How to Change Icon for Any Desktop Shortcut in Windows 10

Isabella Shinn

Updated: January 11, 2024

This guide shows you how to change icon for any desktop shortcut in Windows 10.

How to change icon for desktop shortcut in Windows 10

I will use a "Show Desktop" shortcut as an example for demonstrating the steps.

Step 1: Right-click on the target desktop shortcut and select Properties from the context menu.

Step 2: After the shortcut's Properties dialog opens, select the Shortcut tab, and then click the "Change Icon" button.

Step 3: By default, Windows looks for some icons from the location "%windir%\explorer.exe", and show them in the list. Select your desired icon from the list, and click OK to confirm that.

If you can't find your desired icon, you can type %SystemRoot%\system32\imageres.dll in the field under "Look for icons in this file" and hit Enter so that it will show a large number of icons in the list for you to choose from. Select your desired icon and click OK.

Step 4: Click Apply followed by OK. Then the icon of the selected desktop shortcut is changed.