It’s been a week since we welcomed a new employee with an aluminum framework. Accordingly, we have done several accomplishments with his help. We installed a Windows partition through Boot Camp and then installed Windows XP. We played PC games including Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Farcry, The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth, World in Conflict, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion… Thanks, iMac! Hmm… There is something missing on our desktop. (See Screenshot 01.) What is it!? Ohh… I know what it is. It’s the icon of the Windows partition. It’s a generic icon that comes with Mac OS. And we want to install a customized icon on this partition. How?

Screenshot 01 – Source: MacHouse

All I need is a removable device. Preferably, I need a USB device. What device and why? I need a device through which both Mac OS and Windows OS can read data without an additional driver. Let’s see what I have.

1. USB memory stick (See Screenshot 02.)
2. Olympus IC recorder (See Screenshot 03.)
3. VST USB Floppy Drive (See Screenshot 04.)

Screenshot 02 – Source: MacHouse

Screenshot 03 – Source: MacHouse

Screenshot 04 – Source: MacHouse

I also have a cheap MP3 player, which I could use because it has internal Flash memory accessible with a USB cable. This time, I won’t use it, though.

Screenshot 05 – Source: MacHouse

Screenshot 06 – Source: MacHouse

Screenshot 07 – Source: MacHouse

Let’s first use a USB memory stick, which we reviewed some 15 hours ago. I created 12 icons just for this operation. So let me copy an icon from No. 10 as shown in Screenshot 05 and paste it on USB MEMORY. (Also see Screenshot 06.) Then? I just need to switch to Windows. 

Screenshot 08 – Source: MacHouse

Screenshot 09 – Source: MacHouse

Screenshot 10 – Source: MacHouse

As shown in Screenshot 07, I have switched to Windows XP on my iMac Core 2 Duo 2.8 GHz. My Computer is open. Now, I see the drive icon of the USB memory stick. So let me double-click and open it. What I need from this volume is two files, .VolumeIcon.icns and .__File. (See Screenshot 08.) The first file comes from Mac OS X while the latter comes from Windows OS. We cannot create the latter system file under Mac OS. That’s why I needed to switch to Windows. Or I can be wrong. Remember that the file names start with a period. That means those files are invisible. If you don’t see them, then choose Folder Options under Tools. And switch the tab to View and enable Show hidden files and folders.

Next, let me select my Windows partition, which is labeled Win XP (C:) under My Computer. (See Screenshot 09.) Then I just need to drag and drop those two invisible files onto my Windows partition. (See Screenshot 10.) If you have existing ones inside the Windows volume, you can trash or overwrite them. That’s pretty much it. So let me switch to OS X. And OS X loads the Windows partition with a customized icon. (See Screenshot 11.)

Screenshot 11 – Source: MacHouse

Screenshot 12 – Source: MacHouse

Screenshot 13 – Source: MacHouse

That was pretty easy. But what if I didn’t have a USB memory stick? That’s why I mentioned two other devices. This time, let me use an Olympus IC recorder. This audio device has an internal Flash memory room, which can be accessible through a USB cable. Anyway, just as I did before, I’m going to paste a customized icon on the USB drive of the IC recorder. (See Screenshot 12-3.) Then let me switch to Windows XP.

Screenshot 14 – Source: MacHouse

Screenshot 15 – Source: MacHouse

Screenshot 16 – Source: MacHouse

Screenshot 14 shows that Windows XP recognizes the USB drive of the IC recorder. There is no additional driver required to get this volume mounted. If I open Drive H by double-clicking on it, I find two files with the same names that we saw earlier. (See Screenshot 15.) Again, let me open Drive C. This time, I’m going to trash the existing invisible files. Then I’m going to drag and drop those files onto Drive C. (See Screenshot 16.) If I switch back to Mac OS… Right… I have a new customized icon on the Windows partition. (See Screenshot 17.)

Screenshot 17 – Source: MacHouse

Screenshot 18 – Source: MacHouse

Screenshot 19 – Source: MacHouse

Okay… What if I did not have a USB memory stick or a USB-connected IC recorder? This time, let’s see if I can use a USB floppy drive. I bought this USB floppy drive along with iMac 333 MHz 9 or 10 years ago.

This floppy drive contains no internal Flash memory. So let me insert a high-density disk. Well, I still have some files from my graduate work on this floppy disk. Anyway, let me select the floppy disk icon titled TBlue on the desktop and press Command + I. Then I’m going to paste a customized icon. (See Screenshot 18.) Let me drag and drop the floppy disk icon onto the trash can to eject the volume. And I just need to switch to Windows.

As shown in Screenshot 19, I can tell that Windows XP, again, recognizes the floppy drive without an additional driver. If I open it… Right, I see those two system files inside it. (See Screenshot 20.) Then, again, I just need to drag and drop them onto Drive C. (See Screenshot 21.) If I switch to OS X Leopard… My Windows partition is once again updated with a new customized icon. (See Screenshot 22.)

Screenshot 20 – Source: MacHouse

Screenshot 21 – Source: MacHouse

Screenshot 22 – Source: MacHouse

After all, there is nothing difficult in placing a customized icon on the Windows partition. Wait… Can’t I just use the Mac side of the internal hard disk drive to bring a customized icon to Windows OS? Nope. Windows doesn’t recognize the Mac format, right? So it won’t create a .__File inside it. What if I didn’t have any of those USB devices? I still have an internal CD/DVD drive. Some software titles like Roxio Toast Titanium let you paste a customized icon on a disc. So I suppose you can still work it out in the same manner.






References:

12 Mac Icons for Boot Camp/Windows Partition
Product Review: A-DATA USB Flash Drive PD9 16 GB (for Mac & Windows): Using USB Memory on Mac OS X Leopard and Windows XP
Product Review: IC Recorder Olympus DS-50 (for Mac & Windows)