Are you tired of staring at the same Windows icons everyday? Would you like to learn how to customize them? If you answered yes to any of the questions, great! Because today we are going to look at how to change your desktop, folders, and libraries icons, with icons from the Windows 7 list and from your own icons.
It is really easy and fun! Let’s get started.
How to customize desktop icons
1. Right-click on the desktop and select Personalize, then Windows 7 Personalization will open.
2. Click Change desktop icons link.
3. Now, select an icon and click the Change Icon… button, choose a new icon from the Windows 7 list or click the Browse button to use any icon file that you may want to replace it with, then click OK, Apply and OK. You can also rollback the old icons with Restore Default button.
How to change folder icons
1. Right-click the folder that you want to customize the icon and select Properties.
2. Navigate to the Customize tap and click the Change Icon… button.
3. Choose an icon from the Windows 7 list or click the Browse button to use any icon file, then click OK, Apply and OK.
Repeat the process for every folder that you want to customize the icon.
How to change Windows 7 library icons
One of the new features in Windows 7 are libraries — a library is similar to a folder, but the difference is that unlike a folder, a library groups files from multiple locations –, but there is a tiny customization problem, that every time you add a new library, there is not icon to choose from, just a generic one. It would be great if at least you could use your own icons, right? In this case there is an option.
To change Windows 7 library icons, do the following:
1. Download a tiny application called Library Icon Changer.
If you do a search online, you can find it from various sources, but you can also download Library Icon Changer from DeviantART.
2. Once you download the application, unzip the file and double-click it to launch (no installation is needed).
3. Select from the Libraries pane, the icon that you would like to customize, select an icon from the default imageres.dll library and click Select Icon from dll to finish. Or you can click Select new Icon from file and choose your own icon file and click Open. Repeat the process for every library that you want to customize. That is it!
Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 15 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 21 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me. Email him at [email protected].