Microsoft has always been re-imagining the icons library in Windows. Throughout the journey of the Operating System, icons have been continuously redesigned, restyled and reshaped to keep pace with the changing technology standards over time. Now, the default icon library is quite rich in terms of diversity but I have always intended to set custom icons for drives in my Windows 10 PC. This gives me an idea of what’s stored inside a particular drive or what type of external storage is connected to my PC.
You can set custom icons for drives if you have the habit of encapsulating the related data in one place. For example, dedicating a particular drive for your entertainment stuff, another for the softwares that you love to use and so forth. This can boost up productivity to some extent as you can readily identify your devices and drives and what type of data is stored within them. In this tutorial, you will be learning how to set custom icons for drives in Windows 10 using the magic of autorun.inf file.
Set Custom Icons For Drives
The first step in this expedition is to grab a cool icon that matches with the type of drive (Mobile Phone, Pen Drive, Memory Card etc.) and the content stored in it. You can chose any icon with a “.ico” extension as Windows Ecosystem uses this extension for the icons. Even if you have any other type of file extension, you can easily convert it to .ico file using online converters like ICO Convert. Once you have your icon ready to rock, follow on the below steps:
Creating autorun.inf file
Autorun.inf file is a simple text file that is used by AutoRun and AutoPlay system components in Windows OS. It is located in the root directory of each removable media which makes it possible for the computer to read the information that defines the behavior of that particular drive. We will be creating an autorun.inf file which will be then stored in the root directory of the drive for which we want to change the icon. Go along with next steps to create the file.
1. Copy and paste your Icon image file to root directory of the drive for which you want to change the icon.
2. Press Windows Key + R on your keyboard to launch Run Prompt. Type in notepad and hit Enter to launch Notepad Text Editor.
3. Copy and paste the below content in Notepad. Just make sure to replace driveicon.ico with the name of your Icon file, as shown in the image below.
[Autorun]
Icon=driveicon.ico
4. Now, we need to save the file to the root directory of the drive under consideration. Press Ctrl + S on your keyboard. This will open up the Save As window. Navigate to the drive’s root directory where you have already copied the icon image. Down below, Change the file name as autorun.inf and select the type as All Files and click on Save.
5. Once both the icon file and autorun.inf file are at the target location, we are all set. Now, if you head over to This PC section, you’ll notice that your drive icon is still all the same. Well, worry not. You just need to disconnect your drive and connect it again to see the changes flashing right on your screen.
That is it, folks! In this way, you can personalize your drive icons the way you want. Also, you can hide the icon and autorun.inf file to save the trouble of accidentally deleting it. This helps in putting these files out of sight while you make your friends wonder at your expertise.
Let us know in the comments section below if anything doesn’t work out as expected for you.
