{"id":4626,"date":"2026-02-13T00:38:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T00:38:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/help.peacedoorball.blog\/nl\/?p=4626"},"modified":"2026-02-13T00:38:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T00:38:18","slug":"how-to-customize-the-recycle-bin-icon-in-windows-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/help.peacedoorball.blog\/nl\/how-to-customize-the-recycle-bin-icon-in-windows-10\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Customize the Recycle Bin Icon in Windows 10"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you&#8217;ve recently upgraded to Windows 10 (or installed it fresh) and started poking around, you might\u2019ve noticed all the new icons popping up everywhere. Like, the desktop icons, file explorer icons, and all that. Of course, the default Recycle Bin icon isn\u2019t exactly a design masterpiece\u2014kind of dull when it\u2019s full, and pretty bland overall. But if you\u2019re someone who prefers a bit of style or just hates the standard icons, you might want to swap that default icon with something cooler.<\/p>\n<p>The good news is, unlike some older Windows versions, you don\u2019t need third-party utilities to do this. Windows 10 actually lets you change icons, including the Recycle Bin, through the Desktop Icon Settings. The catch? Accessing this menu isn\u2019t as straightforward as clicking right and choosing \u201cChange Icon.\u201d The classic way via <strong>Personalization<\/strong> and direct links isn\u2019t available anymore, but it\u2019s still doable.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s how to pimp out that Recycle Bin icon without messing around too much. It\u2019s not perfect\u2014some steps are a little roundabout\u2014but it works once you get the hang of it. Expect your new icons to look a lot more modern or personalized, and it\u2019s kinda fun to customize your desktop to look just the way you want.<\/p>\n<h2>Change Windows 10\u2019s Recycle Bin icon with a custom one<\/h2>\n<p>Just follow these steps and you\u2019ll be good. Pro tip: Make sure your custom icons are in <code>.ico<\/code> format. If you find a cool PNG or JPG, you\u2019ll need to convert it first\u2014there are tons of free converters online, or use tools like Paint. NET with some plugins. I\u2019ve found DeviantArt has some decent icon packs for free, so that\u2019s a good place to start.<\/p>\n<h3>How to access Desktop Icon Settings in Windows 10<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Open the <strong>Settings<\/strong> app (hit <kbd>Win + I<\/kbd>), then go to <strong>Personalization<\/strong>. For some reason, the direct link to <strong>Desktop icon settings<\/strong> got buried, so instead, click on <strong>Themes<\/strong> on the left side, then scroll down to the <strong>Related Settings<\/strong> section, and select <a href=\"ms-settings:desktop\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Desktop icon settings<\/a>. Depending on your Windows version, this might open a small pop-up window.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If that direct link isn\u2019t working for you, another trick is to right-click your desktop, choose <strong>Personalize<\/strong>, then click on <strong>Themes<\/strong>, and then find the <strong>Desktop icon settings<\/strong> link as described.<\/p>\n<h3>Changing the &#8220;Recycle Bin (full)&#8221; icon<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>In the Desktop Icon Settings window, click on the <strong>Recycle Bin (full)<\/strong> icon in the list. Then, hit the <strong>Change Icon<\/strong> button. On some setups, this is a little tricky\u2014sometimes the window won&#8217;t refresh immediately, so clicking around or restarting the Explorer process can help.<\/li>\n<li>This opens a <strong>Change Icon<\/strong> dialog. Here, you can pick from some default icons, but if you want something custom, click <strong>Browse<\/strong> and navigate to wherever you stored your <code>.ico<\/code> files. Select your favorite icon and click <strong>Open<\/strong>, then press <strong>OK<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Note: Windows only accepts icon files in <code>.ico<\/code> format. So, if you have a PNG or JPEG, you&#8217;ll need to convert it. There are free online converters like ConvertICO or ICO Convert that do the job pretty quick.<\/p>\n<h3>Changing the &#8220;Recycle Bin (empty)&#8221; icon<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Select the <strong>Recycle Bin (empty)<\/strong> icon in the same window, then click <strong>Change Icon<\/strong> again. Follow the same process as above\u2014browse to your custom icon file, choose it, and confirm.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And if you want to go all out, there\u2019s a free tool called <strong>CustomizerGod<\/strong> you can use for bulk icon changes or customizing other system icons. It\u2019s not perfect, but for free, it\u2019s pretty handy. Also, if you\u2019re into customizing folder icons, check out guides on getting Windows 7-style folder icons in Windows 10.<\/p>\n<p>Oh, and don\u2019t forget to peek at some Windows 10 Recycle Bin tips and tricks articles for other neat tweaks.<\/p>\n<h2>Wrap-up<\/h2>\n<p>Changing the Recycle Bin icon isn\u2019t the most straightforward thing in Windows 10, but it\u2019s definitely doable. Just a matter of navigating a few hidden menus, grabbing some ICO files, and clicking around. Yeah, the process could be more elegant, but once you get used to it, your desktop can look more personalized and less boring.<\/p>\n<p>Hopefully, this takes just a few minutes to pimp out your desktop icons. Good luck and don\u2019t forget\u2014you might need to restart Explorer or log out and back in to see the changes.<\/p>\n<h2>Summary<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Open <strong>Settings<\/strong> &gt; <strong>Personalization<\/strong> &gt; <strong>Themes<\/strong>&gt; <a href=\"ms-settings:desktop\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Desktop icon settings<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Select <strong>Recycle Bin (full)<\/strong>, click <strong>Change Icon<\/strong>, and pick or browse for your custom ICO file.<\/li>\n<li>Repeat for <strong>Recycle Bin (empty)<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Create or download ICO files beforehand to have a good selection.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Fingers crossed this helps<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you&#8217;ve recently upgraded to Windows 10 (or installed it fresh) and started poking around, you might\u2019ve noticed all the new icons popping up everywhere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hulp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/help.peacedoorball.blog\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/help.peacedoorball.blog\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/help.peacedoorball.blog\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/help.peacedoorball.blog\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/help.peacedoorball.blog\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/help.peacedoorball.blog\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4626\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/help.peacedoorball.blog\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/help.peacedoorball.blog\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/help.peacedoorball.blog\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}