Change Folder Background in Windows XP

By
Noumaan Yaqoob
– September 5, 2008Posted in: HowTo, tips, windows xp
Share This:     

Ever wanted to change background of image of some folders when you viewed them in your file browser? There is a simple hack available to do this.

CAUTION:
Easy life takes no responsibility if this method doesn’t work as expected or causes any damage to your computer or data so try at your own risk.

First Step:

  • Open Explorer window and go to folder you want to customize.
  • Click on Tools > Folder Options
  • In the View tab under Advanced Settings check the radio button that says Show hidden files and folders.
    Folder options dialog box in windows xp

    Folder options dialog box in windows xp

  • Click Apply and then Ok.

Second Step:

  1. Now in the folder, right click and select Properties.
  2. Properties dialog box would appear. Click on Customize tab there under customize menu click on Change icon button and select an icon for your folder. Press Ok.

Third Step:

  1. Previous process should have created a “desktop.ini” file in your folder.
  2. Sometimes this file remain invisible so if you can’t see it don’t worry it is there.
  3. Open this file with Notepad if the file is invisible go to folder and manually type desktop.ini in the filename field to open it.
  4. Add these lines of code in your “desktop. ini” file

    [ExtShellFolderViews]
    {BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}={BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}
    [{BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}]
    IconArea_Image=C:\Windows\Greenstone.bmp
  5. In this code line IconArea_image tells your explorer window to display a background image. In this example we are using Greentone.bmp you can change it with your image and provide the path to that image.
  6. Save “desktop.ini” file.
  7. Refresh the folder.

Now u can see your favorite image in your desktop background.

Share This Post:     
Did you find this post useful? Say hello to @EasyLifeTips on Twitter, or catch us on Facebook.
Tags: , , ,

About Noumaan Yaqoob

Noumaan Yaqoob is a blogger, writer, social media expert. You can follow him on Twitter, or add him to a circle in Google Plus.