How to Change Desktop Shortcut Icons in Windows 95

Windows 95 revolutionized the personal computer experience by introducing the modern desktop interface, complete with customizable shortcut icons. This article explains the exact steps Windows 95 users took to change shortcut icons on their desktops, the system files that provided default icon libraries, and how custom graphics were integrated into the operating system.

Accessing the Shortcut Properties

To customize an icon on the Windows 95 desktop, users interacted directly with the shortcut's property sheet:

  1. Right-Click the Shortcut: Right-clicking any desktop shortcut opened the context menu.
  2. Select Properties: Clicking Properties at the bottom of the menu opened a dialog window containing configuration options for that specific file link.
  3. Navigate to the Shortcut Tab: Within the Properties window, users selected the Shortcut tab located at the top.
  4. Click Change Icon: Near the bottom of the tab, users clicked the Change Icon... button, which opened a secondary browser window displaying available graphical icons.

Selecting From Default Windows Libraries

By default, the "Change Icon" dialog displayed the icons embedded within the target application's executable file (.exe). However, users could browse other system files that housed extensive collections of generic icons.

The most common icon repository was SHELL32.DLL, located in the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. This file contained dozens of classic Windows 95 symbols, including floppy disks, trees, audio cassettes, gears, keys, and network cables. Another popular source was PIFMGR.DLL, which contained colorful icons primarily meant for legacy MS-DOS programs. Users simply typed the path to these files or clicked Browse to view and select from the lists.

Using Custom and Third-Party Icons

Windows 95 also allowed users to use third-party icons created by designers or downloaded from early internet repositories and bulletin board systems (BBS).

  • Standalone Icon Files: Users could load individual graphics files using the .ico format.
  • Icon Libraries: Collections packaged inside .icl (Icon Library) files or dynamic link libraries (.dll) could be opened directly via the Browse button.
  • Executable Extraction: Users could point the shortcut to any other executable program on their hard drive to borrow its embedded graphics.

Once an icon was selected, clicking OK on both the "Change Icon" dialog and the "Properties" window instantly updated the desktop shortcut to display the new image.