How can I see which DLLs included in Windows contain icons?

Question

When changing shortcut icons it's useful to know which DLLs and EXEs included with Windows contain icons, but there are so many DLLs (especially in System32) that it's difficult to find the ones which contain useful icons.

Which DLLs or EXEs included with Windows (any flavor) contain icons?

score 50 · Answer 1 · edited Aug 05 '15 at 16:42

50

Big ones:

%windir%\system32\shell32.dll           Standard
%windir%\System32\wmploc.DLL            OK
%windir%\system32\setupapi.dll          OK, Hardware / Periphals
%windir%\system32\ddores.dll            OK, lot of devices
%windir%\System32\ieframe.dll           IE and warnings, mixed ugly
%windir%\system32\netshell.dll          Ugly and non ugly
%windir%\System32\imageres.dll          Ugly, New ones
%windir%\System32\pifmgr.dll            Ugly, Win95 Ones
%windir%\System32\moricons.dll          Ugly, very old
%windir%\System32\mmcndmgr.dll          Ugly, Very old
%windir%\System32\compstui.dll          Ugly, Very old

Small ones:

%windir%\system32\accessibilitycpl.dll
%windir%\explorer.exe
%windir%\system32\gameux.dll            Some gaming icons
%windir%\system32\mmres.dll             Audio
%windir%\system32\mstscax.dll           Warnings
%windir%\System32\netcenter.dll         Network
%windir%\System32\networkexplorer.dll   
%windir%\system32\networkmap.dll
%windir%\System32\pnidui.dll            Ugly Exlamations
%windir%\system32\SensorsCpl.dll        Handheld devices
%windir%\system32\xpsrchvw.exe 
%windir%\system32\UIHub.dll
%windir%\system32\vpc.exe
        - provided as a free download for Win7 owners
%windir%\system32\wmp.dll               Media player
%windir%\system32\wpdshext.dll          Battery and arrows
%windir%\system32\wucltux.dll

edited Aug 05 '15 at 16:42

e-motiv

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answered May 19 '10 at 01:37

pyrachi

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Emanuel, Can I complete that list or you want me to make another post? I like to share knowledge, that's all. – e-motiv Aug 04 '15 at 19:57
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Feel free to add more – pyrachi Aug 05 '15 at 00:21
Done. I hope you don't mind the re-ordering and adding comments. – e-motiv Aug 05 '15 at 15:57
I couldn't find the Device Manager's icon in the above files. Any idea where it may be? (Using Win 8.1) – akinuri Feb 07 '16 at 00:25
Some heroes don't wear capes – McLovin Apr 30 '16 at 11:10
My Windows 10 says no icons in gameux.dll, wmploc.dll – Sebi2020 Jan 19 '19 at 11:22
loads of these don't modify the icon in Windows 11 (for a folder in windows explorer). imageres.dll and shell32.dll seem to work well but many others just leave a standard folder icon – Greedo Aug 30 '22 at 10:58

score 31 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 17 '11 at 02:08

31

Use IconsExtract from NirSoft.

It scans a folder you select and can list any icons and files which contain icons.

enter image description here

edited Aug 17 '11 at 02:08

Gaff

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answered May 19 '10 at 04:19

akira

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Nice! I will make sure to check that out. Beats searching through DLLs manually. – pyrachi May 20 '10 at 19:39
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Nir Sofer never disappoints. :-) – Gnarfoz Sep 25 '15 at 19:30

score 8 · Answer 3 · edited Aug 17 '11 at 02:08

8

The classic additional icon repository of Win95 is %SystemRoot%\system32\moricons.dll. The file is still included with Windows 7.

edited Aug 17 '11 at 02:08

Gaff

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answered May 19 '10 at 07:51

Jawa

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Win95 ????????? – harrymc May 19 '10 at 07:55
Or maybe it was Win98, don't remember any more. The one that had real DOS underneath... Actually, I think those icons are/were basically for DOS programs. – Jawa May 19 '10 at 08:00
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I noticed that on my Win7 system....so it's still there! – pyrachi May 20 '10 at 19:37
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It is on my VM with Windows 3.1, so it has been around at least since then. – ctype.h Sep 22 '13 at 22:51
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...and it still exists as of Windows 10. – bwDraco Oct 01 '15 at 15:02

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 13 '20 at 03:34

Since Windows 10 v1903, icons have been moved from C:\Windows\System32\some-file.dll to C:\Windows\SystemResources\some-file.dll.mun (not .mui). See this other SuperUser post and Microsoft's website.

MiTeC's Icon Explorer is a free and convenient tool to search through folders and identify files with icons. It also appears to be smart enough to search C:\Windows\SystemResources instead of C:\Windows\System32.

Note 1: One limitation I found: MiTeC's Icon Explorer shows icon indices but not icon IDs. If you're using the Windows Registry to find/edit links to a specific icon DLL, and the icon number has a negative sign, then the number refers to the ID of the icon, not its index. See here and there for more detail.

Note 2: gameux.dll.mun doesn't exist in C:\Windows\SystemResources, maybe because the Games folder was removed in Windows 10 v1803: see this article. A game folder icon still exists in imageres.dll.mun though (index 177, ID 186).

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Feb 22 '22 at 06:25

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NirSoft has their own library for record keeping for the icons in dll files for older versions of Windows particularly 7 and 8: https://www.win7dll.info/ https://www.nirsoft.net/dll_information/windows8/

A more recent reference can be found in the TechNet: https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/6b53a304-4110-4ae3-bff1-8dd7ac46a106/default-icon-library-for-windows-7-amp-all-windows-10-versions

answered Feb 22 '22 at 06:25

happyinternetusers

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As it’s currently written, your answer is unclear. Please [edit] to add additional details that will help others understand how this addresses the question asked. You can find more information on how to write good answers [in the help center](/help/how-to-answer). – Community Feb 22 '22 at 06:32

How can I see which DLLs included in Windows contain icons?

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