How to Customize the Contacts Folder Icon in Windows

The Contacts folder is a shell folder that can be relocated like any other shell folder like Documents, Music, Pictures, etc. However, unlike other shell folders, the Contacts folder doesn’t have a “Customize” tab in the property sheet. You may be wondering how to change the Contacts folder icon.

We’ll see how to customize the Contacts folder icon in all versions of Windows, including Windows 10 and 11.

Customize the Contacts Folder Icon in Windows

There are two ways you can customize the Contacts folder icon. The first method is to flip a registry value, so the “Customize” tab is visible in the Contacts folder properties. The second method is the Desktop.ini method.

Method 1: Enable the Customize tab using the registry

1. Start the Registry Editor by running regedit.exe.
2. Go to the following key:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderDescriptions\{56784854-C6CB-462B-8169-88E350ACB882}\PropertyBag

3. Double-click NoCustomize and set it to 0.
4. Exit the Registry Editor.
5. Open your Contacts folder only via the File Explorer navigation pane, not directly.
   
6. Right-click on the Contacts folder and choose Properties.
   
7. You should see the Customize tab. Click “Change icon” and select your custom resource (.ico or .dll) file.
   
8. Click Apply, and click OK.

Important: In Step 5, you must use the Explorer navigation pane to switch to the folder instead of accessing the folder path directly. Or else the “Change icon” option would be missing.

Contacts folder icons – Before and after.

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Method 2: Customize the icon manually using Desktop.ini

1. Find the Contacts folder path, just in case it’s relocated. To do so, open your C:\Users\USERNAME folder, right-click Contacts, and click Properties.
2. Click the Location tab and note down the folder path.
3. Right-click Start, Run.
4. Type the following:

   notepad.exe PATH_TO_CONTACTS_FOLDER\desktop.ini

   Example:

   notepad.exe C:\Users\Ramesh\Contacts\desktop.ini

Case 1: If the Desktop.ini file opens:

5. Replace the following line in the desktop.ini file:

   IconResource=%SystemRoot%\system32\imageres.dll,-181

   With the following (pointing to your custom icon – include the trailing “,0” as mentioned)

   IconResource=D:\Icons\contacts.ico,0

6. Save the file.

Case 2: If the Desktop.ini file is missing:

5. If you see the following prompt when opening Desktop.ini using Notepad, click Yes:

   Cannot find the C:\Users\USERNAME\contacts\desktop.ini file.
   
   Do you want to create a new file?

6. Then, paste the following lines into the file and save it.

   [.ShellClassInfo] 
   LocalizedResourceName=@%CommonProgramFiles%\system\wab32res.dll,-10100 
   InfoTip=@%CommonProgramFiles%\system\wab32res.dll,-10200 
   IconResource=D:\Icons\contacts.ico,0
   [ViewState] 
   Mode= 
   Vid= 
   FolderType=Contacts

   Note: The path “D:\Icons\contacts.ico” is used as an example. Please use the correct IconResource path (including the trailing ,0) in desktop.ini, and save the file.

7. In a Command Prompt window, run the following commands to refresh the icons:

   attrib +r PATH_TO_CONTACTS_FOLDER
   
   ie4uinit.exe -show

   Note: In the above examples, please replace the placeholder text PATH_TO_CONTACTS_FOLDER with the actual path to the Contacts folder — e.g., C:\Users\Ramesh\Contacts

   

8. Wait 5-10 seconds for the icons to refresh. If not, log off and log back into your account. If the above doesn’t update the icons, follow one of the methods in the article Wrong icon for file type; how to refresh the icons.

Instructions in this article apply to all versions of Windows, including Windows 10 and 11.