Hard drive icon has changed. How do I fix it?

ingeborgdot · April 04, 2007, 07:02 hrs

I clicked on the my computer icon yesterday and noticed that the icon for one of my hard drives had changed to a different icon. It is the one that is like a piece of paper with the corner folded slightly and has another picture of a screen or whatever. It is the one you get when your computer doesn't know how to read it. It still opens fine but how do I change it to its original icon? I have xp pro.

Bill · April 04, 2007, 07:26 hrs

Right click, select Properties and at the bottom of the box there is a tab to 'change icon.'

Bill

ingeborgdot · April 04, 2007, 08:07 hrs

I have tried that but whenever I do that for the hard drives it brings up the box that has tools, hardware, sharing etc. There is no way to access it that way.

popeye · April 04, 2007, 09:35 hrs

Download Tweakui for XP (ASSUMING YOU HAVE XP) open it up and select repair tab and repair icons.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx

ingeborgdot · April 04, 2007, 10:13 hrs

Been there and tried that.

Whizbang · April 04, 2007, 13:21 hrs

I have had similar problems with the old Zip drives. When a hard drive icon is lost, I have found that even restoring the icon may be only temporary. The Window DLL file containing the icons may have been corrupted. You can make your own icon by copying an AUTORUN.INF file to a temporary location and then modify it to link to a chosen icon. It does not repair the DLL file involved but is a stable work-around. First, though do the following:

See if there is an AUTORUN.INF file that has been placed on the root (no folder) of affected drive.
If there is, and there is no program pertaining to it, that file likely is altering the path of the hard drive icon search from the Windows DLL file to the AUTORUN designated option. If there is no known use for the AUTORUN.INF file, put it in a folder to hide it from the Windows OS loading and reboot. If the drive icon reappears, the problem has been solved.

If that is not the case, choose any AUTORUN.INF file from an autoinstall CD, copy the file to a temporary file on desktop, and modify it with a text editor such as notepad. Delete all references to any setup and modify icon= by inserting your on .ico file that you place on the open drive. The result would look similar to

[AutoRun]
icon=mypic.ICO

The drive icon will now be whatever you reference in the AUTORUN file. There are many icon generator downloads on line that would allow you at least temporary use of the program to make an icon. An icon is basically a 32 X 32 pixel bitmap that is altered to 16 colors and saved as an ICO file.

Paste the AUTORUN.INF file and ICO file to the open hard drive in question (root).

ingeborgdot · April 04, 2007, 16:08 hrs

There was an autorun in the file and I deleted it and restarted and it worked. Why did this happen?

Whizbang · April 04, 2007, 18:43 hrs

I have no idea. What was on the file?

ingeborgdot · April 04, 2007, 19:12 hrs

Honestly I don't know.

Whizbang · April 04, 2007, 22:29 hrs

I hate mysteries that are not completely solved. ???

joyboy2001 · April 13, 2007, 12:41 hrs

It's possible that the inf file contained the link to the ico file ...

Whizbang · April 13, 2007, 17:48 hrs

Mmm, probably not. Normal OS icons are not loaded from an icon file but from the Windows icon DLL file. You can make all files visible and see that there is no AUTORUN.INF file in the open directory of the unmodified "C:" drive. I have had fun by making drive icons with an icon generator and then placing one in the open directory of each partition along with a referencing AUTORUN.INF. A cat icon for "C:" drive, "D:" for dog, "F:" for fish. You get the stupid idea, well maybe not stupid but definitely not life changing. ;)

joyboy2001 · April 13, 2007, 23:24 hrs

That can be fun ...

I know that the unmodified drive will not have any autorun.inf ... Are you sure if we place an autorun.inf into it it will not use it ?? Haven't tested it myself yet ...

Whizbang · April 14, 2007, 17:40 hrs

Quote from: joyboy2001 on April 13, 2007, 23:24 hrs
That can be fun ...

I know that the unmodified drive will not have any autorun.inf ... Are you sure if we place an autorun.inf into it it will not use it ?? Haven't tested it myself yet ...

It definitely will use it. That was the problem that caused the drive icon disappearance.

Whizbang · September 07, 2007, 21:45 hrs

If you get really bored, here is something you can do with the drive icons.

You must make a bitmap image with 16 colors and make it small enough that when reduced, it will fit inside a 32x32 pixel square without degrading. Use an ICON maker and save as an .ICO file.
Then, as mentioned before, take an autorun.inf file; open it with notepad; and change it to read

[AUTORUN]
icon=d.ICO

(where "d" is the icon name) and save it. I just give the icon the name that corresponds with the drive. Put the AUTORUN.INF file in the open directory of the drive along with the ICO file. You can use any 16 color ICO file for the drive icon. I left "C" drive alone to show you the contrast.

The one problem you will encounter is when you add a partition or drive. Then, it all is messed up, and you must remove the AUTORUN.INF file and start over (or grow up, something I have a hard time doing ::) ).

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Hard drive icon has changed. How do I fix it?