Classic Shell: Forum

I've just upgraded from Xp to Windows 7, ClassicShell has made a lot of things much more tolerable, but I'm wondering.. not a fan of the Medium-Size Folder Icons, in XP it was just a closed folder, in 7 it's various types of open folder, some showing previews of what's inside, and one empty... but it's still not great to look at.

Is there a way to get icons more like XPs?

Press Alt+T to access the Tools menu and open Folder Options. Go to the View tab and check "Always show icons, never thumbnails". That will get them to look the same but you lose the ability to see thumbnails in all views.

_________________
Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

I am a Windows enthusiast and did Classic Shell's testing and usability/UX feedback.

Hmm, that does help, but like I said I'm still not a huge fan of the Folder icon graphic itself, even the closed one looks.. 'wrong', If possible I'd prefer just a 2D closed folder icon like XP used.

You can also get the 2D XP folder icons back if you want for all folders if you turn off the thumbnails. Save the XP folder icon from shell32.dll as an .ico file. Then go to this registry key by open Regedit.exe: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Icons and and create a string value called 3 at this key. (3 indicates the 3rd icon, counting from 0 in system shell32.dll which is to be replaced/substituted. For the value data of the value '3', enter the path to the XP folder.ico. Now log out and reopen Explorer windows and you will get the XP folder icon. If you have unchecked "Always show icons, never thumbnails" then you will still get thumbnails for some folders with the new style angled icon. If you checked it, you will get the 2D XP folder icon for all folders.

The registry change should look like this:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Icons]
"3"="<PATH TO XP FOLDER.ICO>"

_________________
Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

I am a Windows enthusiast and did Classic Shell's testing and usability/UX feedback.

Ah... I'll have to try that, but I'm already on 7 now. Is it possible to grab that file off my XP disc?

I've attached the XP folder icon to this post if you want to try it:

_________________
Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

I am a Windows enthusiast and did Classic Shell's testing and usability/UX feedback.

Oh thank you very much, I'll give it a whirl later on.

Hi GauravK

I was filled with hope when I saw this thread and post of yours, as I want to have the closed and open folders of XP. Also the flat folders with 4 images of contents on them would be good as most folk are also trying to solve.
I just replied once and it hasnt shown up so I will try again.

I have gone to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Icons but I see no folder called Shell Icons

instead I have a choice of three :-
ShellFolders
ShellExecuteHooks
ShellIconOverlayIdentifiers

I am thus stumped as to what to do next.

Also having unzipped the icon you have supplied into a folder on my E drive, a drive I keep all my data on, I have a folder called Folder.ico or is this folder the actual image, whetever, it looks like the XP folder and its called Folder.ico

where do I have to copy paste this to ?

I am running win7 64bit pro and Classic Shell
DBenz

You have to create a new Shell Icons forlder I forget if it is Shell Icon or Shell Icons bothe need to be capital S and I

Why don`t u guys just use Folder Marker Pro? It`s way easily and faster.

@DBenz, sorry for the very late reply. I didn't have time to participate in the forum due to something.

This tweak will only give you back the XP folder icon. It won't give you the thumbnail view. If the 'Shell Icons' key doesn't exist, just create it.

If you extracted Folder.ico to E: drive, paste this into Notepad:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Icons]
"3"="E:\\Folder.ico"

Save it as a file with the .REG extension (and remove the .txt extension). Then double click to merge it into the Registry. Then log off and login again to see the folder icon.

_________________
Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

I am a Windows enthusiast and did Classic Shell's testing and usability/UX feedback.

This reg file makes icons like this:

This reg file changes the folder icon and disables the folder thumbnails so that all folders to use the same icon (other thumbnails remain).
This works only on Windows 8 (and, maybe, Win10)!

Where are these folder icons stored? i want to edit them.

They are stored in multiple dlls, for instance, in dmdskres.dll

Any chance of getting that fix to work on Windows 7 too?

No, you cannot disable folder thumbnails separately in win7. You can change the default folder icon, but it will be replaced with thumbnail icon whereever Windows creates a thumbnail. You can disable all thumbnails on Win7 though, this includes folder thumbnails.