How Do I Get Icons on My Flash Drive Folders?

Put icons on your flash drive.

Computers offer numerous customization features, one of which is the ability to change the icon on your folders so that you can more quickly and visually identify them. If you've ever tried to do this with flash drive folders, you've noticed that you cannot do so in the same manner as folders on your hard drive. That's because you have to have the appropriate folders within the root directory of your flash drive and link to them correctly so that your icons show up on your flash drive folders.

Things You'll Need

• Flash drive
• Icon
• Notepad

Instructions

1. Plug your flash drive into your computer's USB port. Create a folder on your desktop entitled "USB."

2. Create a folder within the "USB" folder entitled "Icons" and another one entitled "Folder with an Icon."

3. Place the icons that you want to use for your flash drive folders within the "Icons" folder.

4. Right-click on the "Folder with an Icon" folder. Select the "Customize" tab.

5. Click "Change Icon" next to the "Icons" section. Select the icon from the "Icons" folder that you want to use for the folder.

6. Open Notepad. Click "Open." Browse to your "Folder with an Icon" folder. Click on the "desktop.ini" file that is within your "Folder with an Icon" folder. You see the following code:
   [.ShellClassInfo]
   IconFile=%USERPROFILE%\Desktop\USB\ICONS\your icon name.ico
   IconIndex=0

7. Replace that code with the following:
   IconFile=.. \ICONS\your icon name.ico
   IconIndex=0

8. Click "Save." Drag-and-drop the USB folder to your flash drive. Rename the "Folder with an icon" folder to the name you wish the folder to have.

Tips & Warnings

• Repeat this process for each folder that you wish to add an icon to, and drag-and-drop the folders to the flash drive.

• If you do not modify the code as instructed in step 7, your icons will not show up on your flash drive folders.

References

• Computer Hope: Set an icon on a folder on a Flash Drive