Windows » Windows 7

Change Filetype Icon

I. Use a program

1. Default Programs Editor

  1. Download it from this link.
  2. Open the program and select File Type Settings -> Icon.

    Change icon Default Prog Editor-1

  3. Select an extension and press Next.

    Change icon Default Prog Editor-2

  4. Browse for an icon.

    Change icon Default Prog Editor-3

2. FileTypesMan

  1. Download it from this link.
  2. Open it, find an extension and Doubleclick it
  3. Press the button next to the Default Icon field and select a new icon file.

    Change icon FileTypesMan Crop

II. Change with the registry

1. Win+R -> “regedit”.

2. Go to the branch:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\[the-extension]\DefaultIcon

Change icon Registry, Icon in extension branch

If such a branch doesn’t exist check the Data of the (Default) value in this branch

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\[the-extension]

Change icon Registry, Extension branch

This will be the ProgID. Then navigate to the next branch:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\[progid]\DefaultIcon

Change icon Registry by Progid

3. Change/create the String value

(Default)="[path-to-icon],0"

The icon should be of .ico type and the path should have an index in the end.
The index starts from 0 and increases from top to bottom then from the left to the right.

4. Logoff/Restart.

Use Default icons

To select one of the default system icons use “shell32.dll,[id]” as a path. To get the right id use these steps:

1. Go to any folder and open its Properties.

Change icon Folder props

2. Go to Customize tab and press Change Icon.

Change icon select System icon

3. Find an icon and count its index from the top left.
The max index is 305 for Windows 7.

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