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#16
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Changing a filetypes icon - adding a"shortcut" like mini-icon
"Ed Cryer" wrote
| Do you mean "an icon pointing to another icon"? And, if so, how does | your mew .ovl extension fit into this schematic? | | As far as I can work out, you can't have an icon pointing to an icon. | Windows isn't built for that. | | In this situation you'd be well advised to delineate what you're trying | to do more explicitly. | Find an EXE file. Right-drag it. Select Create Shortcut Here. See how it's the same icon but now has a black/white arrow in the corner? That's the shortcut icon, which can be changed because it actually is an icon, overlayed on top of the shortcut icon. In other words, Fireefox.exe doesn't have a shortcut icon inside it. A shortcut is made by using the Firefox icon and then adding the system icon shortcut. (On my system, for example, I have a small turquoise up arrow on shortcuts. I find the system version looks garrish.) |
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#17
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Changing a filetypes icon - adding a"shortcut" like mini-icon
On Fri, 30 Oct 2020 11:35:11 +0100, R.Wieser wrote:
Hello all, I would like to know if its possible, thru changes in the registry, to change a filetypes icon. No, not just change the icon itself, but to either : Add a shortcut-like mini-icon into one of the other corners -or- Change the filetypes icon to a fixed one, but display the files own icon as a min-icon in one of the corners. If you wonder what its for, I intend to create an ".ovl" (overlay) filetype (for likely a simple executable or DLL), and want be able to see at a glance that 1) its an overlay 2) which program its for (displaying that or its own resource icon). Does anyone have an idea ? I've already looked in the registry to how it workss for an actual shortcut, but that didn't give me the clue(s) I needed. Regards, Rudy Wieser If by modifying the registry only, that'll be a no. The small-arrow overlay icon which is displayed for *.lnk shortcut files is a predefined feature (including predefined icon). As Mayayana have mentioned, that small-arrow overlay icon can be enabled using the `IsShortcut` registry value. However, while it can be applied to any file type, the associated application icon failed to be shown because that predefined feature requires a Shell Icon Extension. The `DefaultIcon` registry value is not used in this case, because the base icon depends on the linked file type (thus, can not be fixed). Aside for offline files, Windows has one built in specifically for *.lnk files, and it won't work for any other file type. For custom icon overlays, it's only possible using Shell Icon Overlay Extensions - which are listed under below registry key (long text warning). HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Explorer\ShellIconOverlayIdentifiers |
#18
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Changing a filetypes icon - adding a"shortcut" like mini-icon
JJ,
If by modifying the registry only, that'll be a no. Drats! As Mayayana have mentioned, that small-arrow overlay icon can be enabled using the `IsShortcut` registry value. Yep. However ... the associated application icon failed to be shown because that predefined feature requires a Shell Icon Extension I had a bit of a brainfart and created the two registry entries for a filetype (".aaa" and "aaafile"), added "IsShortcut" to the latter, took my cue from the "exefile" registry entry and also added a "defaulticon" key with @="%1". The result is that both an executable and a dll with resource icon renamed to .aaa still show their seperate icons - together with the shortcut overlay icon ofcourse. IOW, for just the showing of the associated application icon the Shell Icon Extension does not seem to be needed. For custom icon overlays, it's only possible using Shell Icon Overlay Extensions - which are listed under below registry key (long text warning). Yup, that is what I also arrived at (took a hint from the "lnkfile" registry entries "iconhandler" key and googled my way thru). Maybe I'll try to create one of them. Not sure if its worth the trouble ... Regards, Rudy Wieser |
#19
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Changing a filetypes icon - adding a"shortcut" like mini-icon
Mayayana wrote:
"Ed Cryer" wrote | Do you mean "an icon pointing to another icon"? And, if so, how does | your mew .ovl extension fit into this schematic? | | As far as I can work out, you can't have an icon pointing to an icon. | Windows isn't built for that. | | In this situation you'd be well advised to delineate what you're trying | to do more explicitly. | Find an EXE file. Right-drag it. Select Create Shortcut Here. See how it's the same icon but now has a black/white arrow in the corner? That's the shortcut icon, which can be changed because it actually is an icon, overlayed on top of the shortcut icon. In other words, Fireefox.exe doesn't have a shortcut icon inside it. A shortcut is made by using the Firefox icon and then adding the system icon shortcut. (On my system, for example, I have a small turquoise up arrow on shortcuts. I find the system version looks garrish.) That is quite brilliantly explained, man. You have a high talent for clear exposition. Thank you. Ed |
#20
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Changing a filetypes icon - adding a"shortcut" like mini-icon
R.Wieser wrote:
Ed, Do you mean "an icon pointing to another icon"? Huh? No. Take look at a shortcut. See that it shows the icon of the file its a shortcut for *but also* an overlay-icon that looks like a small white rectangle with a bend black arrow in the lower-left corner ? That is what I'm after - to add such an overlay icon for an .ovl filetype. In this situation you'd be well advised to delineate what you're trying to do more explicitly. :-) I can do my stinking best in trying to explain what I'm after and making direct references to something similar (a shortcut), but I can't understand it for you I'm afraid. I from my position have absolutily /no/ idea how you could come to a "do you perhaps mean an icon pointing to another icon?". An icon simply /can't/ point anywhere - other than by showing an arrow of some kind. And that only means something to a human. Regards, Rudy Wieser Ah, light dawns. Well, you can certainly remove the little arrow, and even put it back again, using Ultimate Windows Tweaker, or with a regedit as explained here; https://www.windowscentral.com/how-g...ows-windows-10 But to go further you’d have to tinker with Windows core, and that would create more problems than benefits. Any future change, any update, would be in danger of failing, and, at best, would simply wipe out your change. Do some lateral thinking. Backtrack on your problem and look for other avenues of approach. -- Ed |
#21
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Changing a filetypes icon - adding a"shortcut" like mini-icon
"R.Wieser" wrote
| Maybe I'll try to create one of them. Not sure if its worth the trouble .... | I didn't know about those. Looking in 1998 and Win7 MSDN I don't find any mention of them. But I had one registered on my XP box -- Client Side Caching UI - cscui.dll. I had disabled it in Autoruns. I don't remember why. But I do like to disable unnecessary crap that MS likes to add. (I still find myself disabling Windows Media Player Launcher and Windows Messenger even though I removed them many years ago.) It's a COM shell extension that does things like putting a lock overlay on restricted folders -- specialty uses. Companies like Dropbox also use them. It's not clear to me whether they can be used on files vs folders. And there can only be a few icons added. I have't found an MSDN page or source code sample for the DLL. You'd need to work out the required interfaces, write a DLL corresponding to the bitness of the system, register it, then be ready to act when the system calls you for a relevant icon scenario. And I suspect on newer systems you might need to have your DLL signed. I have an O'Reilly shell programming book from 2000 and it has no mention of these extensions. Maybe MS never intended for 3rd parties to use them. I don't know. In any case, a lot of work for little gain. |
#22
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Changing a filetypes icon - adding a"shortcut" like mini-icon
On 10/31/20 6:47 AM, this is what Ed Cryer wrote:
Mayayana wrote: "Ed Cryer" wrote | Do you mean "an icon pointing to another icon"? And, if so, how does | your mew .ovl extension fit into this schematic? | | As far as I can work out, you can't have an icon pointing to an icon. | Windows isn't built for that. | | In this situation you'd be well advised to delineate what you're trying | to do more explicitly. | Â* Find an EXE file. Right-drag it. Select Create Shortcut Here. See how it's the same icon but now has a black/white arrow in the corner? That's the shortcut icon, which can be changed because it actually is an icon, overlayed on top of the shortcut icon. In other words, Fireefox.exe doesn't have a shortcut icon inside it. A shortcut is made by using the Firefox icon and then adding the system icon shortcut. (On my system, for example, I have a small turquoise up arrow on shortcuts. I find the system version looks garrish.) That is quite brilliantly explained, man. You have a high talent for clear exposition. Thank you. Ed Can you give us directions how you changed that arrow overlay? I like the idea. I'd probably put a yellow * instead but that's user pref. Al -- Linux Mint 19.3 64bit, Dell Inspiron 5570, Quad Core i7-8550U |
#23
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Changing a filetypes icon - adding a"shortcut" like mini-icon
Big Al wrote:
On 10/31/20 6:47 AM, this is what Ed Cryer wrote: Mayayana wrote: "Ed Cryer" wrote | Do you mean "an icon pointing to another icon"? And, if so, how does | your mew .ovl extension fit into this schematic? | | As far as I can work out, you can't have an icon pointing to an icon. | Windows isn't built for that. | | In this situation you'd be well advised to delineate what you're trying | to do more explicitly. | Â* Find an EXE file. Right-drag it. Select Create Shortcut Here. See how it's the same icon but now has a black/white arrow in the corner? That's the shortcut icon, which can be changed because it actually is an icon, overlayed on top of the shortcut icon. In other words, Fireefox.exe doesn't have a shortcut icon inside it. A shortcut is made by using the Firefox icon and then adding the system icon shortcut. (On my system, for example, I have a small turquoise up arrow on shortcuts. I find the system version looks garrish.) That is quite brilliantly explained, man. You have a high talent for clear exposition. Thank you. Ed Can you give us directions how you changed that arrow overlay?Â* I like the idea.Â* I'd probably put a yellow * instead but that's user pref. Al Windows is a hard-coded OS, which reads a file of system variables which we call the "registry". We the users can tweak the variables, but not the hard-coding. I strongly suspect that the little arrow isn't a system variable. If it were we'd find it tweakable in Ultimate Tweaker or Winaero Tweaker. It is, of course, a variable as to whether it be on or off. If anybody knows better, if they can find that little arrow in the registry, then let us know; because then it would be tweakable with regedit. Ed |
#24
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Changing a filetypes icon - adding a"shortcut" like mini-icon
Ed Cryer wrote:
Big Al wrote: On 10/31/20 6:47 AM, this is what Ed Cryer wrote: Mayayana wrote: "Ed Cryer" wrote | Do you mean "an icon pointing to another icon"? And, if so, how does | your mew .ovl extension fit into this schematic? | | As far as I can work out, you can't have an icon pointing to an icon. | Windows isn't built for that. | | In this situation you'd be well advised to delineate what you're trying | to do more explicitly. | Â* Find an EXE file. Right-drag it. Select Create Shortcut Here. See how it's the same icon but now has a black/white arrow in the corner? That's the shortcut icon, which can be changed because it actually is an icon, overlayed on top of the shortcut icon. In other words, Fireefox.exe doesn't have a shortcut icon inside it. A shortcut is made by using the Firefox icon and then adding the system icon shortcut. (On my system, for example, I have a small turquoise up arrow on shortcuts. I find the system version looks garrish.) That is quite brilliantly explained, man. You have a high talent for clear exposition. Thank you. Ed Can you give us directions how you changed that arrow overlay?Â* I like the idea.Â* I'd probably put a yellow * instead but that's user pref. Al Windows is a hard-coded OS, which reads a file of system variables which we call the "registry". We the users can tweak the variables, but not the hard-coding. I strongly suspect that the little arrow isn't a system variable. If it were we'd find it tweakable in Ultimate Tweaker or Winaero Tweaker. It is, of course, a variable as to whether it be on or off. If anybody knows better, if they can find that little arrow in the registry, then let us know; because then it would be tweakable with regedit. Ed Or even in one of the link libraries, where it could be changed or replaced. Ed |
#25
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Changing a filetypes icon - adding a"shortcut" like mini-icon
"Big Al" wrote
| Can you give us directions how you changed that arrow overlay? I like the idea. I'd probably put a yellow * instead but that's user pref. | Was that intended for me? See below. The easy way, designed for XP but not tested on Win7: https://www.jsware.net/jsware/xpfix.php5#xpico To do it by hand.... Registry key: Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer \Shell Icons\ Create values if they don't exist: "29" and "30" (Removing the values will cause the default to return.) Data for those values should be like so: C:\NewIconsFolder\shortcut.ico,0 The 0 indicates the first icon in the file or library. An ICO file can contain multiple icons. The Refresh button in the icon changer program uses a common method to make the new setting show. Windows has been inconsistent over the years with how/if it updates settings. They should take with a reboot. What the Refresh button does is to change the icon size in HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics\ by 1 pixel. It then calls SendMessageTimeout to send a broadcast message to the system that a setting has been changed. Then it changes the setting back and makes the same call again. It's like what happens when you close a settings window for similar settings. You see the desktop/Explorer refresh the display. The Refresh button can also be used to force Windows to repair faulty display. CAVEAT: On XP, at least, such a refresh will cause desktop icons to line up on the left. There's a warning in the program. Microsoft like to break things when anyone tries to customize. I use Icon Restore to save the desktop layout and restore it. I don't know if there's a Win7 equivalent. What you might be able to do on Win7 is to change something else, like the disk icon, then change it back, in order to make Windows update the display. I've used a 32x32 16-bit icon for the shortcut arrow. You might need to play around if your icons are not showing at 32x32. There's also a script-based icon extractor he https://www.jsware.net/jsware/scrfiles.php5#iconextr It will extract icons from any PE file. It's perfectly safe to use. There are VBS scripts that read the PE file bytes directly, parsing the header to find the resource section and then find any icons stored there. The icons are stored as icon images and mask images. The script copies the bytes for each icon, creates an ICO file header accordingly, puts those together, and writes it to disk. There's no writing or editing to the PE file. Any EXE, DLL, etc can have icons. The system icons are in a few places, with many in shell32.dll. Both downloads include explanatory readme files. |
#26
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Changing a filetypes icon - adding a"shortcut" like mini-icon
Ed,
Ah, light dawns. Well, you can certainly remove the little arrow, and even put it back again, Changing the existing shortcut and/or its overlay icon was and/or is not what I'm after. But to go further you'd have to tinker with Windows core, and that would create more problems than benefits. I've made a few changes to (the supporting files to) the OS myself. Just to see if I could. Can't remember that it ever went bad. Any future change, any update, would be in danger of failing, and, at best, would simply wipe out your change. :-) You seem to be suggesting to do absolutily nothing so that failure is impossible and make nothing so it cannot become obsolete either. Are you ? I hope not. Do some lateral thinking. Backtrack on your problem and look for other avenues of approach. While I'm open to other avenues (if you have them do not hesitate to mention them), I tend to do a thorough search of the direction I've chosen*. Nothing is as infuriating as throwing your hands up in defeat, only to be shown that the exit of the dungeon was just another left from where you started to walk back. :-) *funnily enough that often turns up possible other avenues that I was not aware of. Regards, Rudy Wieser |
#27
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Changing a filetypes icon - adding a"shortcut" like mini-icon
Mayayana,
But I had one registered on my XP box -- Client Side Caching UI - cscui.dll. JJ mentioned the registry key where those extensions are "kept", and from there I found the same DLL. I've been pulling it thru a disassembler to see if I could spot some easy knowledge, but its going to take a while longer. In any case, a lot of work for little gain. Yep, that was what my "Not sure if its worth the trouble" was about (I already found some stuff talking about it in a rather global way). But it looks like I simply could not help myself, and already set the first steps. :-) Not sure if I will be able to successfully write one though. As you said, pertinent information about it is hard to find. -| Regards, Rudy Wieser |
#28
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Changing a filetypes icon - adding a"shortcut" like mini-icon
Al,
Can you give us directions how you changed that arrow overlay? I like the idea. I'd probably put a yellow * instead but that's user pref. You aimed you message at the wrong person. Mayayana did the explanation. It works the same way for both XP and Win7. See "option two" and Nosmo's post at the end he https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...e-restore.html If the "Shell icons" key does not exist, create it as well as the "29" string-value. You use any icon you like. In shell32.dll or another DLL or executable or even a stand-alone icon. Regards, Rudy Wieser |
#29
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Changing a filetypes icon - adding a"shortcut" like mini-icon
"R.Wieser" wrote
| | If the "Shell icons" key does not exist, create it as well as the "29" | string-value. That should work, but in the past there have been two shortcut icons. That's why I also set 30. It may be extinct now, but it doesn't hurt to do both. |
#30
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Changing a filetypes icon - adding a"shortcut" like mini-icon
Mayayana,
| If the "Shell icons" key does not exist, create it as well as the | "29" string-value. That should work, but in the past there have been two shortcut icons. That's why I also set 30. It may be extinct now, but it doesn't hurt to do both. To be honest, I took my cue from the website I posted the link to. I tested the "29" entry on XP and saw the change on a shortcut-to-file. Can you tell me what the "30" entry icon is intended for ? Folders perhaps ? Regards, Rudy Wieser |
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