nc_icon

nc_icon is a Windows command-line tool that automatically sets folder icons to movie posters (or artwork) found inside each folder. It can also intelligently rename common artwork files to standardized names.

Before

After

Features

• Automatic icon generation: Finds poster.jpg, folder.png, or similar artwork in a folder and creates a folder.ico from it
• Smart renaming: Renames common artwork files to standardized names:
  • *-poster.* → folder.*
  • *-clearlogo.* → logo.*
  • *-fanart.* → fanart.*
  • *-disc.* → disc.*
  • *-banner.* → landscape.*
  • cover_art.* → folder.*
• Recursive processing: Processes all subdirectories within the target folder
• Multithreaded: Uses parallel processing for faster performance
• Dry-run mode: Preview changes without making any modifications
• Custom icon size: Specify the icon size (16, 32, 48, 64, 128, or 256 pixels)

Usage

nc_icon [directory] [options]

Command-Line Arguments

Argument	Description
[directory]	Target directory to process (defaults to current directory)
--dry-run, -d	Preview what would be done without making changes
--icon-size N, -s N	Set icon size (16, 32, 48, 64, 128, or 256). Default: 256
--no-rename	Disable automatic renaming of artwork files
--verbose, -v	Show detailed output during processing

Examples

Process the current directory with default settings:

nc_icon

Process a specific directory:

nc_icon "C:\Movies\Collection"

Preview changes for a directory without making modifications:

nc_icon "D:\TV Shows" --dry-run

Use a custom icon size (64x64 pixels):

nc_icon --icon-size=64

Process without renaming files:

nc_icon --no-rename

Verbose mode showing detailed output:

nc_icon --verbose

Combining multiple options:

nc_icon "E:\Media" --icon-size=128 --dry-run --verbose

How It Works

1. Scans directories: Recursively scans the target directory for subfolders
2. Renames artwork: If --no-rename is not set, renames common artwork patterns to standardized names (poster → folder, fanart → fanart, etc.)
3. Finds artwork: Looks for folder.jpg, poster.jpg, folder.png, or poster.png in each folder
4. Creates icon: Converts the artwork to an ICO file centered on a transparent background
5. Configures folder: Creates a desktop.ini file and sets folder attributes to display the custom icon
6. Refreshes Explorer: Notifies Windows Explorer to show the new icons

Output Summary

After processing, nc_icon displays:

• Number of folders successfully configured
• Number of failed configurations
• Total folders processed

Requirements

• Windows OS (uses Windows API for folder icon customization)
• No additional dependencies required

Building

The project uses a custom build system. Run build.bat from the project root:

build.bat

Warning

Requires cl.exe, link.exe and ml64.exe to be installed and on path in order to compile and link

Notes

• The tool processes folders recursively by default
• Hidden and system folders are skipped
• The desktop.ini file is created as a hidden system file
• Target folders are marked as read-only (required for custom icons in Windows, however I have not had any problems with this)