I have used the usual route to changing a default icon in "Properties" for internet shortcut(s). However, changing one file icon strangely does not change all the rest. Is this a bug? Is there a workround?
The way it works is the same as it was in Win 7 and 8, and it makes good sense to me.
If you make a new url, and you don't specify an icon for it, it will use the default icon for all urls. That is the Firefox icon here, because that is my default browser.
But if you do specify an icon in the properties of one particular url, the purpose is to make that url look unique, and therefore easy to find. It is usually the "favicon" for the website it links to.
It works the same for shortcuts to files, such as programs. There is a default icon for links to exe files, but you can specify an individual icon for just one shortcut. Doing that should not change any other shortcut's icon, nor the default icon for the exe file type.
Thanks - but with Edge as default browser the icon is an uninspiring boring white rectangle. I don't suppose there is any way of tweaking Edge's appointed icon is there? I do wish we could get beyond this "less is more" nonsense - two skins for Edge - Light and Dark???? Come on Microsoft, you can do better than that.
I only know how to do it in Regedit.
My settings may be different from yours, because Edge is not my default browser, but the method is the same:
In HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT find the entry for .url in the left panel.
See it's Default value in the right panel.
Mine points to "InternetShortcut".
So I go down the list to find InternetShortcut and expand that folder in the left panel to find "DefaultIcon".
Here, it's Default value is %SystemRoot%\system32\url.dll,5
You can change that to any icon you wish, for example
"C:\MyData\MyIcons\MyURLicon.ico",0
Note the path must be in quotes if it contains any spaces. The index number is not inside the quotes. An .ico file has only one icon, so the index is 0. DLL and EXE files can contain many icons. The numbering starts from zero.
At least that is how it always worked in Windows 98.
In recent Windows versions it is sometimes as simple as that, but they might add complications. For example if the file association for one user is different it can be changed by the Classes list in HKEY_CURRENT_USER.
There is no harm experimenting with a DefaultIcon setting, provided you make a note of the original value, so you can go back if you don't like the result.
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