Customize “New Folder” and “New Shortcut” Text in Windows XP

Whenever you create a new folder or shortcut in Windows XP, the default name for the newly created item is set as "New Folder" or "New Shortcut". Did you ever wish to customize it?

This tutorial will help you in customizing the "New Folder" and "New Shortcut" text, so that whenever you create any new folder or shortcut, you can see your desired names instead of the default ones.

You'll need to edit a system file "Shell32.dll" which is stored in "%windir%\System32" folder, here %windir% means "C:\Windows" folder if your Windows is installed in C: drive.

We'll edit this file in Resource Hacker. If you have no idea of this software, please go through following tutorial:

All About Resource Hacker in a brief Tutorial

Once you become familiar with Resource Hacker, make sure you have run WFP Patcher. It disables WFP (Windows File Protection) service. This service protects editing of system files and you'll not be able to edit "Shell32.dll" file until you disable it. You can find it in our "Downloads" section.

If you don't want to disable WFP, you can save the modified file at some other location and then replace default Shell32.dll file with your new modified one using Replacer. This tool can also be found in our "Downloads" section.

So here we start our tutorial:

1. Open "%windir%\System32\Shell32.dll" file in Resource Hacker and go to:

String Table -> 1896

2. Now in right-side pane, you'll see default "New Folder" and "New Shortcut" strings:

3. You just need to replace the default strings with your desired strings as we have removed the "New" word from both strings:

4. Once you finish, click on "Compile Script" button and save the file.

5. Restart your system and now you'll see your customized names whenever you create a new folder or shortcut:

NOTE: If you get "Can't create file…" error message when you try to save the file, it means you have edited and saved the file recently and there is a backup file which needs to be deleted before saving the file again. Go to the "System32" folder and look for a file "Shell32_original.dll". Delete it and try to save the file again.

This article was posted in Resource Hacker, Windows XP.

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6 Comments

Nikolaj

why are you using windows classic?
Kishan Bagaria

Dear Vishal,

Can you tell me that how can I add "Create New Folder" command in context menu not in "New" sub menu. Like whenever I right-click, it will show a "Create New Folder" option.

Kishan Bagaria
shkelqim

i do all exactly what you do in the tutorial but it doesn't work for... i delete the shell32.dll_original file before saving and also Disable the WPA but it doesn't work
need help...
shkelqim

in the end i save it as shell32.dll that message appears Cannot create file
Danny

i use restorator but it does the same thing, this tut is awesome and yes ppl use replacer as i tried drop/replace and it will not work also dont use it while shell32.dll is being used by reshack
serg

Instead of editing shell32.dll you can install new-ext shell extension from http://szsoftware.org/new-ext.
This extension allows to modify the default folder/file name. It also makes it possible to use current date/time in the default folder/file name.
And it also puts you in control where do you see the commands for new folder/file. You may put these commands into "New" submenu or on the top level of the context menu