Is it possible to change the icon image on a desktop internet shortcut?

Question

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This is not a programming question, it is a usage question.

Dad has a brand new Windows 10 laptop, with EDGE browser.

One thing he wants is to have a couple of web shortcuts on his desktop (bank, facebook, wordpress).

(edit) The icon I want to use is the web site FAVICON.

I did not try with Chrome or Firefox.

Thanks.

Max.

What I have tried:

I was able to create a shortcut (right-click on desktop -> New > Shortcut ), but the icon is plain white. (same behaviour on Windows 7)

(I'm not in front of a Win 10 machine right now)
I tried dragging the link from Windows EDGE to the desktop and if I remember correctly it did not work or there was no way to do this (??).

Another I did (Windows 7) If I drag the site link (codeproject.com) from Chrome to the desktop I get the chrome icon and not the codeproject favicon.

Posted 21-Jun-16 4:47am

Maximilien

Updated 21-Jun-16 7:17am

v2

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Richard Deeming 21-Jun-16 11:27am

Does this have anything to do with writing code?

Try right-clicking on the shortcut file, and then clicking the "Change icon" button.

Maximilien 21-Jun-16 12:46pm

it is a usage question, not a programming question.( AFAIK, dad does not program).

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 21-Jun-16 11:37am

Sorry, this is off-topic, unless you need to do it programmatically.
Is it about .lnk files?
—SA

2 solutions

Solution 1

It's pretty simple:
1) Copy the URL to the clipboard
2) Right click the desktop and select "New...Shortcut".
3) In the dialog, paste the URL into the text box, and press "Next"
4) Give it a sensible name, and click "Finish"
5) Right click the shortcut, and select "Properties"
6) Click the "Change Icon..." button.
7) Click the "Browse" button.
8) Paste this into the "File Name" area: "%systemroot%\system32\imageres.dll" and click "Open".
9) Select an icon and press "OK" twice.

But...a better idea is to make them visible in Edge:
1) In Edge open the website.
2) On the right hand side of the address bar is a hollow star: click it.
3) This will ask you for a name. Type something sensible, like "Bank".
4) Make sure it says "Favourites bar" in the drop down below it, and click "Add".
5) Click the "..." a the top right of the page, and choose "Settings"
6) Click "View favourites settings"
7) Turn on "Show the favourites bar".
Now they will appear in a list at the top of the Edge screen.
Which means the desktop doesn't get so cluttered!

Posted 21-Jun-16 6:14am

OriginalGriff

Comments

Maximilien 21-Jun-16 12:50pm

But I cannot get the web site favicon ? I can't see my dad do this if he wants to.

OriginalGriff 21-Jun-16 13:43pm

You could do it in IE, and you can still do it in Chrome...but Edge is a cut down pile of junk! :laugh:
Which gives me a "cheat" idea...
1) Install Chrome. You don't have to make it the default browser.
2) Navigate to the bank webpage.
3) Click the "three horizontal bars" in the top right corner, just below the close box.
4) Select "More Tools...Add to desktop"
5) Look at the desktop and you have a shortcut, with the "right" icon.
6) Right click it, and select "Properties"
7) In the "Target" textbox, remove everything but the URL.
8) Click OK.
You should now have a shortcut with the right icon which will open in the current default browser. So Edge will open it once Chrome created it.

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Richard Deeming · Accepted Answer · 2016-06-21T07:17:00

Edge is a pain. As far as I can see, there's no way to drag the site on to the desktop to make a shortcut. There is a "Pin this page to Start" option, but that seems to use a generic icon, and dragging it to the desktop gives it a generic title as well.

IE11 is better. If you drag from the address bar to the desktop, it seems to create a shortcut with the correct icon and title. Depending on the site configuration, it might even update the navigation buttons to match the main colour of the site's icon.

Firefox lets you drag from the little "i" symbol next to the URL to create a shortcut on the desktop. It uses the title of the page, and almost gets the icon right. The only problem is that the icon is tiny, and embedded within a generic white "document" icon.

Chrome lets you drag from the little padlock icon next to the URL. It uses the title and site icon correctly.

Opera doesn't seem to let you drag to the desktop at all.

Those are all the browsers I've been able to test with. :)

Windows 10 x64 build 1511