Change A Hard Drive's Icon

If you would like to change the icon for your hard drive, there are two ways to accomplish this.

The first option is to create an inf file. First you must find the icon you want to use then the icon's index number. To find the index number, right-click on any shortcut on your Desktop (except for folders) and select 'Properties'. Click on the 'Change Icon' button then click on the 'Browse' button and look for the icon you want to use. Now count all of the icons with the first icon being number zero. Count each row from top to bottom then work your way to the right counting each row. The number you end at will be your index number. Now click on the 'Cancel' button twice to exit the windows so you actually change the icon for that shortcut. Now open Notepad and copy these lines into it:

[autorun]
ICON=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\SHELL32.DLL,23

Change 'C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\SHELL32.DLL' to where your icon is located and change '23' to your icon's index number. Now save the file as 'autorun.inf' to the 'C:\' folder. Restart your computer and your hard drive icon should now be changed.

The second option requires using the Registry. Click on the Start button and select Run. Type in 'regedit' and press OK. Look for the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer

In the right pane right-click on an empty space and select 'New->Key'. Name the new key 'DriveIcons'. Now create another new key and name it 'C' or the letter of the drive you are changing. Now, create one last key and name it 'DefaultIcon'. And finally, right-click on the 'Default' key in the right pane and select 'Modify'. Insert the full path and name where your icon is located followed by a comma then the icon's index number (no spaces). Restart your computer and your hard drive icon should now be changed.