Can I permanently change folder icons on external 2TB hard drive?

Question

Any way to embed (or permanently change) folder icons (or folder thumbnail images) on file folders on an external hard drive so that the picture will be shown on all computers that access the drive and not just the computer that made the icon change? i.e., I change the folder icons on my computer, then want them to stay with the folders on the drive and not in the root sys 32 batch defaults folder icon in Windows.

I have a few folders on an external drive that I want to save folder icons for. By using Paint save as .ico bmp image, then embed these onto the drive and assign these icons to the folders and have whoever accesses these files be able to see the embedded folder pictures.

I tried all the approaches listed. It works great on the computer that I default with. When I plug the external hard drive into my wife's computer, everything is defaulted to her Vista defaults (or Windows icons and images).

Answer 1

To change the folder icon for a shared resource so that everyone views the same icon, you need to place the actual image you want to appear in each folder, and name it as folder.jpg.

And while cstomizing a folder via Properties also helps. However I noticed a problem when using Desktop.ini. It references the absolute path to the folder icon/logo.... and the drive letter for the external hard drive may not be the same when viewed from other computers.

Answer 2

1. Take and save the icon file you want to use for your folder on the external harddirve where the folder is
2. Goto the properties of your folder you want to change it
3. Right click -> Propierties -> Customize -> Change icon
4. Now paste the path from your icon file you want to use (note that the icon file has to be saved on your external harddirve where the folder is) in the form
5. Click on "OK" and then on "Apply"
6. Enjoy the new icon on every computer!

Answer 3

I've tried a few different methods, and this came up in search as I'm trying to remember how, so despite how old it is, I'd like to add what seems the most consistently reliable and generalized that I've found:

Save a square image as folder.ico in each folder

Make or edit "desktop.ini" - just a text file - also in each folder, with the following in it.

(If editing and it doesn't already have this section, add it; if it does, change it to:)

[.ShellClassInfo]
IconResource=.\folder.ico,0
IconFile=.\folder.ico
IconIndex=0

Since that's nice and generic for the ini file, I can copy the same one to hundreds of folders, then just worry about making the ico files. There are still a couple of quirks, though:

With Windows 10 and 11 machines that I've tried this on, for some reason, it still has the generic folder icon in explorer after making this change. To fix that I have to go to the folder properties, and on the "Customize" tab, where it shows my folder.ico even though it isn't actually used in the Explorer view. I choose "Change Icon", hit "Restore Defaults," and then Cancel (or push Esc) so that it doesn't actually change back to default and overwrite that desktop.ini. After that it actually uses the icon which it already should have been using.

But that's only for the same machine, since it had already loaded a view with the default folder icon; when the drive is on a new computer they should all show the correct icon right off the bat when it first scans the folder.

It also appears to sometimes matter to make those files hidden, but ordinarily works without doing that.

Answer 4

I will be a bit more precise. I have a few folders on an external drive that I want to save folder icons for. By using paint save as .ico bmp image. then embed these onto the drive and assign these icons to the folders and have all that access these files to see the embedded folder pics.

does this help any?

cheers