Windows 10 Editing File Icon and Type Description

  • Thread starter Thread starter Julian Ting
  • Start date Start date
J

Julian Ting

This is a question about File Explorer in Windows 10: how do I change the icon as well as the description displayed under the "Type" column in File Explorer?


For each entry (directory or file) in File Explorer, there is an icon on the left next to the its name and a description under the "Type" column, such as "File folder" for a directory and "Text Document" for a .txt file. As an example, I have associated .pdf files with Google Chrome as the default program for opening it. They have the Chrome logo as the icon and "Chrome HTML Document" under the "Type" column, which is a little misleading. How would I change the icon to, say, a document icon from C:\Windows\system32\imageres.dll, and the type description to something more sensible like "PDF Document"?


I have tried to edit the registry directly via the Registry Editor that comes with Windows, editing the "(default)" entries of the relevant file types in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT and HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts, then restarting explorer.exe each time I make a change. However, nothing seems to have changed when I opened File Explorer again. Searching through past questions on similar issues did not give me any solutions either.


Thanks.

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Note that this is not a question on:

  • changing or displaying file extension;
  • changing default programs; nor
  • changing the column layout in File Explorer.


System information:

  • Windows 10 Pro (x64)
  • Administrator account

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