ICON - change "Open folder"

[a]

hallo

in Explorer I have problem to distinguish between the
"Closed folder" icon and the "Open folder" icon.

is there a way (official, unofficial, by a tool...) to change wide system
the current default "Open window" icon,
so to permanently have it changed for all the opened folder?

note:
as a last solution, could it be possible to change the related
icon resource inside the "shell32.dll" file with a Resourse Editor
software, without having WindowsXP reject this tampered file?

 

[Terry R.]

On 11/21/2007 8:16 AM On a whim, a pounded out on the keyboard

hallo

in Explorer I have problem to distinguish between the
"Closed folder" icon and the "Open folder" icon.

is there a way (official, unofficial, by a tool...) to change wide system
the current default "Open window" icon,
so to permanently have it changed for all the opened folder?

note:
as a last solution, could it be possible to change the related
icon resource inside the "shell32.dll" file with a Resourse Editor
software, without having WindowsXP reject this tampered file?

The change is minor, and if you run at a very high res, it might be hard
to differentiate between open and closed.

The are free utilities for changing icons. I used to use one called
e-icons that allowed full theme related changes or individual ones. But
I just looked and it's Shareware now. Do a Google search for XP icon
utility and look around.

--
Terry R.

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[Alan Edwards]

I could do this easily in the Registry with Win9x but it seems a
little harder with XP.
I just tried Madonote (freeware) and it does a fine job.
The web site is lacking in detail but the download is here:
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~vr4m-ikw/Global/download.html

I used Strawberry.ico (free) from here:
http://www.iconarchive.com/category/folder/sketchcons-icons-by-iconfactory.html
It stands out well in Explorer and also on my blue taskbar.

....Alan

 

[a]

I could do this easily in the Registry with Win9x but it seems a
little harder with XP.

I looked at the changes happened to the Registry
after having pressed the 'Apply' button
in the suggested "e-icons" software
(I decide to replace the "Open folder" of shell32.dll #4
with the "Big green arrow" of shell32.dll #137)

Then tried to reproduce manually all of them,
but it sill didn't work
(a little more job presumably required);
here they are, if someone is interested in going deeper
(we are near...):


The items marked with (not necessary ????)
may be not necessary to the task


Files modified4)

c:\Documents and Settings\andy\ntuser.dat.LOG
c:\Documents and Settings\andy\NTUSER.DAT

c:\WINDOWS\system32\config\software.LOG
c:\WINDOWS\system32\config\SOFTWARE


Registry key values changed: (3)

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell
Icons
Value "4": from: "C:\WINDOWS\system32\shell32.dll,4" to:
"C:\WINDOWS\system32\shell32.dll,137"


HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-3254902934-4046004723-3408545945-1005\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\1\Desktop
Value "ItemPos1024x768(1)": binary data changed (not necessary ????)


HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\1\Desktop
Value "ItemPos1024x768(1)": binary data changed (not necessary ????)


Registry keys added: (1)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet003\Control\Print\Environments\Windows
NT x86\Print Processors\W (not necessary ????)

Registry keys deleted: (1)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet003\Control\Print\Environments\Windows
NT x86\Print Processors\00,00,00,0 (not necessary ????)

 

[Alan Edwards]

Yes, I also tried it manually. The Shell Icons key was all that was
needed in Win9x but it did not work in XP.
FWIW, Madonote recognized that the Shell Icons key had been changed
when I did it manually.
Perhaps the icon cache in XP is holding on to the old icon?

....Alan

 

[a]

Yes, I also tried it manually. The Shell Icons key was all that was
needed in Win9x but it did not work in XP.
FWIW, Madonote recognized that the Shell Icons key had been changed
when I did it manually.
Perhaps the icon cache in XP is holding on to the old icon?

Three things (I didn't tried them)


1)
the icon cache seem to be here:
In XP, find the file(s) "IconCache.db" at x:\Documents and
Settings\"profile"\Local Settings\Application Data
I think it should be delete after the tuning up (maybe from outside
WindowsXP)



2)
then a Vbscript I found seems to confirm that the only change
to be made is the one we spoke about the registry:



Option Explicit

Set WSHShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Dim WSHShell, n, p, p1, p2, t, cn, itemtype, Mybox, Title, vbdefaultbutton

p =
"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell
Icons\"
p = p & "3"
itemtype = "REG_SZ"
n = ""
WSHShell.RegWrite p, n, itemtype

p =
"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell
Icons\"
p = p & "4"
itemtype = "REG_SZ"
n = ""
WSHShell.RegWrite p, n, itemtype

p1 =
"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell
Icons\"

n = WSHShell.RegRead(p1 & "3")
t = "Change the Folder Icon "
cn = InputBox("Type the Exact Path (follow by example) F:\My
Icons\nameoficon.ico", t, n)
If cn <> "" Then
WSHShell.RegWrite p1 & "3", cn
End If

p1 =
"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell
Icons\"

n = WSHShell.RegRead(p1 & "4")
t = "Change the Opened Folder Icon"
cn = InputBox("Type the Exact Path (follow by example) F:\My
Icons\nameoficon.ico", t, n)
If cn <> "" Then
WSHShell.RegWrite p1 & "4", cn
End If

Title = "Your Folder Icons have been changed. Reboot for the changes to
take effect." & vbCR
Title = Title & "" & vbCR
Title = Title & "To set back to default, run the script again and leave the
entries blank, reboot." & vbCR
MyBox = MsgBox(Title,64,"Finished")

VisitKelly's Korner

Sub VisitKelly's Korner
If MsgBox("This script came from the Tweaks Section of Kelly's Korner"
& vbCRLF & vbCRLF & "Would you like to visit Kelly's Web Site now?",
vbQuestion + vbYesNo + vbDefaultButton, "Visit Kelly's Korner") =6 Then
wshshell.Run "http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm"
End If
End Sub






3)
also I found this about the syntax

with an .ico file
use \\ instead of single slash in the path and if the path contains a space
use \" to enclose the path in quotation marks.

If it was placed in C:\Program Files\Icons it would look like this,

"4"="\"C:\\Program Files\\Icons\\OpenFolder.ico\""