Windows 11 Folder custom Icon Issue

One more time . . . It's NOT complicated! No money, icon cache cleaning is necessary. It's worked since Windows XP!

IN Windows 11, when you go to folder properties, then customize, it states CLEARLY, "Choose a file to show on the folder icon."

What you write (in part), "With Windows 11, you can no longer see previews of the contents inside the folders," is contrary to the question. What I want to do is show a picture file on the folder, as I could in Windows 10.

If it is not possible to do that, then why does the option still exist in Properties/Customization?

I downgraded back to 10, so can't check on your option in 11 (yet). But for the sake of argumenting, I will add my 10 cents: when you have accumulated 10,000s of folder images over the years - by just editing the title to "folder.jpg", and they disappear the instant you upgrade to 11, how do you batch them back to your display option in just a few clicks??

I found the solution for this on Windows 10 (21H2) after I clicked around and stumbled upon it.

Here's what worked for me:

1. Right click folder and select Properties.
2. Go to Customize tab.
3. Click "Change Icon".
4. Click "Restore Defaults".
5. Click "Choose File" and pick your thumbnail picture.
6. Click OK.

It's the Restore Defaults on the Change Icon screen that did it for me.

I would not have posted without first checking. As I said, the CURRENT version of Windows 11 does support folder pictures. The initial release of Windows 11 did not. My research indicates it was added back in build 22557.

The remaining issue is that it only shows a half picture, which, I totally agree is ugly and severely limits the usefulness of the feature.

Yes, Microsoft should change that. In the meantime, you can get full size folder pictures by applying the mod in the procedure I linked to. I totally understand if you don't want to do a mod. It's not an ideal solution.

Hello LesFerch,

I have been saying since 5/22 (Page 1) that the customization of placement of files on folders does not work in Windows 11 as it has in Windows 10, looking as far back as XP (Page 3, from azhotaz).

Not sure about the links, but half-shown pic's don't work. Microsoft should fix this.

Thank you for your reply, Evidently my computer does not have a TPM chip, and does not qualify for Windows 11. ...... and yet it's there. I didn't do anything special (that I can remember) when I went from 10 to 11. I belong to the "Insider club, but to receive that update, I would have to either downgrade an existing computer to Windows 11, or purchase new hardware specifically to get Windows 11 to work properly. I don't intend to do either. It is important to me that I do not loose functionality or productivity on the machines I use daily. To me, the windows 11 downgrade would cripple both. From what I've seen so far using 11, I just can't take that chance. The Windows 11 update window says; to get back into the Insider Club, I will have to go back to 10. (which is now impossible for me (at my knowledge level), without spending money for a copy Windows 10 .) I guess that I will have to wait until that update becomes public. Unfortunately I'm a hater and will not buy another computer, nor downgrade another device with Windows 11. I was gifted a mini fanless computer with Windows 11 preinstalled, but haven't attached it to anything because of ..... well.. Windows 11. (The same reason that I was gifted that computer by another hater.) Sigh... The only reason that I keep the Windows 11 computer around, is for FAM and evaluation purposes. The downside here is I cannot properly evaluate or familiarize myself with the UI without the latest update, and I can't get the latest update (Yet) without the proper hardware.

Note: Except for the update issue with the latest fixes; I don't believe that the lack of a TPM chip impacts the functionality (or lack thereof) in Windows 11.

Perhaps I'll shut down the tower and put the Mini in its place to see if that one has the proper hardware. The only problem there is, I'm just old fashioned and still use the optical drive on the tower.

The (pre) summation is, Thank you very much for your reply. I appreciate your answer and I'll check back after I find a way to get the proper update without being held over the barrel to purchase new hardware by Microsoft to install what I consider an OS with a crippled UI. WAY more than folder.jpg compatibility is an issue for me. That's just the major functionality straw that broke me. If that one critical thing comes back and works well, I would be way more willing to work with 11. Folder.jpg not only needs to work; it needs to work as well or better than before the downgrade. Who knows? Aside from the functionality that was totally removed, maybe it's just me being anal about extra clicks and buried menus containing options that I use all the time (that were accessible in the same click before the downgrade.). After all. Realistically; re-learning learned automatic motor skills acquired after many years of options and menus being in the same place will eventually become necessary anyway.

(Extra clicks and buried menus and options that I frequently use still upsets me. Am I just being picayune?)

Thanks again, and thank you for listening to me whine. :) SJM

Edit: I'm glad to see MS is working on the issue. I visited your link and looked at the results. Bad, bad, very bad. Most of the picture on the cover of the folder is obscured. I guess that I need to visit the hub and request that the whole of the folder.jpg (or at least 95%) be visible. What I saw in the examples would be useless to me if I cannot make out the photo. Any help I can get bringing attention to the piss poor results and getting them corrected would be appreciated.