Change Quick Access Icon in File Explorer in Windows 10

The Quick Access location is a new folder in Windows 10's File Explorer. It is where Explorer opens by default instead of This PC. Quick Access shows recent files and frequent folders in a single view. You can also pin various locations inside Quick Access. The thing you cannot do is change the Quick Access folder's icon itself. Windows 10 does not allow you to customize it using the GUI, but you can do it with a simple Registry tweak.

By default, Windows 10 is using a blue star icon for the Quick Access folder. It looks as follows:

If you are not happy with the default icon used for that folder, there is a way to change it to any icon you want. Here is how.

Change Quick Access Icon in File Explorer in Windows 10

This can be done with a Registry tweak. Follow the steps below.

  1. Open Registry Editor.
  2. Go to the following Registry key: 
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID

    Tip: How to jump to the desired registry key with one click.

  3. Here, create a new subkey named {679f85cb-0220-4080-b29b-5540cc05aab6}.The name is a GUID which describes the Quick Access virtual folder, so once you create it here, you will be able to customize the folder. Any changes you make here, e.g. a custom icon which we are going to set, will affect only your user account. Other user accounts won't have this change.
  4. Under the {679f85cb-0220-4080-b29b-5540cc05aab6} subkey, create a new subkey DefaultIcon. See the following screenshot:
  5. Under DefaultIcon, set the default (empty) string value on the right to the full path to the icon file you want to set. For example, I have the old version of the Quick Access icon. This icon was used in some older Insider Preview builds of Windows 10:
    I store it as C:\Winaero\old_qa_icon.ico, so I'll need to specify this path to the icon file in the Registry.
  6. Once this is done, restart the Explorer shell or sign out and sign in again to your user account. If it doesn't help, refresh the icon cache.

Voila, the File Explorer app will use your custom icon instead of the default one.
Before:

After:

Instead of the full path to the icon file, you can use icons from system files. For example, if you set the string parameter to the following value:

imageres.dll,-1024

Then the icon will be set to the good old Favorites icon. See the screenshot: That's it.

Now see How to rename the Quick Access folder in Windows 10.

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Author: Sergey Tkachenko

Sergey Tkachenko is a software developer who started Winaero back in 2011. On this blog, Sergey is writing about everything connected to Microsoft, Windows and popular software. Follow him on Telegram, Twitter, and YouTube.

11 thoughts on “Change Quick Access Icon in File Explorer in Windows 10”

  1. You just solve my last question!
    So… can we change the text “Quick Access” too, except from the icon ?

    Thank you very much!

    Reply

    1. Hi
      I tried to play with the Quick Access folder.
      It ignores all text values set in Registry. So, from the first look it is not possible without a special system file modification.
      I will digg more. I have a few ideas how to make it less painful.
      Need to check my theory.

      Reply

      1. I’m very glad to be trying to achieve!
        I rename libraries, but the quick access not succeed.
        I hope you can fix it. Can not wait to read your results :-)

        Regards!

        Reply

  2. Sergey, Hi again!

    I found how to rename Quick Access text.
    (copy-paste) the registry file key
    ___________________________________________________
    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

    [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{679f85cb-0220-4080-b29b-5540cc05aab6}]
    “System.Home.PropList.Sort”=”prop:System.Home.SortOrder;System.ItemNameDisplay”
    “System.IsPinnedToNameSpaceTree”=dword:00000000
    @=”UsersQuickAccess”
    “LocalizedString”=hex(2):a0,25,20,00,20,00,94,03,99,03,91,03,a7,03,95,03,99,03,\
    a1,03,99,03,a3,03,97,03,00,00

    [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{679f85cb-0220-4080-b29b-5540cc05aab6}\InProcServer32]
    @=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\
    00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,77,00,69,00,\
    6e,00,64,00,6f,00,77,00,73,00,2e,00,73,00,74,00,6f,00,72,00,61,00,67,00,65,\
    00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,00,00
    “ThreadingModel”=”Both”

    [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{679f85cb-0220-4080-b29b-5540cc05aab6}\shell]

    [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{679f85cb-0220-4080-b29b-5540cc05aab6}\shell\pintohome]
    “MUIVerb”=”@shell32.dll,-51388”

    [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{679f85cb-0220-4080-b29b-5540cc05aab6}\shell\pintohome\command]
    “DelegateExecute”=”{b455f46e-e4af-4035-b0a4-cf18d2f6f28e}”

    [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{679f85cb-0220-4080-b29b-5540cc05aab6}\shell\Windows.folderoptions]
    “ExplorerCommandHandler”=”{83bb272f-7d5e-4b6e-9250-889893f0dac7}”

    [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{679f85cb-0220-4080-b29b-5540cc05aab6}\ShellFolder]
    “Attributes”=dword:b080010d
    “FolderValueFlags”=dword:00042220
    _________________________________________________________________________
    I make copy from Libraries registry settings :-)

    Thank you!

    Reply

  4. there is an option to change icon and rename quick acces in the winaero tweaker app on this site

    Reply

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