icons of specific files (like Notepad or .exe files) this way.

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Click the Home tab in the upper left corner of the File Explorer window. A toolbar will appear at the top of the window.

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Click the white Properties box with the red check mark, located in the "Open" section of the toolbar.

You can also right-click the desktop icon and select Properties to open this menu.

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Open the icon's "Change Icon" window. The process varies depending on the type of icon you're editing:

For shortcuts – Click the Shortcut tab at the top of the Properties window, then select Change Icon near the bottom of the window.

For folders – Click the Customize tab at the top of the Properties window, then select Change Icon near the bottom of the window.

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Select icon. There are two different types of icons:

System icon – Click an icon on the window.

Custom icons – Click Browse , then click the folder containing your icons from the left-hand window. Select the icon you want to use then click Open .

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Click OK . The icon you choose will be assigned to the program on the screen.

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Click Apply , then click OK to confirm the decision and change the original icon on the desktop to the icon of your choice.

Download icon

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Open a web browser. Microsoft Edge is the official browser of the Windows 10 operating system, but you can also use Google Chrome, Firefox, Opera, or Internet Explorer.

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Search for the Windows icon. Type download windows desktop iconsor tải biểu tượng màn hình máy tínhin the browser address bar and press ↵ Enter.

You can narrow your search by entering the program name (for example, windows my computer iconor biểu tượng my computer windows), or using the icon file type ( ICOfor example).

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Download the desired icon. Click on a page containing the icon and click the Download or Download button . The icon will be saved to the computer.

If you download multiple icons at once, you may have to unzip the icons into a regular folder before continuing.

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Open File Explorer by opening Start and clicking .

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Click the Desktop folder on the left side of the File Explorer window.

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Click to select your icon folder.

If you only downloaded one icon, select that icon.

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Click the Home tab located in the upper left corner of the File Explorer window.

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Click Move to . It's in the "Organize" section of the toolbar at the top of the File Explorer window.

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Click the Pictures folder . It's near the middle of the pop-up window.

You can choose any folder if you do not want to save the icons in Pictures .

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Click Move to send the icons to a folder that you won't be moving or deleting.

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Change a program's icon with the icons you downloaded. Browse and select an icon from the Pictures folder to make changes.

Create icons

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Open Start . Click the Windows icon in the lower left corner of the screen, or press the key ⊞ Win.

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Type paintin the Start menu, then press ↵ Enter. Make sure you don't press ↵ Enteruntil the Paint icon (which looks like a palette) appears at the top of the Start window.

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Click the blue File button, located in the upper left corner of the Paint window.

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Click the Open action located in the File menu . A file browsing window will open.

If you prefer to draw with Paint to create your own icons, skip this step and proceed with your drawing.

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Choose an image. You may have to click somewhere in the Open window on the left (for example, Pictures ) to find the image you want to open.

Skip this step if you are drawing your own icon.

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Click Open . Your image will open in the Paint window.

Skip this step if you are drawing your own icon.

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Click File again. This tab is located in the upper left corner of the Paint window.

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Select Save as. It's near the top of the File menu .

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Click the BMP picture option located to the right of the Save as button . The Save As window will appear where you can enter a file name.

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Type in the file name, followed by the .ico. This ensures your file will be saved as an icon file.

For example, you can name the file "shortcut.ico".

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Click a folder to save the file to. Browse for the folder in the left pane of the Save As window.

The Pictures folder is a safe place to save your shortcut files.

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Click Save at the bottom of the window. Your icon will be saved to the desired folder.

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Change a program's icon with the icon you created. Browse and select your custom icon from within the folder you saved it to.

Add shortcut to desktop

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Open Start . Click the Windows icon in the lower left corner of the screen, or press the key ⊞ Win.

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Click File Explorer at the bottom left of the Start window.

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Click the Desktop folder on the left side of the File Explorer window.

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Click the Home tab located at the top right of the File Explorer window.

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Click New item . It's in the "New" section of the toolbar at the top of the window.

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Click the Shortcut option from the New item drop-down menu . A window with options for the new shortcut will appear.

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Click the Browse button in the middle of the page. A window will pop up.

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Scroll down and click the program or file's folder. For example, if the program or file is in the Documents folder, you must click My Documents .

You may have to go to different folders to find the program or file for the item you want to create a shortcut for.

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Click OK to set the desktop shortcut object as the item of your choice.

If you rename or move the desktop icon to a new folder, your shortcut will no longer be valid.

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Click Next then enter a name. The default name for the shortcut will be the same as the name of the program.

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Click Finish in the lower right corner of the window. A shortcut in the folder you select will be created.

Remove the arrow from the shortcut icon

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Open Start . Click the Windows icon in the lower left corner of the screen, or press the key ⊞ Win.

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Type regeditin the Start window. The "regedit" program will appear at the top of the window.

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Click the regedit program with the blue block icon at the top of the window.

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Click Yes when prompted. The Registry Editor window opens.

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Navigate to the Explorer folder. Proceed as follows:

Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE by clicking the V to the left of the heading. This folder is located at the top left of the Registry Editor window.

Expand SOFTWARE .

Expand Microsoft .

Expand Windows .

Expand CurrentVersion .

Click Explorer .

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Click Edit in the upper left corner of the Registry Editor window.

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Select New , then click Key . The new "key" looks like a folder that will be created in the folder column, right below the Explorer folder.

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Type Shell Iconsin the key name, then click ↵ Enterto rename the key.

You must ensure that you enter the exact name listed here.

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Click the Edit tab in the upper left corner of the window.

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Select New , then click String Value to generate the code for the new entry in the Shell Icons key.

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Type 29then click ↵ Enterto rename the value series.

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Double click on value string 29. The Edit String editing window will appear.

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Type %windir%System32shell32.dll,-50in the Value data area at the bottom of the "Edit String" window.

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Click OK to save your edits to the registry.

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Restart the computer. After the computer restarts, you will no longer see the arrow mark in the lower left corner of the icons on the screen.

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