Windows 10: how to customize any icon.
We are going to explain to you how to customize any Windows icon, both the basic system and those of any folder or direct access. It is a fairly simple process in Windows 10, and it will allow you to customize specific folders or shortcuts to give them a different touch or simply differentiate them from others.
Before starting, if you want to use your own icons you will have to save the images in .ico format. To do this, you will need an application that is capable of saving them in this format. I have used IrfanView, one of the ones we add to the list of best free applications for Windows, but you can use any other. Once you have it, you can proceed.
Change folder icons
We are going to start by explaining how to change the icon of a folder in Windows 10. The first step is right click on the folder (1) whose icon you want to change. Doing so will open a context menu, in which you have to click on the Properties option (2) that will appear at the bottom.
The Properties menu of the chosen folder will open, where you can change several of its aspects. In this menu, click on the Customize tab that you will see at the top right.
You will enter a section in which you will be able to see many options to modify the appearance of the folder. Here we are interested in two, the Choose file and the Change icon. To change the entire icon, click on the Change icon button That will appear at the bottom, within the Folder Icons section.
A new window will open with a list of default icons. You can select any of the icons and click on the OK button. But to choose your own or a different icon you must click on the Browse button that will appear at the top of everything.
Clicking Browse will open a file browser where you have to find and open the .ico image you want to use as a new folder icon. As you can see in the screenshot, the background of the icon will be preserved, so when creating it it is important that you try to make this background transparent. In case you need it, remember that we have told you how to remove the background from an image.
If in the Customize tab click on the Choose file option, what you will do is choose an icon to appear on a page within the folder file. This means that, as you can see in the screenshot, the icon to be chosen is that of a folder from which a page protrudes, and what you are going to choose is what image appears on that page.
Change shortcut icons
Changing the shortcut icons is even easier. We will start by explaining what to do if the shortcut is from the start menu, but except for this first step, the other two are the same for any shortcut. Right-click on the shortcut of the start menu, and in the menu that appears click on More, to display more options in which you must click on Open file location. This will take you to the folder where the shortcut is.
This step is useful whether the shortcut is from the start menu or any other that you have configured in a folder or on the desktop. Right click on the shortcut and click on the Properties option that will appear at the end of the pop-up menu that will open for you.
A window will open directly to the Shortcut tab so you can configure it. In this tab, click on the Change icon button to change the shortcut icon. The same window of predefined icons that we have seen before will open, in which you will also be able to choose one that you have created or saved on purpose.
How to change basic Windows icons
And we will end by explaining to you how to change the icon of the items that appear on the desktop by default, such as the recycle bin. To start with this, right click on the Windows desktop and choose the Personalize option that you will see in the last place of the contextual menu that is going to open.
You will go directly to the Customization option in Windows settings. In her, click on the Themes category (1) that appears in the left column. Upon entering, scroll down to the right until you leave all the main options for the themes behind. So, within the Related Configuration Options section, click on the link for Desktop Icon Settings (two).
The Desktop Icon Settings window will open. In it, you can choose which of the default icons appear, and if you select one of them and click on the option Change icon The window will open in which you will be able to choose between the default Windows icons or explore in search of the icon that you have prepared as we have taught you at the beginning.
