Changing the mapped drive ICON

CHANGE A DRIVE ICON (manual method)

Step 1: Identify the new icon for the drive
To prepare for Step #2, you need to know the name of the icon file (ICO) that contains the icon you want to display for the drive. If the icon is contained inside of a program or library, you also need to provide the "index" of the icon inside of the file. Icon indicies are zero-based, meaning the index of the first icon inside of the file is '0', the second icon is '1', and so on. The default icon for a program file is the first icon that it contains, index '0'.

Step 2: Edit the Registry
In this step we'll use the Windows Registry editor, REGEDIT.EXE, to configure the icon to a drive letter. Open the REGEDIT.EXE program - it's located inside the Windows folder, usually C:\WINDOWS.
The Registry Editor looks and behaves much like Windows Explorer. The left pane is used to navigate the keys of the registry, and the right pane displays the information each key contains.

Click on the arrow controls (>) in the left pane to expand the entries and navigate to the following registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Classes

 

At this point we may need to begin creating new keys underneath Classes. The entire path of keys that we need is:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Classes \ Applications \ explorer.exe \ Drives

Expland the Classes key and look for a key named Applications underneath. If it does not exist, right-click on the Classes key and select New > Key. A new key will be created. Enter "Applications" as the name. Now look for, or if necessary, create a key named "explorer.exe" underneath the Applications key. Finally, look for a key named "Drives" under the explorer.exe key - create it if necessary. The registry keys in the left pane should now look like this:

 
Now we're ready to configure a custom icon for any drive letter. Right-click on the Drives key in the left pane and create a new key underneath. Name this key as the letter of the drive you want to customize. I'll use "E" in this example. Finally, create one more new key underneath E, named DefaultIcon. Here's what the key path should look like now:

 
We're almost done! Now, the the right window pane, double-click on the value named "(Default)". An Edit String window will appear. Enter the complete path to your ICO file from Step #1. If the icon is inside a program file or library, add a comma followed by the index of the icon inside the file. For example:

C:\My Icons\E-drive.ico
  or
C:\Windows\system32\imageres.dll,26

The completed configuration should look something like this:
 
All done! If Windows does not immediately display your custom icon for the drive, highlight the drive icon and press F5 to cause a refresh. If the old icon continues to display, check and verify the names of the keys that you created in the registry. If Windows displays a "default" icon, your keys are correct, but Windows cannot locate the icon. In this case, check the path that you entered to the new icon in the (Default) value.



CHANGE A DRIVE ICON (automated, easier method)

If you'd rather not edit the registry manually, there's a much easier way to change a drive icon using a tool named "On Display" from Microangelo. On Display can configure custom icons for many of the default icons that Windows doesn't offer the option to change. Once you've installed On Display you can use the following procedure to change a drive icon:
1.Right-click on the drive icon wherever you see it displayed.
2.Select "Appearance;" from the popup menu. The Appearance dialog is displayed.
3.Click the "Custom" option. A "Change Icon" dialog is displayed, very similar to Windows own Change Icon dialog. Use the controls to browse icons in files and select the new icon.
That's all there is to it. When you click OK to confirm the new icon, On Display makes all configuration changes automatically and notifies Windows so the new icon is immediately displayed.