Is it possible to change your default icons on install? I want to change my My computer icon to an icon I have. I also want to rename my computer to something else. Can this be done during the install?

most of the icons (quite a lot actually) you can change hacking shell32.dll.
find shell32.dl_ file in I386 folder, and uncab it with this command in command prompt window:



now you have unpacked shell32.dll which you may open with Resource Hacker.
on the left pane expand Icon Group folder, so you'll see all the icons to be changed.
right-click any you want and choose Replace resource...

or

in the menu click Action and Replace Icon...
this way you may also change bitmaps, cursors, and more...

having changed your icons you have to re-cab shell32.dll with this command (command prompt too)

you got shell32.dl_ again but hacked with your icons,
so copy it back to I386 folder overwriting an older one, and install XP.
now your icons are set for good

Yes, it is possible and it's actually quite simple to change both the default icons
and the displayed name for all of the 'standard' desktop items, ie. My Computer,
My Network Places, etc.

The pair of keys you need are listed below, The first one is a simple text entry
which is the name as displayed on the desktop while the second is the default icon
give as "filename,resource-number".

You can chose which desktop item you want to change by substituting the appropriate
CLSID as the attributes are the same for all of them. The only exception to this is
the Recycle Bin which has three 'DefaultIcon' entries as show at the bottom.



I can't give detailed instructions without knowing exactly how/when you perform
this part of the installation. My personal preference is to use a 'custom.inf' file
which contains these and other settings which I run from cmdlines.txt using the
following line:-

"rundll32 setupapi,InstallHinfSection DefaultInstall 128 .\Custom.inf"

This can also be executed via RunOnceEx but be aware this is a per user
setting. Running it from cmdlines.txt changes the default user account which is
then inherited by all others created afterwards. Running from anywhere else
only changes the settings for that particular user account.

Something else you should be aware is that some settings don't 'stick' if applied
during cmdlines.txt, I assume that they are being overwritten during a later stage.