changing folder icon caused media player to launch instead.

[MachineMessiah]

Not urgent or important, just curious:

Xp Pro w/service pack 2.

I got tired of looking at the boring manilla folder icon and decided to
switch it to a pretty blue folder instead. Went to control panel/folder
options/file types. Selected "File Folder", Advanced, "Change Icon".
Selected my pretty blue folder and clicked "ok". After that when I
double clicked on a folder rather than opening, it launced my VLC media
player which is an option in my context menu.
Repeated all the steps above and switched it back to boring manilla
icon. VLC media player still launches instead of opening folder anyway.
Didn't feel like fighting with it so I used system restore to roll
Windows back to previous day's settings.
Questions:
Which registy key did I mess up?
If I'm not supposed to use the above method to change the icon used for
ALL my folders what's it there for?

I take out all my decorating urges on my computers and have custom icons
for nearly every file/folder type on my Xp home and Windows 98 machines,
even many that aren't listed in Folder Options/File Types. Been afraid
to use the same tweaks on XP Pro. Are there a few places in XP pro's
registry were I can change several of the default icons at once?
Why did it become impossible to use custom icons in the start menu with
XP? The only custom icon I have there is for Windows Update on my XP
home machine.
Someone needs to tell the folks at Microsoft there are nuts out there
like me who want to use an icon of our own choosing for nearly every
file type and are willing to shell out for the hardware needed to do it.
I imagine making this possible would add a ton of bloat to the
registry/os.
The "switch user, restart, shut down" screen needs to be customizable
too.
Love how the boot screen got incorporated into ntoskrnl.exe :0

 

[Ayush]

[MachineMessiah] wrote-:

Which registy key did I mess up?

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell key > Default value
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/321186

If I'm not supposed to use the above method to change the icon used for
ALL my folders what's it there for?

Just dont use File types dialog to Edit "File Folder" or "Folder" items.

Are there a few places in XP pro's
registry were I can change several of the default icons at once?

Yes: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Icons
Create a new value and enter the Icon_Index as the name and enter the path of icon on
right side as Value_Data.

Why did it become impossible to use custom icons in the start menu with
XP? The only custom icon I have there is for Windows Update on my XP
home machine.

You can change the default icons (for my comp, control panel, run, search etc.) by
changing the DefaultIcon key in the CLSID of the item.
http://www.virtualplastic.net/html/icn_strt.html

Good Luck, Ayush.

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Click Start/Run and type:

reg add hkcr\directory\shell /ve /d none /f

-or-

To fix this manually via registry:

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell]
Set (default) to "none" (without ")

See also:

Search Companion Starts If You Double-Click a Folder:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/321186
(The fix in the above article should work in your case, as well.)

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
Windows® Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


Not urgent or important, just curious:

Xp Pro w/service pack 2.

I got tired of looking at the boring manilla folder icon and decided to
switch it to a pretty blue folder instead. Went to control panel/folder
options/file types. Selected "File Folder", Advanced, "Change Icon".
Selected my pretty blue folder and clicked "ok". After that when I
double clicked on a folder rather than opening, it launced my VLC media
player which is an option in my context menu.
Repeated all the steps above and switched it back to boring manilla
icon. VLC media player still launches instead of opening folder anyway.
Didn't feel like fighting with it so I used system restore to roll
Windows back to previous day's settings.
Questions:
Which registy key did I mess up?
If I'm not supposed to use the above method to change the icon used for
ALL my folders what's it there for?

I take out all my decorating urges on my computers and have custom icons
for nearly every file/folder type on my Xp home and Windows 98 machines,
even many that aren't listed in Folder Options/File Types. Been afraid
to use the same tweaks on XP Pro. Are there a few places in XP pro's
registry were I can change several of the default icons at once?
Why did it become impossible to use custom icons in the start menu with
XP? The only custom icon I have there is for Windows Update on my XP
home machine.
Someone needs to tell the folks at Microsoft there are nuts out there
like me who want to use an icon of our own choosing for nearly every
file type and are willing to shell out for the hardware needed to do it.
I imagine making this possible would add a ton of bloat to the
registry/os.
The "switch user, restart, shut down" screen needs to be customizable
too.
Love how the boot screen got incorporated into ntoskrnl.exe :0

 

[MachineMessiah]

[MachineMessiah] wrote-:

Which registy key did I mess up?

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell key > Default value
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/321186

If I'm not supposed to use the above method to change the icon used for
ALL my folders what's it there for?

Just dont use File types dialog to Edit "File Folder" or "Folder" items.

Are there a few places in XP pro's
registry were I can change several of the default icons at once?

Yes: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Icons
Create a new value and enter the Icon_Index as the name and enter the path of icon on
right side as Value_Data.

Why did it become impossible to use custom icons in the start menu with
XP? The only custom icon I have there is for Windows Update on my XP
home machine.

You can change the default icons (for my comp, control panel, run, search etc.) by
changing the DefaultIcon key in the CLSID of the item.
http://www.virtualplastic.net/html/icn_strt.html

Good Luck, Ayush.

Thanks.
Have'nt been to Virtual Plastic in ages.