How to Change the Icon of Removable Drives

Last Updated: June 16, 2021

Does your USB flash drive have a boring, generic icon that you would like to change? Do you want the new icon to show on whatever computer you use, so registry editing is not an option? Using an Autorun file is your solution.

Steps

1
Create your icon, or find one online. A good size is 34 pixels square.
2
Open Notepad to create your Autorun file.

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3
Type [AutoRun] in the first line.
4
Name your drive in the second line: label=Name
5
Specify your icon in the third line: ICON=your-icon-file.ico. If you wanted to call your drive "My USB Drive" with an icon named "myusbdrive.ico"
6
Click File, then Save As. Change the file type to "All" and name it AUTORUN.inf
7
Your autorun.inf file would look like this:
- [AutoRun]
  label=My USB Drive
  ICON=myusbdrive.ico
8
Keep in mind that the ICON name should match the name of the icon you wish to use.
9
Note:
- Depending on the label you choose, and the location of your icon file, you may need to wrap the label and folder names in quotes (") to handle long filenames.
- It has been reported that on some systems your ".INF" file extension may need to be capitalized in order to work.
10
Ensure that both your autorun.inf and any .ico files are in the ROOT of your removable drive, instead of a folder, unless you have specified the correct folder for the icon in your .inf file.
11
Highlight both files. Right click and select properties, set files to "hidden" to hide files from view.

Community Q&A

Question

Does my image have to be a .inf file?

Community Answer

Your image cannot be a .inf file. Your image is saved as .ico.
Question

Is there any way to keep this icon even after the USB is formatted?

ChemGenius

Community Answer

Yes. You would have to temporarily move the autorun file and icon to another drive or computer before formatting.
Question

Does this really work?

Community Answer

Yes, it does. Make sure the icon file you want to use is in the .ico file format and in the autorun.inf file; also, make sure you put "ICON" in all caps. Lastly, make sure everything is spelled correctly and there are no typos.

Warnings

This Autorun.inf file will not work on a drive where Autorun mode is turned off or where an antivirus program can rename or remove it (ex: Autorun.inf.ren).

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Ensure that the icon is saved in the root of the drive, with the autorun file.

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Make sure you save the autorun file as .inf instead of the default .txt.

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This does not work on floppy drives, because they have no Autorun feature.

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