Change the icon for Internet Shortcuts Intended For Windows Vista Windows XP Windows 2003 Windows 2000 Windows Me Windows 98 Windows 95 In its reign of terror, Microsoft has made every effort to make Internet Explorer appear as though it's the only choice for browsing the web. Case in point - they've made it seemingly impossible to do something as simple as change the icon for all Internet Shortcut files (*.URL). Here's how to do it: Run the Registry Editor (REGEDIT.EXE). Open HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ InternetShortcut. Double-click on the EditFlags value (in the right pane), and change it's contents to 00 00 00 00. Next, open HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ InternetShortcut\ shellex, and delete the IconHandler key (in the left pane). Close the Registry Editor when you're done. Then, open Explorer, select Folder Options from the View menu, and choose the File Types tab. Find and select Internet Shortcut on this list, click Edit, and then click Change Icon. When you're done choosing an icon, click Ok in each open Window. Written by: Annoyances.org Last updated: Wednesday, February 7, 2007 Care to discuss this article with other Windows users? Select your operating system here, and click Continue to post your question. - Choose your OS -Windows 7Windows VistaWindows Server 2003Windows XPWindows 2000Windows MeWindows 98Windows 95 Previous discussions about this article: (open a message to see applicable responses, if any) [Windows 98] Question about 'Change the icon for Internet Shortcuts' (Bruce: Monday, May 13, 2002) [Windows 98] Question about 'Change the icon for Internet Shortcuts' (unclewarmie: Friday, October 11, 2002) [Windows 98] Question about 'Change the icon for Internet Shortcuts' (Laurie Tursi: Tuesday, May 6, 2003) [Windows 2000] Question about 'Changing the icon for Internet Shortcuts after Installation of MS Service Pack 6' (Aaron Jones: Saturday, June 7, 2003) [Windows XP] Question about 'Change the icon for Internet Shortcuts' (Ben: Saturday, June 12, 2004) [Windows XP] All my icons are gone now (Blake Wickham: Monday, June 21, 2004) [Windows XP] Question about 'Change the icon for Internet Shortcuts' (Trip Segars: Thursday, July 8, 2004) [Windows XP] Question about 'Change the icon for Internet Shortcuts' (Matthew: Friday, August 27, 2004) [Windows XP] Question about 'Change the icon for Internet Shortcuts' (Lout: Saturday, October 2, 2004) [Windows XP] Question about 'Change the icon for Internet Shortcuts' (Chelsea: Friday, April 22, 2005) [Windows XP] Question about 'Change the icon for Internet Shortcuts' (patti: Thursday, July 14, 2005) [Windows XP] Question about 'Change the icon for Internet Shortcuts' (Irv Kramer: Thursday, August 17, 2006) [Windows XP] Question about 'Change the icon for Internet Shortcuts' (5ifty1: Thursday, November 23, 2006) [Windows XP] Question about 'Change the icon for Internet Shortcuts' (Ivo Ricardo Wanderley: Wednesday, December 20, 2006) [Windows XP] Question about 'Change the icon for Internet Shortcuts' (Jerry Nalley: Monday, January 8, 2007) [Windows XP] Question about 'Change the icon for Internet Shortcuts' (dennislink: Saturday, May 26, 2007) [Windows XP] Question about 'Change the icon for Internet Shortcuts' (Thomas Armour: Sunday, June 10, 2007) [Windows XP] Does this work with IE7 installed? (Heliodoro: Saturday, July 14, 2007) [Windows XP] Question about 'Change the icon for Internet Shortcuts' (Frodo: Saturday, November 3, 2007) [Windows XP] Question about 'Change the icon for Internet Shortcuts' (MW: Monday, January 21, 2008) [Windows XP] Correction of This Tip For XP, 2K, & NT, (maybe W9x, too) (GeoNOregon: Saturday, April 26, 2008) [Windows XP] Question about 'Change the icon for Internet Shortcuts' (Charles Barnett: Monday, October 27, 2008) [Windows XP] Question about 'Change the icon for Internet Shortcuts' (tinkerbell: Tuesday, March 24, 2009) Return to "Networking, Internet, & Administration"