External HDD Icons change.

[sandy58]

Running Windows XP Pro. I have two external hard drives, both
partitioned. They have now changed
the icon to a "folder" when before they had a similar icon as my
internal hard drive & opened
in the same way (double-click) Now I have to open them like folders
ie: with Windows Explorer.
All help appreciated re; returning them to original state.
TIA.

 

[Rey Santos]

You can create custom icons for your external hard drives as I do, so that
when youy plugged in the drive its icon will different from the rest (easy
identification). To do this:
-Create your own icon, http://www.rw-designer.com/online_icon_maker.php or
free icons http://www.iconspedia.com/
-save it to the drive.
-Open Note Pad.Type:
[Autorun]
Icon=filename.ico
-Save the Note Pad file on the drive as All Files and name it "Autorun.inf"
(without the quotes)
-Eject the drive and plug it again for things to take effect

In one of my drives the icon changed to generic, when I opened the
Autorun.inf file it changed to something hard to understand, so its better to
set the properties of both the icon and Autorun.inf file to Read only and
Hidden.

 

[sandy58]

You can create custom icons for your external hard drives as I do, so that
when youy plugged in the drive its icon will different from the rest (easy
identification). To do this:
-Create your own icon,http://www.rw-designer.com/online_icon_maker.phpor
free iconshttp://www.iconspedia.com/
-save it to the drive.
-Open Note Pad.Type:
[Autorun]
Icon=filename.ico
-Save the Note Pad file on the drive as All Files and name it "Autorun.inf"
(without the quotes)
-Eject the drive and plug it again for things to take effect

In one of my drives the icon changed to generic, when I opened the
Autorun.inf file it changed to something hard to understand, so its better to
set the properties of both the icon and Autorun.inf file to Read only and
Hidden.
--
Rey

Running Windows XP Pro. I have two external hard drives, both
partitioned. They have now changed
the icon to a "folder" when before they had a similar icon as my
internal hard drive & opened
in the same way (double-click) Now I have to open them like folders
ie: with Windows Explorer.
All help appreciated re; returning them to original state.
TIA.
.

Rey Santos, it's not really the icon that is the problem. It is the
fact that the drive will not open when double-clicked (as it did
before) I have to open it through the address bar...just like any
folder. Thanks for you help.

 

[Elmo]

Running Windows XP Pro. I have two external hard drives, both
partitioned. They have now changed
the icon to a "folder" when before they had a similar icon as my
internal hard drive & opened
in the same way (double-click). Now I have to open them like folders
ie: with Windows Explorer.
All help appreciated re; returning them to original state.
TIA.

Here's a couple of things to try:

- Right-click one of the drives, click Properties. Is there an AutoPlay
tab? If so, select "Mixed Content" and "Open folder to view files" for
the "Select action to perform" choice.

- Try the fixes for Drive, Directory, Folder Associations:
Fix File Associations.
http://dougknox.com/xp/file_assoc.htm

 

[sandy58]

Here's a couple of things to try:

- Right-click one of the drives, click Properties.  Is there an AutoPlay
tab?  If so, select "Mixed Content" and "Open folder to view files" for
the "Select action to perform" choice.

- Try the fixes for Drive, Directory, Folder Associations:
  Fix File Associations.http://dougknox.com/xp/file_assoc.htm

Elmo, that works but looks like I'll have to open the drive that way
all the time? The icons were Hard Drive icons before they changed to
folder icons. I have never had that before.
Thanks for your help.

 

[Elmo]

Elmo, that works but looks like I'll have to open the drive that way
all the time? The icons were Hard Drive icons before they changed to
folder icons. I have never had that before.
Thanks for your help.

You probably need to fix the associations for drives then. If what you
tried was my first rambling, please try the second, Doug Knox site. Once
it's right, you should see the proper icons again.

A quick Google search on "usb drive shows folder icon" netted this
discussion:

http://www.fixya.com/support/t1715875-usb_flash_drive_icon_changes_into_folder

 

[sandy58]

You probably need to fix the associations for drives then.  If what you
tried was my first rambling, please try the second, Doug Knox site. Once
it's right, you should see the proper icons again.

A quick Google search on "usb drive shows folder icon" netted this
discussion:

http://www.fixya.com/support/t1715875-usb_flash_drive_icon_changes_in...

Elmo & Rey Santos, I finally fixed the problem by deleting "autoplay
inf" in each of the offending drives and after a reboot the original
icons reappeared. Many thanks to both for your help.

 

[Elmo]

Elmo & Rey Santos, I finally fixed the problem by deleting "autoplay
inf" in each of the offending drives and after a reboot the original
icons reappeared. Many thanks to both for your help.

You might want to check for malware.. that's one reason autoplay.inf
gets added to external drives.

Malwarebytes© Corporation
http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam/program/mbam-setup.exe

 

[sandy58]

You might want to check for malware.. that's one reason autoplay.inf
gets added to external drives.

Malwarebytes© Corporationhttp://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam/program/mbam-setup.exe

I have done with malwarebytes, Elmo. I had some stuff and got rid of
it before I asked you here. But I will run it again now. Thanks a
bunch for your help.