Question Cannot set a custom icon for my Music folder

[MrYossu]

I've a 2nd HHD in my PC, and have kept my music files on there due to the size of the folder. I recently upgraded my main drive to 2Tb (from 1Tb), and now have space on there for my music. As the 2nd drive is an HDD and the main one is an SSD, I'm hoping this will make read times a bit better (not bad on the HDD, but could be better).

Anyway, when I set up the PC, I used the properties panel of the Music folder to change the location to my 2nd drive. I was also able to set a custom icon for it. I have now restored the default location, which gave me the option of copying the files over. However, I can't get a custom icon to persist. I can choose a file, but when I click OK on the Properties dialog, the folder looks as it did before. I've tried this a few times, with both .png and .ico files, but nothing helps.

The odd thing is that I have set a custom icon on a couple of other folders in there.

Anyone any ideas? Thanks

 

[helpstar]

how do you change the icon?

 

[MrYossu]

@helpstar I right click the folder and choose Properties. From the window that pops up, I choose Customize, and then click the "Choose file..." button. That pops up a file dialog, where I pick the image file. I click the Open button to dismiss that, and then click either OK or Apply on the properties window.

Nothing changes.

Thanks for the reply. Please let me know if I can supply any more info.

 

[helpstar]

try

1. Press Windows + I to open Settings.
2. Navigate to Personalization > Themes.
3. Scroll down and click on Desktop icon settings.
4. change icon

 

[MrYossu]

@helpstar Thanks, but this isn't a desktop icon, it's the Music folder under my user folder (C:\Users\Me\). As far as I can see, the procedure you suggested only works for specific folders (This PC, my user folder, Network and recycle bin), and only when they are on the desktop. I'm looking to customise the icon for folders in my own user folder.

As I said, I followed exactly the exact same steps this time as I did for some other folders, but it didn't work here.

Thanks for the reply. Any other ideas?

 

[helpstar]

maybe try using dism commands to check if your windows image is corrupted.

 

[MrYossu]

maybe try using dism commands to check if your windows image is corrupted.

Thanks, tried both /ScanHealth and /CheckHealth and both came back fine.

As I said, I have set a custom icon on some other folders, so it seems that Windows is OK.

Thanks again, any other ideas?

 

[MrYossu]

Hmm, just noticed something odd...

I checked a folder where I had set a custom icon, and noticed that the Customize tab has a section named "Folder icons" which is where I set the custom icon. By contrast, my Music folder doesn't have this section, and I was using the button under the "Folder pictures" section.

What's even more odd is that for my Documents folder, I don't have either of these sections, and yet I somehow set a custom icon.

If I create a new folder, I get both sections, and can set an icon from the "Folder icons" part.

Anyone any idea what's going on here? Thanks again.

 

[MrYossu]

OK, odd thing part the second.

As I can create my own folder in my user folder, and can customise the icon, I decided to create a folder called Music2, move all my music into that and set an icon. No problem, all worked fine. I was now left with an empty Music folder, which I deleted. Then, to keep things clean, I renamed my Music2 folder to Music, and the icon disappeared. Not only that, but when I look at the Customize tab, I don't have the option to set a custom icon.

Completely baffled!

 

[Ralston18]

Right click the folder(s).

On the menu that presents select Properties which should present another window with 5 tabs.

General, Sharing ,Security, Previous-Versions, and Customize.

Select Customize.

= = = = =

Compare the Customization settings of the folders that are displaying as required versus folders that are not.

 

[MrYossu]

@Ralston18 As I said above, I don't always get the "Folder icons" section, which seems to be the basic problem.

Any ideas?

 

[MrYossu]

Ooh, I just pressed f5 to refresh the File Explorer display, and my custom icon for Music has appeared! I still don't get the "Folder icons" section, so can't change the icon (which is a shame, as I picked a different one from the one I want in order to distinguish them while testing), but there is a custom icon.

I'd love to know what's going on here!

 

[helpstar]

How did you setup the new 2TB drive with the OS?
Cloned or fresh install?

 

[Ralston18]

@MrYossu

Re: Folder icons.

That is the reason for comparing folder settings between the folders where you can change icons to folders where you cannot change the icons.

Or see or not see the "Folders icons" section".

One thought being that it could be a matter of rights.

Windows has its own Music folder - you may also be running into some protections there.

Take a look at the full pathnames to the Music folders and check the permissions and rights to those paths.

Again - compare as necessary.

Start by looking on your own at the music folders - yours and Windows.,

= = = =

However, there are other ways to delve deeper into it all.

One way being Powershell which is likely installed on your system and can be used to check the ACL (Access Control List).

FYI:

https://thelinuxcode.com/use-the-get-acl-command-in-powershell/

Read through the link but do not be tempted into downloading anything. Downloads should not be necessary with respect to the Get-ACL cmdlet. Caveat being the need for a module directly via Microsoft.

First find differences - Second find how to get the Folder icons section to appear where it is missing.