This guide will show you how to add a custom icon that will appear when you insert a CD/DVD or plug in a USB flash drive in Windows.
You know when you buy a game and you put the disc in it shows an icon related to that game? Have you ever wanted to do something like that to your CDs or DVDs, or even USB flash drives? It’s actually really easy to do. It just requires a text file and an icon. This tutorial will guide you through the steps required to create both.
- Find an image you want to use as the icon for your CD, DVD or flash drive. I’ve decided to use the logo image this site uses – a red question mark. Once you have the image, head over to IcoConvert so that you can convert it into an .ico file. It’s super easy and completely free. When you get to Step #4, make sure to select Custom sizes and Multi-size in one icon and then place a check in all of the size options.
- After you’ve downloaded your newly created .ico file, open up Notepad on your PC. Enter [autorun] on the first line and then on the second line enter ICON=ICON.ICO, replacing ICON.ICO with the name of your icon file. As you can see in the screenshot below, my second line is ICON=logo.ico – since logo.ico is the name of the icon file I created.
- Now save that text file as autorun.inf by selecting All Files (*.*) as the Save as type: option, otherwise your file will be named autorun.inf.txt
- Finally, copy your two files (the .ico file and the autorun.inf file) to the root of the drive you want them to be used with (in other words don’t put the inside of a folder on that CD/DVD or flash drive, just copy them right to the top level).
- If you’re creating a custom icon for a flash drive you’ll need to safely unplug it and then plug it back in again for the icon to appear. If you’re burning a CD or DVD the icon will be visible when you insert the disc into a CD/DVD drive.
- That’s it! Now you can include a custom icon on all of the CD/DVD’s that you burn in the future.
