How to Change a Shortcut Icon in Windows 7

Windows computers have a bunch of different ways that you can customize them.

Some of these are things that people commonly modify, like their desktop background, while others are less common because they are not so easily found.

if you have seen someone using unusual desktop shortcut icons and would like ot do something similar yourself, then check out our tutorial below on how ot change desktop icons in Windows 7.

How to Switch Windows 7 Shortcut Icons

  1. Locate the icon you wish to change.
  2. Right-click the icon and choose Properties.
  3. Click the Change Icon button.
  4. Select the icon to use, then click OK.
  5. Click Apply, then click OK.

Our guide continues below with additional information on how to change a shortcut icon in Windows 7, including pictures of these steps.

The icons for your Windows 7 Desktop shortcut icons can be customized to suit your personal tastes.

This includes modifying the specific icon that is used for a particular shortcut.

This setting is not available for every single icon that you might have on your Desktop, but many of them can be adjusted to use a different icon than the one that is applied to the shortcut by default.

Additionally, you can adjust the icon as many times as you wish, in case you get sick of a particular icon or if you want to make a different change depending upon a particular Windows 7 theme that you might be using.

How to Use a Different Shortcut Icon in Windows 7 (Guide with Pictures)

The steps in this article are going to show you how to modify an existing desktop shortcut icon on your Windows 7 computer by changing the icon that is currently set to something different.

Step 1: Right-click the icon, then click “Properties.”

Right click the shortcut icon, then click "Properties"

Step 2: Click the “Change Icon” button at the bottom of the window.

Click the Change Icon button

Step 3: Click the icon that you want to use, then click “OK.”

Select the new shortcut icon

Step 4: Click “Apply,” then click “OK.”

Apply the changes to your shortcut icon

Step 5: Return to your computer Desktop to view the new icon that you have chosen for your shortcut.

View your new icon

Some of the shortcut icons on your Desktop will only have a few additional icon options.

For example, the Google Chrome shortcut icon only has about 5 different icon options that are all specific to the Google Chrome application.

If you use Chrome and would like to know more about including it on the desktop, then check out our Chrome shortcut on desktop tutorial for additional information.

If you know the file location of a particular icon that you want to use, however, you can click the “Browse” button that appears at the top of the window after you click the “Change Icon” button of the “Properties” menu.

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