Windows 11 "User's Files" desktop icons are different on laptop vs. desktop computers

R

redwolf1973

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Windows 11

• Nov 5, 2021

• #1

Hi All! I own 4 computers....2 laptops and 2 desktops. I currently have them all configured to show all of the system type icons on the desktop. On the 2 laptop computers, my "User's Files" icon are just plain folder icons. On the desktop computers, the "User's Files" icons are the plain folder icons with a little "Account" type picture inside. Please see the attached picture for what the latter icon looks like. My question is, why are they icons different on my laptops vs. my desktops? Any insight is appreciated!

 

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Windows 11

Slavic

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Windows 11 Pro 25H2

• Nov 5, 2021

• #2

You can check in Settings, which exactly icon is used for your personal folder: find the Themes section, Desktop icon settings. The link there opens the Desktop Icon Settings dialog, select your user folder icon (User_name), click Change Icon... By default, on my desktop PC it's the icon from C:\Windows\System32\imageres.dll
You may have different icon image or your icon has different size, not 32x32 (small) like here. Large icons can have more details.

 

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Windows 11 Pro 25H2AMD Rysen 5 4600H32 GB (2 x 16 GB Samsung SO-DIMM DDR4-3200)GeForce GTX 1650 Ti, 4 GB GDDR6

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Windows 11 Pro 25H2

Computer type

Laptop

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Lenovo Legion 5-15ARH05

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AMD Rysen 5 4600H

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32 GB (2 x 16 GB Samsung SO-DIMM DDR4-3200)

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GeForce GTX 1650 Ti, 4 GB GDDR6

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1920x1080

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R

redwolf1973

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Windows 11

• Nov 5, 2021

• #3

The image you posted is the exact icon that is being used on all 4 systems. I did notice that my 2 desktops have Windows 11 Pro and the laptops both have Windows 11 Home. I believe the icon size is the same across all computers, however, the display scale is higher on the desktops...maybe that is similiar to what you are describing?

 

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Windows 11

Slavic

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Windows 11 Pro 25H2

• Nov 5, 2021

• #4

My system is Pro, but I doubt that the icons are different in Home. You can try to set the same display scale on all PCs and compare. Of course, the laptops usually have smaller screen size, so better to use larger scale. Or you can specifically set the same scale but larger icons and font size.

 

My Computer

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Windows 11 Pro 25H2AMD Rysen 5 4600H32 GB (2 x 16 GB Samsung SO-DIMM DDR4-3200)GeForce GTX 1650 Ti, 4 GB GDDR6

OS

Windows 11 Pro 25H2

Computer type

Laptop

Manufacturer/Model

Lenovo Legion 5-15ARH05

CPU

AMD Rysen 5 4600H

Memory

32 GB (2 x 16 GB Samsung SO-DIMM DDR4-3200)

Graphics Card(s)

GeForce GTX 1650 Ti, 4 GB GDDR6

Screen Resolution

1920x1080

Hard Drives

SSD M.2 512 GB SAMSUNG MZALQ512; SSD M.2 1 TB Seagate FireCuda 530

Mouse

Logitech M650L in Bluetooth mode

xxspookyxx

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Windows 11

• Mar 29, 2023

• #5

Its a bug of Windows with "Scale and layout" and Monitor DPI. My default settings its 100%, i changed to 102%. After that, all icons its perfect.

 

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Windows 11

B

builttorock

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Windows 11

• Jan 8, 2024

• #6

See this post:

Windows 11 User icon looks like a Regular folder

After adding the user profile icon to the desktop (via Settings > Personalization > Themes > Desktop icon settings), the user icon may look like a regular folder with the generic yellow folder icon.

www.winhelponline.com

download the custom icon and change it

 

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Windows 11

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Windows 11

Cesare Vesdani

Cesare Vesdani

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United Kingdom

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Windows 7

• Mar 8, 2026

• #7

Windows 11 has two Personal (User) folder icons. Both are suitable icons for Windows 11's folder icon.

 

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Windows 7Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 - 1800X - 8 Core Proce...16 GB RAM.NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB.

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Windows 7

Computer type

PC/Desktop

Manufacturer/Model

BIOS: BIOS Date: 08/20/18 12:33:01 Ver: 05.0000D.

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Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 - 1800X - 8 Core Processor - (16 CPUs) - 3.6GHz.

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AMD Ryzen 7 - 1800X - 8 Core Processor.

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16 GB RAM.

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB.

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NVIDIA/Realtek High Definition Audio.

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Generic PnP Monitor.

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1920x1080.

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My desktop PC has two 8TB hard drives. I plan to add more 8TB hard drives in the future so that I can install Windows 8, 8.1, 10, and 11.

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Current Setting: {5C67A112-A4C9-483F-B4A7-1D473BECAFDC} (Quality).

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Antec.

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HID Keyboard Device.

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HID Compliant Mouse.

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Broadband 20MB.

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Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Opera Web Browser.

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Microsoft Security Essentials, Win/MS Defender, Malwarebytes.

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My desktop PC has a UEFI BIOS and TPM 2.0 system requirements which means that my system meets the minimum requirements to install Windows 11 in the future.