Customizing a Folder in Windows XP

[her209]

In Windows 2000 you can select to change the color and background of an individual folder.

I'm trying to do the same thing but am unsuccessful. Any help?

Thanks.

 

[spyordie007]

you know, I thought I knew how to do it and I was going to post so I went to a folder and tried to give it a background and found that it is way differant than 2000, anyone know how to do this?

 

[ChunkiMunki]

Try here Background Wizard. This app is kinda clunky to use but it works without having to edit .ini files.

 

[her209]

Actually I've found how to do it manually if you had made em earlier in Windows 2000/98.

Use xcopy /a to copy an existing Folder Settings and desktop.ini. You would then rename the image file to Background.jpg and xcopy that into the Folder Settings of the directory where you want the picture to show up as the background. If you need to change the color of the text in that folder, then you will have to edit the desktop.ini within that folder.

One side effect I've found so far is that if you make a shortcut to that directory, sometimes it doesn't show up. But if you are navigating through the explorer (i.e. My Computer, C:, My Cool Folder, etc) it will always show up.

 

[resinboy]

how about clicking the folder, select View/ customize this folder??

Resinboy

 

[spyordie007]

<< how about clicking the folder, select View/ customize this folder??

Resinboy >>


Because that let's you set a picture on the folder (from within explorer) however does not allow you to set the background picture.

-Spy

 

[resinboy]

what pisses me off is I did it to several folders, and I can't figure out how the hell I did it 🙂

Resinboy

 

[her209]

are you sure you are doing it in win xp ? it seems microsoft has taken out this feature.

however, if you had customized folders in windows 2000 or 98 and then upgraded, the backgrounds still show up fine in xp. just that you cannot customize new ones (under xp).

 

[resinboy]

here's the pic:HERE

This was with a clean install of XP- not an upgrade.

Resinboy

 

[spyordie007]

<< here's the pic:HERE

This was with a clean install of XP- not an upgrade.

Resinboy >>


Resinboy, your job is to find out how the hell you did it! That bothers me now, I wouldnt have really cared otherwise... but now I must know!

-spy

 

[UncleBastard]

Using this method for some reason I can't get it to work if I create a new folder on the desktop but it works in the my documents folder so first try this in there to see if you can get it to work.


Go into your my documents folder and right click. Hit create a new text document. Rename the new text document to desktop.ini

Open this new file and paste this into it:

[ExtShellFolderViews]
{BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}={BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}
[{BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}]
IconArea_Image=C:\path to your picture\whatever.jpg

Then save. Close my documents and then reopen it. You should have a picture in the background.

 

[UncleBastard]

Here is a better way that will let you add a picture for any folder background. Create a new folder somewhere. Right click on the folder and hit properties. Then hit customize and change its icon. This will automatically create a desktop.ini file inside the folder. Open the folder, then open the desktop.ini file and paste this into it:



[ExtShellFolderViews]
{BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}={BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}
[{BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}]
IconArea_Image=C:\path to your picture\whatever.jpg

Then save, close folder, and reopen it. Also to be able to see the desktop.ini you can't have any of the hidden file options checked in the folder options.

 

[UncleBastard]

Did it work for anyone?