How to Restore the Default Folder Icon (Mac & Windows)

Custom folder icons are easy to undo — which is worth knowing before you start changing them, because it removes the only real risk. Nothing you do to a folder's icon touches what is inside it. The picture is metadata; the files underneath never move.

Here is how to put a folder back to the system default on both operating systems, and what to do in the two cases where the old icon refuses to leave.

On Mac: remove the custom icon

1. Select the folder and press Cmd + I to open Get Info.
2. Click the small icon in the top-left corner of the Get Info window. A thin blue highlight appears around it — that is how you know it is selected, rather than the folder itself.
3. Press Delete (or Cmd + X). The default blue folder returns immediately.
4. Close the Get Info window.

If pressing Delete does nothing, you almost certainly clicked the large icon further down the window rather than the small one at the top-left. Only the top-left one is editable.

On Windows: restore the default

1. Right-click the folder and choose Properties.
2. Open the Customize tab.
3. Click Change Icon, then Restore Defaults.
4. Click OK, then Apply.

Windows stores the choice in a hidden desktop.ini file inside the folder. Restore Defaults clears the entry for you — there is no need to delete anything by hand.

When the old icon will not go away

Two things cause this, and both have quick fixes.

On Mac, the Finder is showing a cached thumbnail. Close the window and reopen it. If it persists, log out and back in. The icon data has already changed; what you are seeing is a stale preview.

On Windows, the icon cache is stale. This is the more common one. Restart Explorer: press Ctrl + Shift + Esc, find Windows Explorer in the list, and click Restart. The icons redraw with the correct images.

What restoring does not do

• It does not touch a single file inside the folder. Documents, photos and subfolders are exactly as they were.
• It does not affect any other folder. Custom icons are set per folder, so restoring one leaves the rest alone.
• It does not delete your icon files. The .icns or .ico you used is still wherever you saved it, ready to reapply.

Quick FAQ

Will restoring the default icon delete my files? No. A folder icon is a picture attached to the folder, not the contents. Removing it changes nothing inside.

Can I restore several folders at once? Not with a built-in command on either system — icons are set and cleared one folder at a time. If you changed many folders, expect a few seconds each.

Why did my icon disappear on its own after an update? A major macOS or Windows update occasionally resets custom icons on system-managed folders. Reapply from your saved .icns or .ico file — which is the reason to keep those files somewhere safe.

Can I change it again afterwards? Yes, as many times as you like. There is no limit and no cumulative effect; each change simply replaces the last.

Now that undoing is easy

The main reason people never customise their folders is a vague worry about breaking something. There is nothing to break: the change is a picture, and you just read the four keystrokes that reverse it.

If you want to try it properly, start with a matching set rather than a single icon — browse the FolderIcons gallery, where three sets are free for every member. Then follow How to Change Folder Icons on Mac or the Windows guide, and turn the result into a tidy desktop with our organization guide.

Your folders, exactly as you left them.