How to Change a USB Mass Storage Device to Look Like Something Else

Microsoft Windows includes a default set of icons, and regardless of what USB drive you connect to your computer, the icon will remain the same. If you use multiple drives, such as an external hard drive for backups, another external hard drive for your music and a USB flash drive for transferring data between computers, you might want to determine one drive from the other at quick glance. You can change the look of the drives by using custom icons. This can help ensure that you don't copy files to the wrong drive.

Instructions

1. Download the desired .ICO icon file. See Resources for a gallery of icons.

2. Open the Notepad application, located in the "Start" menu.

3. Type "[AutoRun]" and hit Enter. Type "Label=USBMassStorageName" (using the exact name of the drive) and hit Enter. Type "Icon=Icon.ico" (using the exact name of the icon file). The result will be three lines of text.

4. Select "File > Save as..." and save the file as "autorun.inf" on your desktop.

5. Connect the USB drive, if you have not already. Drag both the "autorun.inf" and ICO icon file to the root of the drive. Replace the already existing autorun.inf file, if prompted. Disconnect the drive. When you reconnect it, the default USB drive icon will be replaced with your custom drive icon.

References

• TechMixer: How to Change Removable Drive Icons

Resources

• Icon Archive