Registry DataBase : Icons
Colors - Cache - Change - Choose an icon for a folder - Recycle Bin - Hide - Add
To choose an icon for a file type or an arrow for shortcuts, see File types
To choose an icon for Windows standard objects, see Standard icon location
 
Top Colors
Key : HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics
Entry : Shell Icon BPP
System : 95, 95+IE4.x, 98, ME, NT, 2K
Type : REG_SZ
Range : 4, 8, 16, 24
Number of bits per pixel for colors used to display desktop icons.
4 bits   8 bits   16 bits   24 bits
16 colors   256 colors   65.000 colors   16.700.000 colors
 
Top Cache
Key : HKLM \SOFTWARE \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \Explorer
Entry : Max Cached Icons
Type : REG_SZ
Range : 3000 to 8000
In order to display icons more quickly, the system makes a copy of each used icon in a file called Shell Icon Cache located
in %WinDir%. To speed up icon display and free disk space, erase this file regularly. Windows will automatically create a new one. Max Cached Icons corresponds to the maximum number of object icons stored in the file Shell Icon Cache. Increase this value to speed up icon display on the Desktop.
 
Top Change
Key : HKCR \CLSID \{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
Entry : DefaultIcon
System : 95, 95+IE4.x, 98, ME, NT, 2K
Type : REG_SZ
Example : C:\Windows\Telnet.exe,0
Assigns a new icon to My Computer. Thus, you can change any object's icon provided you know its CLSID. 0 corresponds to the 1st icon in the file indicated, 1 to the 2nd icon, etc.
 
Key : HKCR \Paint.Picture \DefaultIcon
Entry : Default
System : 95, 95+IE4.x, 98, ME, NT, 2K
Type : REG_SZ
Default : MsPaint.exe,1
Suggested : "%1"
"%1" : Replaces .bmp file icons with their thumbnail. Do not forget the quotes to be able to treat files with spaces in their names. This modification can be applied to other file types. If those files contains icons, the first icon will be displayed, otherwise Windows will display the standard icon.
.cpl files defined in HKCR \cplfile \DefaultIcon
.com files defined in HKCR \comfile \DefaultIcon
.dll files defined in HKCR \dllfile \DefaultIcon
.exe files defined in HKCR \exefile \DefaultIcon
 
System : 95, 95+IE4.x, 98, ME, NT, 2K
In order to assign a new icon to a drive, you do not need to edit the registry. Simply create an autorun.inf file located in the root path of the drive and include the 2 lines :
[autorun]
icon=C:\Path\Icon name.ico
For this method to work, Autorun must be enabled.

There is another method in Windows 98 and 2000 which uses the registry and avoids having to create autorun.inf files. In the key HKLM \SOFTWARE \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \Explorer \DriveIcons \Drive \DefaultIcon, replace Drive with the chosen drive letter without the colon (C, not C:). Create a DefaultIcon subkey containing a REG_SZ Default entry indicating the icon's location, for example C:\Path\Icon name.ico, .dll, .icl, .exe...
 
System : 95, 95+IE4.x, 98, ME, NT, 2K
The entry Attributes also makes it possible to modify the objects' appearance and context menus.
 
Top Choose an icon for a folder
Assigning an icon to a folder is not a functionality really supported by Windows. However, it is possible create a CLSID to do that. For example {00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001}. Then, create a subkey called DefaultIcon containing a Default entry indicating the icon's path and name. In order to assign the icon to the folder, rename the selected folder by adding the CLSID you have just created as file extension, for example :
MyFolder.{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001}
 
Top Recycle Bin
Key : HKCR \ CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E} \ShellFolder
Entry : Attributes
System : 95, 95+IE4.x, 98, ME, NT, 2K
Type : REG_BINARY
Default : 40 01 00 20
40 01 00 20 : Disables renaming or deleting the Recycle Bin
50 01 00 20 : Enables renaming the Recycle Bin
60 01 00 20 : Enables deleting the Recycle Bin
70 01 00 20 : Enables renaming and deleting the Recycle Bin

40 01 01 20 : Standard shortcut arrow
40 01 02 20 : Alternate shortcut arrow
40 01 04 20 : Other shortcut arrow
40 01 08 20 : Gives the Recycle Bin a disabled look.

Those changes work on the Desktop but not in My Computer. Attributes can be used with many object types.
 
Top Hide
Key : HKCU \Software \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \Policies \Explorer
Entry : NoDrives
System : 95, 95+IE4.x, 98, ME, NT, 2K
Type : REG_DWORD
Range : See description and table below
Default : 0
Indicate the sum of the values corresponding to the drives you want to hide. For example, to hide drives D: (8) and G: (64) you will have 8 + 64 = 70.
A: 1   G: 64   L: 2 048   Q: 65 536   V: 2 097 152
B: 2   H: 128   M: 4 096   R: 131 072   W: 4 194 304
C: 4   I: 256   N: 8 192   S: 262 144   X: 8 388 608
D: 8   J: 512   O: 16 384   T: 524 288   Y: 16 777 216
E: 16   K: 1 024   P: 32 768   U: 1 048 576   Z: 33 554 432
F: 32                   All: 67 108 863
This method does not prevent users from seeing drives in the File Manager. The only way out is to rename, move or delete Winfile.exe.
 
Key : HKCU \Software \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \Policies \Explorer
Entry : NoNetHood
System : 95, 95+IE4.x, 98, ME, NT, 2K
Type : REG_DWORD
Range : 0 or 1
Default : 0
1 : Removes the Network Neighborhood icon from the Desktop.
 
Key : HKCU \Software \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \Policies \Explorer
Entry : NoDesktop
System : 95, 95+IE4.x, 98, ME, NT, 2K
Type : REG_DWORD
Range : 0 or 1
Default : 0
1 : Removes all icons from the Desktop and disables right click on the Desktop.
 
Key : HKCU \Software \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \Policies \Explorer
Entry : NoInternetIcon
System : 98, ME, 2K
Type : REG_DWORD
Range : 0 or 1
Default : 0
1 : Removes the Internet Explorer icon from the Desktop.
 
Key : HKLM \SOFTWARE \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \Explorer \Desktop \NameSpace \{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}
System : 95, 95+IE4.x, 98, ME, NT, 2K
Although the NoDesktop entry enables hiding icons from the Desktop, it disables the right click on the Desktop. The way out
to hide icons without losing the right click is to insert a fake character at the beginning of their CLSID, {Z645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E} for example, to hide the Recycle Bin icon. This method also avoids the disadvantage of its alternative which would be to remove the corresponding CLSID. Desktop icons are stored in \Desktop \Namespace. See also Add an icon.
 
Key : HKLM \SOFTWARE \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \Explorer\ MyComputer \NameSpace \{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}
System : 95, 95+IE4.x, 98, ME, NT, 2K
The prevous tip also applies to My Computer : {ZD6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF} for example to hide the Planned Tasks icon from My Computer. My Computer icons are stored in \MyComputer \Namespace. See also Add an icon.
 
Top Add
Key : HKLM \SOFTWARE \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \Explorer \Desktop \NameSpace
Key : HKLM \SOFTWARE \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \Explorer \MyComputer \NameSpace \{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}
System : 95, 95+IE4.x, 98, ME, NT, 2K
To add an icon on the Desktop, add its CLSID in the key \Desktop \Namespace.
To add an icon in My Computer, add its CLSID in the key \My Computer \Namespace.
You can add any object icon provided you know its CLSID.
 
To create a customized icon object, choose a free CLSID, {00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001} for example. Then create the following subkeys and entries in the registry :

1. Creating the icon
HKCR \CLSID \{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001}
Subkey (if any) Entry   Value
\ (at root level in the key above) Default = Icon Name
\DefaultIcon Default = C:\Path\Icon File.ico or .dll or .icl or .exe,n
\InProcServer32 TreadingModel = Apartment
\shell \open \command Default = explorer.exe /n /root,C:\My Folder
\shellex \PropertySheetHandlers \{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001}
       

2. Displaying the icon on the Desktop
HKLM \SOFTWARE \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \Explorer \Desktop \NameSpace
\{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001}
       

3. Displaying the icon in My Computer
HKLM \SOFTWARE \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \Explorer \MyComputer \NameSpace
\{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001}
       

4. Customizing the icon's context menu
See the Attributes section.

 

© Franck Kiechel 2000-2001