Icons not changing - showing application preview instead

How's this for a basic question?

I have a spiffy Time Machine icon that I'd like to use in place of the default one. When I bring up Get Info on my Time Capsule, and drag or paste the new icon, I get the .PNG folder icon and not my nifty looking icon.

What am I doing wrong?

Use command-C to copy the icon you want to "transfer". Open the Get Info window and click on the icon there to highlight it. Use command-v to paste the icon you copied. That should work unless you don't have sufficient permissions. That can be fixed in the Get Info window as well.

Aye, that's exactly what I did. The stock Time Machine icon is a blue drive. The PNG file I'm using is a Time Capsule icon. I've tried an .ICO, .ICNS, .HQX, .JPG and a .PNG, and the result is the same as the above.

Well, that was a basic answer.

After pasting the icon, try going into Show View Options for that Finder window and check or uncheck Show icon preview.

open the replacement icon in preview.

drag a box around it.

Cmd + C.

Go to Time Machine.

Select it and press Cmd + I.

select icon in top left. Cmd V. done.