How to use desktop.ini to customize folder icons

Are you tired of the usual icons used by Windows to designate your folders? In Windows you can customize the icon for an individual folder with the procedures described in this post.

Open a plain-text editor, such as Notepad then type the following:

[.ShellClassInfo]
IconFile=filename
IconIndex=number

Note that the filename is the name of the file containing the icon, and number is the index of the icon to use; leave the IconIndex line out or specify 0 (zero) to use the first icon in the file, 1 for the second, and so on. Note the dot (.) in [.ShellClassInfo]. The example below uses the following lines to create the folder view below:

[.ShellClassInfo]

ConfirmFileOp=0

NoSharing=1

IconFile=Folder.ico

IconIndex=0

Save the file as desktop.ini and place it directly in the folder you wish to customize.

You can also add an infotip to the folder so that when they hover to the folder a tip pops-up:

[.ShellClassInfo] 

ConfirmFileOp=0 

NoSharing=1 

IconFile=Folder.ico 

IconIndex=0 

InfoTip=Your tips

Here is a complete reference of all things you could do with desktop.ini:

ConfirmFileOp

Set this entry to 0 to avoid a “You Are Deleting a System Folder” warning when deleting or moving the folder.

NoSharing

Not supported under Windows Vista or later. Set this entry to 1 to prevent the folder from being shared.

IconFile

If you want to specify a custom icon for the folder, set this entry to the icon’s file name. The .ico file extension is preferred, but it is also possible to specify .bmp files, or .exe and .dll files that contain icons. If you use a relative path, the icon is available to people who view the folder over the network. You must also set the IconIndex entry.

IconIndex

Set this entry to specify the index for a custom icon. If the file assigned to IconFile only contains a single icon, set IconIndex to 0.

InfoTip

Set this entry to an informational text string. It is displayed as an infotip when the cursor hovers over the folder. If the user clicks the folder, the information text is displayed in the folder’s information block, below the standard information.