I need an inexpensive way to organize my NETWORK folders. So what I am looking for is a way to change the color of my network folders. To color coordinate if you will. This must be a stand along product, inexpensive that I can use from my desktop. Whatever changes I make to our network folders must be represented on the network shares so that folks can -place their files where they belong.
One last thing, it should be future proof, with the advent of Windows 7 and all.
Thank you.
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I tried that product and it hangs when I try to make changes with the PRO version to the network folders. I am using the free version. I dont want to commit to the paid version until I know it works. However I dont think it will. I am not a network admin. However we do have unlimited access to this particular share.
We have much mess in this shared folder and we need color coordination. Any other ideas?
Thank you.
I'm not sure if this can be done on "other client computers" from your desktop
but in order to achieve this you need a theme.dll on your desktop, there is visual styles and themes.
for example I use xp styler with an added plugin Icons I can change the folders colours per icon packs by removing specific folders icons and adding new folders icons colours from diferent packs into the particular visual style of my preferences, I do this wihtin xpstyler interface then save that as a theme.
Snapshot included
http://www.tgtsoft.com/ind
http://www.tgtsoft.com/
It's around 19.00 Dollars Australian a year to use it
There is also Stardock/Object Desktop free versions/ it has very good icon packages which I bought and added to XP styler
http://www.stardock.com/pr
http://www.stardock.com/
Hope it assists you
XP styler interface
OK, here's an idea that may be so simple it has been overlooked.
In Windows XP, when you Right-Click on a folder and choose "Properties", there is a "Customize" tab in which the user can click a "change icon" button and browse to a file containing icons. You can do exactly the same by creating a new shortcut, opening the properties, and clicking the "Change Icon" button.
Icon files (or more correctly "icon groups") can be Icon files (*.ico), DLL files, EXE files, and some other types that contain icons in their internal resources. Notice in Merete's screenshot of his suggested program that it shows an "Icon Shell Size" field with 16, 32, 48, 64, 96, and 128. These are the standard icon sizes, and equate to 16x16 pixels, 32x32 pixels, ... way up to large icons at 128x128 pixels. An "icon group" will have several different sizes of icons packed into it.
These different icons are used depending on how the folder or file is showing. For example, in Windows Explorer "details" view a much smaller icon will show for the file or folder than for the same item sitting on the Desktop, where the larger icon from within the group is used. This is automatic and doesn't need to be specified anywhere.
OK, so back to the "Customize > Change Icon" option for a Folder. What this does (in XP anyway, I don't know about Vista), is create a hidden "Desktop.ini" file in the folder telling it where the icon resource is. If the resource contains more than one icon group, as is the case with most DLL and EXE files, then the Desktop.ini file will tell it the Index number of the icon group to use. It's important to remember that indexing starts from Zero and not 1.
Let me show you an example.
Create a new folder C:\_TEST.
Create a new text file in it using Notepad containing the following contents:
[.ShellClassInfo]
IconFile=%SystemRoot%\syst
IconIndex=27
Save it and rename as Desktop.ini, then Right-Click > Properties and set it as Hidden.
Refresh Windows Explorer. Sometimes F5 works, but more often you have to close and reopen Windows Explorer.
The folder should now have the icon used in the Start Menu > Turn Off Computer.
Exactly the same could be achieved using the Right-Click > Properties > Customize Change Icon option, and then browsing to the file "Shell32.dll". Look at my first screenshot of this in action. The icon index number is found by counting from the top left, down the first column, then down the next column, etc. You will notice that the icon I chose is number 28 if you started at 1, but is 27 if you correctly started at Zero.
It's very simple really, and the free "Folder Marker" program works exactly like this. Instead of using EXE or DLL files, Folder Marker uses "Icon Library" fiiles (*.ICL) that it installs to its own program folder. For example, if I used Folder Marker (Right-Click > Mark Folder > More Icons > "Main" tab) to change my new folder's icon to the one with the horizontal gradient red and a red arrow that points upwards, the Desktop.ini file in that folder would be:
[.ShellClassInfo]
IconFile=C:\Program Files\Folder Marker\icl\Main.icl
IconIndex=0
The program refers to this icon as "High Priority" also.
If you were to open Main.ICL in a program that allows you to see all the icons in that Library, you would see that The Index of Zero there is a small icon and a larger one, ie. one for list or details view, and the other for icon view or on the desktop. You really need a larger range of icon pixel sizes, but these can be found in other icon resource files.
OK, so you may wonder how that would work for folders that users view over a network from a server. Well, that's something I cannot answer for sure because I don't have immediate access to any networked computers, but here is the theory.
The Desktop.ini file accepts "relative" paths as well as "absolute" paths.
Taking the Desktop.ini file created by Folder Marker as an example:
IconFile=C:\Program Files\Folder Marker\icl\Main.icl
That is an absolute path, and can be changed to:
IconFile=..\Program Files\Folder Marker\icl\Main.icl
The ..\ just tells it to step back up one level from the *.ini file. In this case that is just back to the root of the drive where it is located, and then go forward through the rest of the declared path to find the *.ICL file.
If you were to place a copy of "Main.icl" in the root of the drive containing the "_TEST" folder and change the Desktop.ini file in that folder to:
IconFile=..\Main.icl
Then it works just the same. That's a "relative path" that doesn't need to have the drive letter declared. If you moved the "_TEST" folder down a level, eg. C:\Master_Folder\_TEST, then you could still have the Desktop.ini file find the *.ICL in the root of the drive by changing it to:
IconFile=..\..\Main.icl
Now this is where my theory may be worth testing to see whether the presence of a Desktop.ini file in a folder on a server will display to a user an icon in the root of the server's drive, even though the drive letter of that network drive may differ between users accessing it.
To test this you would need one or more good icon libraries to drop into the root of the server's drive, but it would be fine for testing purposes just to use the *.ICL files from the Folder Marker program and just take a note of the Index numbers of each icon in them as a reference for your *.ini file. Once copied out, you can just reset all the local folders you tested with Folder Marker and then uninstall it.
For example, you could copy "Shell32.dll" into the root of the server drive and rename it as something like "Icons.dll". It's probably better setting it to the Hidden attribute also. A program like Microangelo would allow you to see all the icons in the DLL file, or you could use the "Change Icon" button in the properties of a Windows shortcut to browse to the renamed DLL and take a note of the usable icons' Index numbers.
The free program "Resource Hacker" also allows you to see Icon Groups and save them out as *.ICO files:
http://angusj.com/resource
The 2nd screenshot shows the file C:\Net_Icons.dll opened to "Icon Group > 3 > 1033" to show the individual icons inside icon Index Number 3. This is C:\Windows\System32\Netshe
This Desktop.ini file in the folder C:\_TEST:
[.ShellClassInfo]
IconFile=..\Net_Icons.dll
IconIndex=3
would display one of the "ordinals" from Icon Index number 3 in my C:\Net_Icons.dll that was most suited to my Windows Explorer "View" settings at the time.
By just changing the "IconIndex=" value to 1, 2, 4, or 5, you have some usable icons. In that DLL file, the icons in the icon index numbers above 5 aren't suitable, but this is just a demonstration example.
If this doesn't work in a Network environment, then it doesn't work, but it's so simple that it would be a shame not to just test it and see.
Customizing a folder to show a different icon in XP.
The icon resources in the Windows XP file "netshell.dll"
You could simply use the desktop.ini file, create your own colour coded icons and assign them to your folders.
That way they will appear the way you want for everyone viewing them.
Resources on desktop.ini creation here:
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/
http://www.xs4all.nl/~hwie
http://msdn.microsoft.com/
Hi angelIII
Although authen-tech, Merete, and I all gave some potential solutions, the problem was that none of us were either in the position to test the theories in a network environment or did not want to risk messing around with workstations and servers. So in the end, we simply don't know if our suggestions WOULD have worked. I would have been most pleased if my "relative path" theory for Desktop.ini files could have been tested, but we'll never know.
I'm not too bothered about the points really, but I thought there was some quite good information in here, although untested.
Suggestions anyone else?
Points split of 125 points?
Thankyou BillDL, I do agree at least it will stay in the knowledgbase
With no feedback or updates of any progress from ralphtricoche
this question is left hanging.
But good advise was given and I know they will produce the desired outcome on his system
However the users will not see the same folders icons in my humble opinion unless they have the same theme.dll used on their folders. When I access another system here via a network the folders do not look like mine using the xp styler Icons Blue
Regards Merete
angelIII
In view of the fact that Merete has tested his suggested "XP Styler" program unsuccessfully in a network setting, I think I'm going to be greedy here and ask for you to accept my comment ID:24772796 as the answer and split the points with demazter's comment ID:24780780.
Here's my reasons.
In my comment I stated that "The Desktop.ini file accepts 'relative' paths as well as 'absolute' paths." In my exploration of this with examples, I slightly missed the fact that a single icon in EACH of the folders on the server would do the trick, but essentially my information was good and a little experimenting should have confirmed this had Ralph tested it.
I prefer explaining things myself rather than just providing links, but in the last of demazter's links:
http://msdn.microsof
If you look under the "Creating a Desktop.ini File" section, Table entry "IconFile", you will see confirmation of my statement about relative paths:
Quote:
"If you want to specify a custom icon for the folder, set this entry to the icon's file name. blah, blah. If you use a relative path, the icon is available to people who view the folder over the network. Blah, blah."
That seems to be confirmation "from the hoses mouth" so to speak
The example Desktop.ini file given at the bottom of that page shows that the icon in the SAME folder as the Desktop.ini file should then be visible to users opening this folder from another computer in a networked environment.
[.ShellClassIn
fo]
ConfirmFileOp=0
NoSharing=1
IconFile=Fo lder.ico
IconIndex=0
InfoTip=Som e sensible information.
Hmmm. I'm arguing over a 125 points split between two? That's sad :-)
Bill
Business Accounts
Answer for Membership
by: authen-techPosted on 2009-06-11 at 13:49:23ID: 24606733
try http://www.kishan.info/fol