changing notepad icon

Fabler2 · Jul 20, 2023

Create a shortcut of Notepad.exe and rename to Notepad. Uninstall the notepad app in All apps list.

OAT · Jul 20, 2023

Of course, if one was adventurous enough could go here:
C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.WindowsNotepad_11.2306.15.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\Assets
and replace the icons.
Huge drawbacks:

Need to take ownership
Need to redo after each update
DISM will put it back
Will fail on hash check

Not worth it, but hey, only one life that we know of.

Wisewiz · Jul 20, 2023

@OAT

A truly daring suggestion. I was going to suggest Resource Hacker, but we have no idea how technically inclined our OP is. RH easily changes the icon in an executable.

OAT · Jul 20, 2023

Wisewiz said:
@OAT

A truly daring suggestion. I was going to suggest Resource Hacker, but we have no idea how technically inclined our OP is. RH easily changes the icon in an executable.

Resource hacker works very well with .exe , -executables- but not so well with UWP apps.
You can extract the resource; it's putting back a new one that is the problem.
I miss the old days of debug.exe when I had to modify compiled .com, .exe and others.
It was a bit-by-bit change. One can use x64dbg now.

regenboogkonijn · Jul 21, 2023

Unfortunately, it is not possible to overwrite the PNG files. Can't get full control over the Assets folder. Do you have a tip OAT?

regenboogkonijn · Jul 21, 2023

Please tell me how. I always can do a system recovery. I always make one before I start changing something, also export my regestry.

regenboogkonijn · Jul 21, 2023

I like to change my pc and work on it for hours. I can not walk and sit in a wheelchair, so I have all the time in the world to do it and I am not afraid that I make my pc out of order. I will not blame you if something go wrong.

OAT · Jul 21, 2023

You need to use Advanced Run 64 by NirSoft and run your command as TrustedInstaller.
This would be the easiest way rather than taking full ownership of the top folder and doing it as admin.
In C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.WindowsNotepad_11.2306.15.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\Assets
you need to start with NotepadAppList.scale-200.png and scale it for each icon size.
Once you have your icons ready, you use a single copy command with AdvancedRun as TrustedInstaller.

I think it will be a waste of time because each update will overwrite the content, but be my guest.

regenboogkonijn · Jul 21, 2023

Thanks and time is no problem for me because I have plenty.

regenboogkonijn · Jul 21, 2023

Not understand AdvancedRun very good. I leave it like this, but thanks anyway.

rosapanda · Jul 22, 2023

Fabler2 said:
Create a shortcut of Notepad.exe and rename to Notepad. Uninstall the notepad app in All apps list.

I ended up going with this option, thank you very much!

OAT said:
Resource hacker works very well with .exe , -executables- but not so well with UWP apps.
You can extract the resource; it's putting back a new one that is the problem.
I miss the old days of debug.exe when I had to modify compiled .com, .exe and others.
It was a bit-by-bit change. One can use x64dbg now.

I did apparently try resource hacker (I have it installed already) and did not manage to get it to work. I kinda forgot everything I tried the first few days of googling haha. I'm too scared to change some of the other things mentioned as I don't have that much knowledge. I just wanna thank everyone for your suggestions! It's been really helpful.