How can I change file icons in Windows 7?

Question

How can I change file icons in Windows 7?

I don't want to use any tools for this purpose - I've tried some registry hacks but they didn't work.

Answer 1

The registry keys are under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT. Your program will need Administrator permissions to be able to modify them.

Every file type registered will have an entry in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, for example .suo. The value of this key will be a more verbose file type, in my example VisualStudio.Launcher.suo. Go to that key and you'll find another key underneath it, DefaultIcon. The value of this key will be the name of the file containing the icon and an index to the proper icon within the file.