Change Windows Explorer Default Drive Icons

[AceInfinity]

I recently created my own reg script to modify drive letter icons based on a tutorial I found at WindowsForums. The process over there was done through a lenghtly manual process of adding and editing the default value for specific keys in the registry, so I took the time to make my own automatic process for it.

I believe this works for XP, Vista, and Windows 7 from what i've read, but it does definitely work on my Windows 7 64 bit.

Preview:

Code:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
;Note: This assumes that you have the specific ico mentioned for these values, so make
;sure you have the proper ones in their correct locations with the correct filenames.

;C, F, D, E

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\Explorer.exe\Drives\A\DefaultIcon]
@="C:\\Windows\\drive_black.ico"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\Explorer.exe\Drives\B\DefaultIcon]
@="C:\\Windows\\drive_black.ico"

;[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\Explorer.exe\Drives\C\DefaultIcon]
;@="C:\\Windows\\drive_black.ico"

;[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\Explorer.exe\Drives\D\DefaultIcon]
;@="C:\\Windows\\drive_black.ico"

;[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\Explorer.exe\Drives\E\DefaultIcon]
;@="C:\\Windows\\drive_black.ico"

;[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\Explorer.exe\Drives\F\DefaultIcon]
;@="C:\\Windows\\drive_black.ico"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\Explorer.exe\Drives\G\DefaultIcon]
@="C:\\Windows\\drive_black.ico"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\Explorer.exe\Drives\H\DefaultIcon]
@="C:\\Windows\\drive_black.ico"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\Explorer.exe\Drives\I\DefaultIcon]
@="C:\\Windows\\drive_black.ico"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\Explorer.exe\Drives\J\DefaultIcon]
@="C:\\Windows\\drive_black.ico"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\Explorer.exe\Drives\K\DefaultIcon]
@="C:\\Windows\\drive_black.ico"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\Explorer.exe\Drives\L\DefaultIcon]
@="C:\\Windows\\drive_black.ico"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\Explorer.exe\Drives\M\DefaultIcon]
@="C:\\Windows\\drive_black.ico"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\Explorer.exe\Drives\N\DefaultIcon]
@="C:\\Windows\\drive_black.ico"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\Explorer.exe\Drives\O\DefaultIcon]
@="C:\\Windows\\drive_black.ico"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\Explorer.exe\Drives\P\DefaultIcon]
@="C:\\Windows\\drive_black.ico"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\Explorer.exe\Drives\Q\DefaultIcon]
@="C:\\Windows\\drive_black.ico"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\Explorer.exe\Drives\R\DefaultIcon]
@="C:\\Windows\\drive_black.ico"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\Explorer.exe\Drives\S\DefaultIcon]
@="C:\\Windows\\drive_black.ico"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\Explorer.exe\Drives\T\DefaultIcon]
@="C:\\Windows\\drive_black.ico"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\Explorer.exe\Drives\U\DefaultIcon]
@="C:\\Windows\\drive_black.ico"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\Explorer.exe\Drives\V\DefaultIcon]
@="C:\\Windows\\drive_black.ico"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\Explorer.exe\Drives\W\DefaultIcon]
@="C:\\Windows\\drive_black.ico"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\Explorer.exe\Drives\X\DefaultIcon]
@="C:\\Windows\\drive_black.ico"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\Explorer.exe\Drives\Y\DefaultIcon]
@="C:\\Windows\\drive_black.ico"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\Explorer.exe\Drives\Z\DefaultIcon]
@="C:\\Windows\\drive_black.ico"

The way this works is that it adds a (default) value for the key in 'DefaultIcon' for you, assuming that you have the ico file in the specific filepath that i've put in my script, otherwise you can change it's location if you want. I've placed mine in C:\Windows just because that makes it so that I'm less likely to delete, rename or move that ico file somewhere where it's no longer valid in the reg entry.

Save this script with the .reg file extension, right click on the file and choose 'Merge' to start the merge process into the registry for my script's values. Press OK to confirm the changes to the registry, open your 'My Computer' location to see the changes.







I have commented out Drive's C, D, E, and F in my script with the ';' char because you may want to edit those values on your own. In my case those are the drives that get used the most by me, as C, D, and F are my fixed drives, and E is my CD-ROM/DVD drive, so I have specific icons for those drive letters. If you want to edit the icons used, make sure that you edit my filepaths in these lines with the path's of the icon files (ico) that you'll be using for the drive letter in the reg path above its line in my script.

Code:

@="C:\\Windows\\iconfile.ico"

Take note that this is editing the (default) registry value for the key in 'DefaultIcon' for the drive letter in the path above this line here:
"[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\Explorer.exe\Drives\N\DefaultIcon]"

Enjoy