Where do I find the icon of the Sites Directory in Lion?

Question

Just like my other special folders, I wish to give my Sites folder a special icon.

Lion doesn't create a Sites folder like Snow Leopard did -- which means that you have to do it yourself. This is fine, but I can't find the good old fashioned "Sites" icon that I'm used to! It's just blank now.

Where can I find the Sites icon and how can I get it attached to the Sites folder?

EDIT: Turns out you CAN create a Sites folder in Lion, just takes an extra step (you have to click "Create User Folder" in the Web Sharing system panel). Nevertheless this question applies generally to creating folders with systems icons that aren't already being used in an easy to discover location.

Answer 1

EDIT: Please see the OP's edit. It turns out Lion can create the Sites folder for you if you tell it to.

The Sites Icon is still in Lion, just not used. It's located at:

/System/Library/CoreServices/CoreTypes.bundle/Contents/Resources/SitesFolderIcon.icns

I made a mistake the first time - as slifty generously noted, copying icons from Preview doesn't grab all their sizes (so they aren't optimized for display at certain sizes).

The goal is to get the icon into a copyable space (from the get info window, see the last image). One way to do that from an .icns file is to copy an application to the desktop (any will do), right click/show package contents, navigate to resources and replace its icon.

For instance, here is a screenshot of replaceing a copy of Adobe Distiller's icon:

After replacement, the temporary Adobe Distiller's Get Info window looks like this:

From which you can copy paste a legit version of the icon to wherever you want it.

To attach icons to a folder, open the get info prompt of an item, highlight the icon, and paste (the Sites icon which is on your clipboard). This apple support doc explains it.

As shown, the icon is highlighted, and replaceable. You see the icon selected in the get info window. When selected, you can paste a new icon in or copy the current one to place it somewhere else.