How to change icon for all folders from the OS default one?

[Forez]

I have just executed in my Windows 7 x64 this https://www.askvg.com/guide-how-to-chan ... n-windows/ [the first solution of them two]. As a result in Windows Explorer I now have the exact icon I want to showing for all of the folders. Unfortunately this change did no occur in FreeCommnader

Aside from some posts about various problems with icons on toolbars and such, I was able to find this http://www.freecommander.com/fchelpxe/e ... Icons.html. But that is not it


So, how do I change in FreeCommander my overall folder icon to the one I want?

[Karol]

As I know FreeCommander use Windows icons and you can not change folder or file icon.
Have you checked "Extracted" and "Registered" icons?

[Forez]

As I know FreeCommander use Windows icons and you can not change folder or file icon.

So the change should occur. But even after a reset it does not. And I have that my new icon even in the Registry visible- but not in FC

But what is interesting on that last note: also my good old ACDSee 3.1 did not comply with the change. And both FreeCommander and ACDSee do use the icons I have set up for example for the MP3 or TXT format- but when it comes to folders, only the individual ones are correctly displayed by both of them them [like for example the Recycle Bin or the user's Documents]

Have you checked "Extracted" and "Registered" icons?

I have just checked that

Tools > Settings > View > File / Folder List > Icons

I changed all of them to every available option, one by one, i.e.:
- Extracted
- Registered
- Fixed
And every three times I did this I of course closed and reopened the FreeCommander for the change to have an opportunity to load up itself [as it is sometimes required with other FC settings]


I did not see any change- the icon for folders is still the same old yellow Microsoft ugliness

[Forez]

I also navigated in the CMD to
C:\Program Files (x86)\FreeCommander XE
and entered the
FreeCommander.exe /N /NewIni=%FcAppDataPath%\Settings\FreeCommanderTest.ini /NoPlugins /Lng=English
mode. The folder icons did not change

I also run the latest portable version. The folder icons did not change

[Forez]

What I have also noticed: some third party software also still uses default Microsoft icons while other use the icon that I want

For example old [from the year 2000] ACDSee 3.1 uses default ones, as also the constantly updated Mp3tag [currently 2.87]. But CorelDRAW X7 and Firefox 56.0.2 64-bit uses my icon


And up there, at that registry hack step by step guide, they say to set values 3 and 4- but I also tried values 0, 1, 2 and from 5 to 10; to no luck

[Forez]

Could this be somehow relevant with problem of somebody else: https://freecommander.com/forum/viewtop ... =19&t=8595 ?

[Marek]

I have just executed in my Windows 7 x64 this https://www.askvg.com/guide-how-to-chan ... n-windows/ [the first solution of them two].

I do not tested it but the changes are probably for 64 bit programs only.
For 32 bit programs you should try to make the changes in the WOW6432node.

[Forez]

[...]
WOW6432node.

And that was it- thank you for directing me into the right direction

For FreeCommander it worked almost right away- after reopening it. But for ACDSee a reset of system was required for the change to be visibly implemented within it

Problem solved. And I learned something new: about the existence of WOW6432node. It guess it may come in play once again sometime in the future, when doing some other registry tweaks

[Forez]

How about implementing that option into FC settings? For users who do not want to mess with the registry?

We can change icons for shortcuts on toolbars, including those on the Splitter [which implies overriding default FC ones]. I see no problem in telling FC to show the user within FC an icon chosen by the user for all of the [normal] folders

[Forez]

If this would get implemented then it would open the door for a complementary feature of indicating with icon all folders with zero items in them: https://freecommander.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13603

[Zorkoff]

I have created a folder with all my system preferred icons: C:\Windows\Icons

Here are the registry changes to set the Explorer icons which do appear in Freecommander
I hope this helps to solve your problem.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

; Replacements for default icons in Windows Explorer

; ********************************************************************
; This fixes the Folder Icons for 64-bit programs
; ********************************************************************

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Icons]

; File Closed Icon
;
; "3"="C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\shell32.dll,266"
"3"="C:\\Windows\\Icons\\Folder-Icons\\Folder-open-win7.ico"


; File Open Icon - Only used in "regedit.exe" as far as I can tell
;
; "4"="C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\shell32.dll,266"
"4"="C:\\Windows\\Icons\\Folder-Icons\\Folder-green.ico"

; Shortcut Arrow overlay
;"29"="%SystemRoot%\\System32\\shell32.dll,-30"
"29"="C:\\Windows\\Icons\\Classic-Shortcut.ico"

; ********************************************************************
; This fixes the Folder Icons for 32-bit programs, including "Save As"
; ********************************************************************

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Icons]

; File Closed Icon
;
; "3"="C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\shell32.dll,266"
"3"="C:\\Windows\\Icons\\Folder-Icons\\Folder-open-win7.ico"


; File Open Icon - Only used in "regedit.exe" as far as I can tell
;
; "4"="C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\shell32.dll,266"
"4"="C:\\Windows\\Icons\\Folder-Icons\\Folder-green.ico"

; Shortcut Arrow overlay
;"29"="%SystemRoot%\\System32\\shell32.dll,-30"
"29"="C:\\Windows\\Icons\\Classic-Shortcut.ico"

; *************************************************************
; This does not seem to do anything to restore the folder icons
;
; [HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders]
; *************************************************************

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Forez]

[...]
I hope this helps to solve your problem.

Thank you, but it already has been solved here: https://www.forum.freecommander.com/vie ... 787#p27686

But I am still advocating for having the control over icons from within FreeCommander - but recently in an expanded way, which would make FC even more better than Windows Explorer


And on the side note i regards to using a REG file like this

Code: Select all

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Icons]

;"29"="%SystemRoot%\\System32\\shell32.dll,-30"
"29"="C:\\test1.ico"

I did not had such "29" entry in my Registry - but when I created it then the icon chosen by me did not replace in LNK files just the mini arrow in the corner, but a whole icon, even for those file formats for which I have chosen some other icons. After deleting that key I did not have to add a new one with "shell32.dll,-30" value]