If you are looking for a way to change all of the Windows 10 Control Panel icons on your operating system, this article will guide you through the process from start to finish. An easy way to change one of Windows most used services.
How to Add a Customize Tab to the Windows Desktop Properties Menu.
Windows 10 is one of the most customizable operating systems Microsoft has released to date, although at times it may not seem like it. For the most part, basic theming, color schemes, and customization can be done from the Personalize menu within Settings, however, there are times when you may need to venture into some of Windows more complicated areas to make certain changes.
A classic example of this is when you want to make changes to specific system icons like the Windows Libraries folder icon or the Control Panel. Both of these system icons require some subtle changes to the Windows registry. Although the changes are easy to make, it is a little complicated finding the location to make the changes, so follow along as this article guides you through the process of changing the Windows 10 Control Panel icon.
How Do You Change the Windows 10 Control Panel Icon? (File Explorer Drop-Down Menu)
As this process requires making some changes to the Windows registry it’s a good idea to make a system restore point before continuing. To do this, open the start menu, type Restore, then select Create a Restore Point when it appears on the list. In the new window that appears on the screen, click Create in the bottom right section of the screen, then follow the instructions given by Windows. When you have a restore point, you can safely start the steps shown below to change the Control Panel icon.
To begin, open the Windows Registry Editor by pressing Windows Key + R, then type regedit into the Run tool text box and press Enter. When you have the tool open in front of your, navigate to the following location:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CLSID\{26EE0668-A00A-44D7-9371-BEB064C98683}\DefaultIcon
Note: If you don’t have the {26EE0668-A00A-44D7-9371-BEB064C98683} key (folder), you can create it by right-clicking the CLSID key (folder), selecting New > Key and naming the key {26EE0668-A00A-44D7-9371-BEB064C98683}. You will need to follow the same process to create a DefaultIcon key inside the {26EE0668-A00A-44D7-9371-BEB064C98683} key.
Now double-click the Default file in the central pane and enter the address for your desired icon into the Value Data box. It should look similar to the example and screenshot below.
C:\Users\Downloadsource.net\Downloads\Icons\folder-2-128.ico
Once you have made the change click Ok, then sign out of your account then sign back in again and the change will take effect.
How Do You Change the Windows 10 Control Panel Icon? (Start Menu & Taskbar)
If you are trying to change the start menu and taskbar Control Panel icons, you’ll need to do the following. Open File Explorer, copy the following address into the address bar, then press Enter.
%appdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\System Tools
Now simply right-click the Control Panel icon and follow the standard icon changing procedure.
What Icons Won’t Change?
One of the only Control Panel icons that won’t change when following these steps is the icon that appears in the start menu under Best Matches when you search control panel. For some reason, this icon always remains the Windows default. If anyone has figured out a way to change this icon I’d love to hear from you in the comment section.
