6.1 General Info

You can apply an image inside your windows; If you are not using Windows Xp, just choose "view" in the toolbar, and "customize this folder". If you are, you will have to recreate what happens behind the scenes manually. Once the use has selected an image, Windows gives the folder the attribute 'system' and creates a hidden file called 'desktop.ini' inside it. More info on file attributes is in the basic actions page.

Open the file in notepad, and you'll see a line similar to "IconArea_Image=C:\xx\xx.xxx" specifying the path to your image (.bmp, .gif or .jpg). You might also see "IconArea_Text=0x00RRGGBB": it is the textcolor, which will be described below.

If you want to present someone a folder with background, you will have to put the bitmap in the folder, or somewhere it can have access to, like a sub-folder (make it hidden, it's cleaner). Then change this line to look like "IconArea_Image=.\xx.xxx".

Note that the image you apply is repeated on the icon area in both the horizontal and vertical direction, and there is no way to center or align it. However, if you really want to achieve that effect, you can try a simple trick: make a new blank bitmap of size around 500 by 600 and center your image inside it. Since your folder size is not likely to change, you might just not notice the fact that the image is not really centered.

Background Wizard (free, all versions) lets you put a background to a bunch of folder windows at once, can even do a whole drive. Painless, cool application! Warning: make sure you backup your existing desktop.ini files before you use it.

To create the files manually, proceed like so:

• Create a file called "desktop.ini" in the folder you want to change (make a new textfile, then rename it).
• Copy and paste these lines in the file: [{BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}]
Attributes=1
IconArea_Image=BGPATH
IconArea_Text=0x00RRGGBB ...replacing BGPATH and RRGGBB (text color).
• Give the folder a 'system' attribute.
  • The simplest way to do so is to use the MsDOS command line. Hit the windows key and R, type "cmd", and enter. Type "attrib", your folder path in quotes and then +s, like this: attrib "c:\folder\path" +s
  • You could also use PropertiesPlus.
  • Another, longer, way: change the folder's icon using the "view" in the toolbar, and "customize this folder" menus. This will create a desktop.ini file and set the folder to system. Edit this desktop.ini file replacing its content.

If you have Xp, there's still a way to automate the process, just restore the old version of the customize wizard! (thanks Redhades for comming up with this). For that, you'll need a copy of ieshwiz.exe from an older Windows version. It is in the system directory. Maybe you've got it on a cd somewhere. Some IE installations (sometimes even IE6), have the file in "ie4shlnt.cab" - you get the old 98 version (on a 98 cd, find it in WIN98_40.CAB). Win2k's got a later version (no way to extract properly from the cd), Me has the latest (on the Me cd, WIN_16.CAB).

Put the file in /windows/system32/ and copy this text into a textfile, give it a .reg extension, doubleclick to import in registry: Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\customize]
@="Customize Wizard"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\customize\command]
@="ieshwiz.exe %1"

Download both the .exe (English version) and the regfile (22 kB).

Webview Installer (free, Win XP) can apply any desktop.ini to a folder and it's subfolders while renaming the old ones, you can use it to apply webviews and window backgrounds.