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.

Isabella Humphrey

Update 19 June 2024