Common folder icons being changed automatically

[Guest]

I've been working with my first Vista (64 bit Ultimate) trial install over
the past several days and am now working on the finer esthetic issues...
This is my first post in this forum and I've done a cursory search in it for
references to what follows but with no luck.

My quesiton is: how do you restore the icons for the common folders (e.g.,
Documents, Music, Pictures) to the default, colorful icons that are present
when a user id is first created?

My current frustration/issue is that nice colorful icons for the common
"Documents", "Pictures", "Music" folders get changed from the colorful
default icons that are displayed in the "personal" folder on the desktop when
using the classic start menu option or displed in the "new" start menu when
you mouse over "Documents", etc. text in the start menu to the standard plain
manilla icon for folders. This change occurred for the Pictures and and
Music icons when I switched to classic Start menu and then back to the "new"
Start menu. The same changed ocurred eariler for the Documents icon but I
have no idea what I did to cause that change.

After realizing yesterday that all the default icons for the common folders
had changed to the plain manilla-type icons over the period of a couple of
days from my original user id creation, I removed then re-added that user id
and I had the colorful icons back. The behavior in the paragraph above
happened over a period of about 2 hours when I was setting up/fiddling with
the new ID. (One thing I have doen is delete a few "random" desktop.ini
files from some folders as I've been browsing folders with hidden files
visible).

Any one else experience this issue of icommon folder icons apparently
changing out from under you? If this has been addressed before, can you
please point me to the relevant posts?

Thanks,

jimb

 

[Guest]

After a little more investigation, I discovered that
windows\system32\imageres.dll contains the icons I was looking for and was
able to restore the default icons for my effected folders. Still not
entirely sure how they got changed originally...

case closed...

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

One thing I have doen is delete a few "random" desktop.ini
files from some folders as I've been browsing folders with hidden files
visible

That's what caused the problem. The Desktop.ini files allows you to specify how a file system folder will be viewed. The "Icon" file name reference is stored in that.

See also:

Customizing Folders with Desktop.ini:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa969337.aspx

Shell folders are displayed with the standard folder icon in Windows Vista:
http://www.winhelponline.com/articles/130/1/

--
Regards,

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


I've been working with my first Vista (64 bit Ultimate) trial install over
the past several days and am now working on the finer esthetic issues...
This is my first post in this forum and I've done a cursory search in it for
references to what follows but with no luck.

My quesiton is: how do you restore the icons for the common folders (e.g.,
Documents, Music, Pictures) to the default, colorful icons that are present
when a user id is first created?

My current frustration/issue is that nice colorful icons for the common
"Documents", "Pictures", "Music" folders get changed from the colorful
default icons that are displayed in the "personal" folder on the desktop when
using the classic start menu option or displed in the "new" start menu when
you mouse over "Documents", etc. text in the start menu to the standard plain
manilla icon for folders. This change occurred for the Pictures and and
Music icons when I switched to classic Start menu and then back to the "new"
Start menu. The same changed ocurred eariler for the Documents icon but I
have no idea what I did to cause that change.

After realizing yesterday that all the default icons for the common folders
had changed to the plain manilla-type icons over the period of a couple of
days from my original user id creation, I removed then re-added that user id
and I had the colorful icons back. The behavior in the paragraph above
happened over a period of about 2 hours when I was setting up/fiddling with
the new ID. (One thing I have doen is delete a few "random" desktop.ini
files from some folders as I've been browsing folders with hidden files
visible).

Any one else experience this issue of icommon folder icons apparently
changing out from under you? If this has been addressed before, can you
please point me to the relevant posts?

Thanks,

jimb