Incorporating Custom Icons
Applies To: Windows 7, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 Foundation, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Vista
You can provide custom icons for use with your connection profile. You can provide one file that contains icons in multiple sizes or you can provide one file for each icon in each size. You use the CMAK wizard to specify the icons your users see.
The large program icon is used as the desktop icon. It also appears in the ALT+TAB switch window, the Network Connections folder, and in several other pop-up dialog boxes. This icon is 32 × 32 pixels.
The small title-bar icon appears at the left edge of the title bar in the logon dialog box, in various pop-up dialog boxes and, when the program is running, on its program button on the taskbar. This icon is 16 × 16 pixels.
After a connection is established, the small notification area shortcut appears in the notification area at the far right of the taskbar. This shortcut icon is 16 × 16 pixels.
Connection Manager contains default images for these three icons. If you prefer to use your own icons in place of the default icons, you can use an icon-editing program to create them. Consider creating icons that are similar to one another to unify the appearance of the connection profile. To ensure that your icons appear correctly, consider creating icons that match the size and overall shape of the default icons.
A single icon file (.ico) can have multiple images, each with a different size, color depth, or both. If you create an icon that you want to use in place of all three default icons, you should build the icon to include both 16 × 16 pixel and 32 × 32 pixel icons in the same file. If you include an icon in only one size, the icon is scaled to fit the assigned area when it appears, but the image might be dithered or distorted. To specify a single custom icon to be used for all service profile icons, you must specify the name of the custom .ico file in all three boxes in the Icons pane of the CMAK wizard. If a box is left blank, the appropriate default is used.
Note
You can also customize the menu that appears when a user right-clicks the notification area shortcut. For more information on customizing this shortcut menu, see Customizing the Notification Area Shortcut Menu. This option is available for computers that are running Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 or Windows 2000. It is not available when creating a profile for Windows Vista or later versions of Windows.