How to Put an Icon on a Flash Drive

By default, removable flash drives display the same icon in the Computer or My Computer window when connected to a PC. However, Windows gives you the ability to assign your own icon to your flash drives, perhaps as a way to see the type of data stored on them at a glance. Put a custom icon on a flash drive to have an icon other than the Windows default displayed when the drive is inserted.

Instructions

1. Locate and download an icon that you would like to use in the ICO format. InterfaceLIFT (see link in Resources) is one site that you can use to help in your search.

2. Right-click the icon and click "Rename." Change the name of the icon to "autorun.ico."

3. Click the "Start" button, then click "My Computer" (Windows XP) or "Computer" (Windows Vista and 7). Double-click the icon representing your flash drive. Drag and drop "autorun.ico" here, and close the window.

4. Launch Notepad. Type "[autorun]" without quotation marks on the first line, then press "Enter" to drop to the second line. Type "icon=autorun.ico" on the second line.

5. Click "File" and "Save As." Navigate to the location of your flash drive. Click the Save As Type drop-down menu at the bottom of the window and select "All Files." Name the file "autorun.inf" and click "Save."

6. Remove and reinsert the flash drive. The custom icon will be displayed in your "My Computer" or "Computer" screen.

Resources

• InterfaceLIFT: Free Icons for Windows and Mac