Can you change the shortcut icons from Edge's to website favicons?


  1. Posts : 28
    Windows 10
       #1

    Can you change the shortcut icons from Edge's to website favicons?


    I put about ten shortcuts onto my desktop, such as ones for eBay, Google, Amazon, etc.; however, they all have Edge's standard blue icons. This makes the whole group appear as a monolithic bunch of icons that all look the same and not so easy to read. Is there a way to change these desktop icons to the various websites' favicons, making them easier to see/read/use?

    I think that you can right-click a shortcut, then choose "Properties," then click on "Change Icon." However, from there, I'm stuck, because it offers me the option of browsing to the icon I want, but I don't know how to get to any favicon that I might want.

    It's easy to find those websites' favicons, using Google images, and I can then save them onto my desktop, but I don't know how to get them from there onto their relevant shortcuts. I think there is a cache, called something like "shell32.icon" or whatever, which holds icons, but I'm not sure if that's anything I want to mess with, because I'm fully aware that messing with those kinds of files can lead to disastrous results, such as the computer freezing up, the 'blue screen of death,' etc.

    Any help would be greatly appreciated.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 13,899
    Win10 Version 22H2 Pro and Home, Win11 Pro and Home
       #2

    Rayzen said:
    I put about ten shortcuts onto my desktop, such as ones for eBay, Google, Amazon, etc.; however, they all have Edge's standard blue icons. This makes the whole group appear as a monolithic bunch of icons that all look the same and not so easy to read. Is there a way to change these desktop icons to the various websites' favicons, making them easier to see/read/use?

    I think that you can right-click a shortcut, then choose "Properties," then click on "Change Icon." However, from there, I'm stuck, because it offers me the option of browsing to the icon I want, but I don't know how to get to any favicon that I might want.

    It's easy to find those websites' favicons, using Google images, and I can then save them onto my desktop, but I don't know how to get them from there onto their relevant shortcuts. I think there is a cache, called something like "shell32.icon" or whatever, which holds icons, but I'm not sure if that's anything I want to mess with, because I'm fully aware that messing with those kinds of files can lead to disastrous results, such as the computer freezing up, the 'blue screen of death,' etc.

    Any help would be greatly appreciated.
    The problem with creating URL shortcuts is the favicon.ico is stored on a Web site, not on the computer like the shortcuts in the Start menu. And Win10 doesn't show Properties on the right-click of icons like we're familiar with on Win7 and earlier. Haven't looked for it lately but there used to be programs one could use to extract and save the favicon.ico files but the issue there was they all have the same name, have to rename each time one is saved or the next will overwrite it. One could look in the Temporary Internet Files Folder for the favicon.ico file but again they may all be the same name.
      My Computers


  3. Posts : 1,871
    W10 pro x64 20H2 Build 19042.610
       #3

    This is something I would dearly like to be able to do as well... but under control of Windows and not using some 3rd party app or software that may cause problems in the future.

    Rayzen... your post is very well written. I would recommend you copy the first paragraph and send it using the 'Feedback' option in Edge to MS as a suggestion. I have suggested this feature already, and so the more they get and the better. The feedback option is found under the 'more' options (just click the three dots in the top right of the browser)
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 17,838
    Windows 10
       #4

      My Computer


  5. Posts : 1,871
    W10 pro x64 20H2 Build 19042.610
       #5

    Edwin, that's great I never even thought of trying something like that tbh, however...... why is there always one of those

    I find that any simple text doesn't render very well when the shortcut is made into a tile as you can see here. The .ico is a 150*150 size and that displays clearly in its own right. When attached to the taskbar they are a little better.

    Can you change the shortcut icons from Edge's to website favicons?-icon.jpg

    Can you change the shortcut icons from Edge's to website favicons?-capture.jpg
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 28
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #6

    Hi Edwin.
    I tried following your excellent YouTube video as carefully as possible, but must have made some kind of mistake, because, when I tried to make the shortcut and got to the point where I put in the location of the item, it gave me the message, "The file C:\ %windows%\explorer.exe.microsoftedge;Google Translate cannot be found."

    Here's what I did. Maybe you could help me, by finding the mistake in my process?

    As you suggested, I went to the 'icon finder' website and located an icon for the 'Google Translate' website that I liked, clicked on "More," then saved it to my desktop as a 'Windows .icon' file. It showed up as expected, and when I checked it by right-clicking on it, then going to "Properties," it showed it as being a '.icon' object, so everything, thus far, looked good.

    Next, after going to File Explorer -> This PC -> Windows (C): -> Windows, I made a folder called "Icons."

    Then I cut & pasted the icon from my desktop into the icon folder which I just made.

    Finally, I right-clicked on my desktop, chose "New," "Shortcut," and there's where my problem arose, because, as stated, I got the message this message: "The file C:\ %windows%\explorer.exe.microsoftedge;Google Translate cannot be found."

    I am not real computer savvy, so my mistake is probably--hopefully--obvious. I tried to follow your YouTube instructions to the letter, after having written them down in a step-by-step fashion, but obviously I screwed up somewhere. Any help you might be able to give me would be greatly appreciated.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 1
    win 7 and win 10
       #7

    Open the site . Click top right three dots Open with Internet explorer. Click on Cog. Add site to Apps Click on Star Add to Favorites. Go to Start screen open the Apps list select the newly added app. Pin to the start. They are better than Edge and sometimes include the site's favicon. At least you don't have a bunch of identical icons. Now Windows please address the issue.
    Everything in this Win 10 OS has to be done several times. I am not a geek and just want a system which works. Thank you to all the experts who give instructions of reconverting the computer with numbers and alphabets very good but I am too old for that just make the system work for goodness sakes. The fact that you hasve to pay for future upgrades from Win 7 etc is a joke.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 1
    Windows 10
       #8

    I had the same issue with shortcuts created by chrome

    What I ended up doing was:
    1. Open the link in firefox
    2. Delete the shortcut
    3. Drag&drop the url from address bar to create a new one - it has the favicon
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 1
    Win 10
       #9

    For build 1909.... this works for me. In Edge, use More Tools to pin the website on the taskbar, the favicon image should also appear with the link. Afterward, the link should also appear in Recent files on the Start Menu. From there you can drag it from the Start menu area on to the desktop resulting with a favicon image for the shortcut using Edge as the browser. Too bad it's three steps (including unpinning the unneeded taskbar icon) but it works.
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 1,604
    Win 10 home 20H2 19042.1110
       #10

    edit

    -bad link-
      My Computers


 

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