How to: Manually Change the Template Icon
After creating a template with the Export Template wizard, you may change the icon that appears in the New Project dialog box. You can do this by replacing the current .ico file with a new one, and modifying one line in the .vstemplate file included in the template.
To change the icon for a template
Locate the .zip file that contains your template.
Extract the .zip file.
Double-click the .vstemplate file. The XML file opens in Visual Studio.
Locate the Icon element. For example:
<Icon>MyIcon.ico</Icon>Change the Icon element to specify the new .ico file.
Save and close the .vstemplate file.
Replace the current .ico file in the directory with the new .ico file.
In Explorer, select the files to include in your template, right-click, select Send To, and click Compressed (zipped) Folder. The files are compressed into a .zip file.
Place the new .zip file in the same directory as the old .zip file.
Delete the extracted template files and the old .zip file.
See Also
Reference
Visual Studio Template Schema Reference
Icon Element (Visual Studio Templates)