When Microsoft released Windows XP there were some good updates, but they also removed a few useful utilities too, One removed was the ability to fully customise how your folders looked, like adding Wallpaper and ToolTips but this instructable will show you a few free simple steps without the need to download anything.

First Step:
Copy and paste the following text into notepad and save it inside the folder you want to customise as desktop.ini

[ExtShellFolderViews]
{BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}={BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}
[{BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}]
IconArea_Image=C:\windows\blue lace 16.bmp
IconArea_Text=0x00FFFFFF
[.ShellClassInfo]
IconFile=%SystemRoot%\system32\SHELL32.dll
IconIndex=3
Infotip=Put Some Text Here.


Next You need to change 3 of the lines in the desktop.ini file:
If you are going to use a dark background image then you need to choose a light colour for the file name text like white or for light backgrounds use a darker colour, some basic RGB colour codes are below for the IconArea_Text=   line

Black 0x00000000
Purple 0x00FF99FF
Red 0x00FF0000
Green 0x0000FF00
Blue 0x000000FF
White 0x00FFFFFF


IconArea_Image=C:\windows\blue lace 16.bmp
This is the filename line so change the picture filename to one you like, blue lace is one of the images on this instructable and is supplied with XP.


Infotip=Put Some Text Here.
Change the text  after = to something that describes the folder contents and finally save the ini file.


Final Step:
Inside the folder Right Click to open the mouse menu and select 'Customize this folder...', When the dialog pops up click the Customize tab at the top, now at the bottom click the 'Change icon' button and choose the bottom left folder icon then click OK then click Apply.


Thats it, Close the folder and when you re-open it you should see the changes.