How to Change or Restore Desktop Folder Icon in Windows

This practical guide walks through how to change or restore desktop folder icon in Windows, explains the main requirements, and highlights common issues that may appear along the way.

By default, the personal Desktop folder is located in the % UserProfile% folder (eg " C: UsersBrink ") in your account.

This guide will show you how to change or restore default Desktop folder icon for your account in Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10.

Change the Desktop folder icon in Properties

Step 1. If not, you will need to add the Customize tab to Desktop folder properties.

Step 2. Open the current location of the Desktop folder (eg " C: UsersBrink ") in File Explorer ( Win + E ).

Step 3. Right-click or click and hold on the Desktop folder and click Properties.

Step 4. Click the Customize tab and click the Change Icon button .

5. Follow the steps below to select an icon:

The files % SystemRootSystem32shell32.dll and % SystemRootSystem32imageres.dll contain most of the default Windows icons.

• Click the Browse button .
• Navigate to and select the icon library (e.g. .dll) or the .ico file you want to use and click Open.
• Select the icon you want to use and click OK.

Click the Browse button

Select the icon you want to use

Step 6. Click OK to apply the changes.

Change the Desktop folder icon in the desktop.ini file

Step 1. Press Win + R key to open Run , copy and paste % UserProfile% Desktopdesktop.ini into Run , then click OK to open the file.

If you have changed the default location of the Desktop folder, then you will need to replace % UserProfile% Desktop in the path above with the actual full path for the current location of the Desktop folder.

Copy and paste% UserProfile% Desktopdesktop.ini into Run

Step 2. In the line IconResource = in the desktop.ini window , change to the full path of the icon you want to use.

If you don't have the line IconResource = , then you'll need to add it.

Change the full path in the line IconResource = in the desktop.ini window

Step 3. Click File (menu bar), click Save (Ctrl + S) and close the desktop.ini window .

Save and close the desktop.ini window

Step 4. Restart the explorer process or log out and log back in to apply the changes.

Restore default Desktop folder icon in Properties

Step 1. If not, you will need to add the Customize tab to Desktop folder properties.

Step 2. Open the current location of the Desktop folder (eg " C: UsersBrink ") in File Explorer ( Win + E ).

Step 3. Right-click or press and hold the desktop folder and click Properties.

Step 4. Click the Customize tab and click the Change Icon button .

Step 5. Click the Restore Defaults button .

Step 6. Click OK to apply the changes.

Restore the default Desktop folder icon in the desktop.ini file

Step 1. Press Win + R key to open Run , copy and paste % UserProfile% Desktopdesktop.ini into Run , then click OK to open the file.

If you have changed the default location of the Desktop folder, then you will need to replace % UserProfile% Desktop in the path above with the actual full path for the current location of the Desktop folder.

Step 2 In the line IconResource = in the desktop.ini window , change the full path to % SystemRoot% system32imageres.dll, -183.

If you don't have the line IconResource = , then you'll need to add it.

Change the full path to% SystemRoot% system32imageres.dll, -183

Step 3. Click File (menu bar), click Save (Ctrl + S) and close the desktop.ini window .

Step 4. Restart the explorer process or log out and log back in to apply the changes.