It is rather absurd how many times Facebook has messed with this rather simple option and how much grief they have caused their users!
Summary: steps-by-step instructions that WORK for changing a Facebook album cover! Tonight I uploaded some new photos to an old Facebook album. So I decided to make the album cover feature a new photo. This used to be easy. Now I could not even find the option on Facebook anywhere. I did a bit of Googling. All the top results showed OUTDATED solutions So, FINALLY I found/remembered how to set the Facebook album cover! Here is the solution for anyone else facing this issue 
How to set the album cover on Facebook 2012:
Preliminary steps
- Login to Facebook
- Go to Photos -> My Albums
- Click on the album that you want to change the cover of
- In my example below it is: ‘Around the house & with friends’
- Click the ‘Edit Album’ option near the top of the page (slightly below the album title)
- Now comes the non-intuitive part! You have to move your mouse cursor over the image you want as the album cover and let it ‘hover’ there, in a few moments a drop down menu option will appears (as shown in the photos below)…
Step 1. Hover over the photo you want to set as the album cover Step 2. Choose the dropdown option
Step 3. Set the album cover to the image that you want!
2012.09.29 The screen looks different, but the Edit album is still the correct option to choose
2012.09.29 UPDATE: One more view showing the new 'Make Album Cover' option location
Voila, you have now reset the album cover to exactly the image you want. Enjoy!!! PS if you find this post helpful, please rate it in 1 to 5 stars in your comments below and I will keep a running rating tally for this tip!
PS thanks to commenter Gary for alerting me that I had incorrect images on my latest update, the issue has now been fixed!
WOW THANK YOU! I literally spent all night trying to figure out how to set the cover image and could not figure it out. Now I read this and I can finally do it THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS YOU! I rate it 5 stars BTW.
Hello Lynda,
Thank you for your nice comment. I am very glad my post helped you change your FB album cover image!
Please let me know if there is anything else I can help with.
Best regards,
-JD
Thank you for posting this. I created a new album tonight and found that the “Edit Photos” button was missing. It was from that screen where you used to select the cover photo. I have been searching the Facebook Help pages and the Internet for the past hour trying to find out where the selection feature was moved to or why it was removed until I finally found your page here. It is disgraceful that Facebook changes things like this with no notice and no description on any of their Help pages and that they do not respond to technical support requests. They do not even have an option to “pay them” to help you. I hope something comes along soon to replace Facebook (just like Facebook replaced MySpace) and that the new environment is “user friendly”.
Hi Barry,
Thank you for your comment! I am very glad that my instructions were useful
You make some great points about the lack of user friendliness and the fact that often Help pages and FAQ pages are not updated to reflect interface changes
It is sad that the instructions I provided are even necessary when instead Facebook should make it obvious how to change the album cover. I hope that sites will begin to clearly label features/functionality again instead of making users “hover” over hidden areas and play a game of hide-and-seek just to perform simple tasks.
Best regards,
-JD
Thanks!
You are very welcome!
-JD
THANK YOU SO MUCH. It really helped me. My mind will almost blow up searching for those option after i decided to google it. After all, I found it.
Hi Mark,
You are very welcome! Thank you for commenting and I wish you the best of luck in your computing endeavors
Best regards,
-JD
5 stars!! THANKS!
Awesome K! Thanks for your nice comment
-JD
Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you so much! I spent way too much time trying to figure this out on my own. There also used to be a “sort pictures by date” option that I cannot find. Can you help me with this? Please email me so I know you posted a solution!! Thanks again!
Hi Shelly,
Thank you for your kind comment!
As for the sorting by date option, I too remember that nice feature. I found the Facebook FAQ page on sorting photos but unfortunately the instructions seem outdated? I could not find the option they describe and that you and I remember
Sorry to not be of more help but if I find the answer, or someone else comments with updated instructions, I will make sure to let you know!
Thank you, hate all these changes to Facebook!
Hi Snow,
Thank you for your comment. I agree that many of the latest changes to Facebook seem to make things worse rather than better
Let us hope they start making real usability improvements and updating their help documentation to reflect the current state of their site.
Best regards,
-JD
I hovered over the picture and let it sit there forever several times and no drop down menu ever came up.
HELP!
Hi Linda,
Thank you for your question. I am sorry to hear about the problem that you encountered!
There are only a few things I can think of that might be causing the issue:
#1 browser issues – have you tried it with the latest version of Chrome, Firefox or Internet Explorer? I know some older browsers (as well as tablet/phone web browsers) sometimes have difficulties with Facebook…
#2 javascript disabled? – if javascript or other features are disabled in your browser, that might prevent the drop down from functioning properly
#3 not on the album edit page? Make sure you go to the ‘Edit Album’ page, as that is the only page that the dropdown for iamges will appear on
Sorry to not have a definitive answer for you but I hope one of those items may address your issue!
Best regards,
-JD
Wow. So simple. IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING!!! What is up with the new facebook? I mean, we’re all a little computer savvy by now, but the new Facebook is a labyrinth and I can’t find my way out, not to mention the state of the new timeline: visual cacophony!! (As one user put it). I wish it weren’t so necessary to have a Facebook presence, but small businesses are held hostage to them. Who do you think designed the new Facebook anyway? A bunch of left footed four eyes I bet. (Whatever that means!!!) I am forever in your debt, now I shan’t go insane. Love you, (never met you, still love you) – Lisa
Hi Lisa,
Thank you for your wonderfully nice comment!
I agree with you, a lot of Facebook’s design just doesn’t seem to make sense
Here’s hoping they can eventually come up with a clean interface that makes it clear and OBVIOUS how to perform important tasks 
Thanks again for your nice comment,
-JD
PS your site looks cool! My wife is into jewelry and we even made our own wedding rings (starting from gold and we melted/cast/etc. them ourselves) as a fun thing to do together, it was also a wonderful bonding experience IMHO
Thanks so much, I hadn’t been able to figure this out lately!!
Certainly CJ, you are very welcome!
Best regards,
-JD
Thank a lot!!
(from Taiwan)
You are very welcome Unicorn!
Best regards,
-JD
how o u change the profile pictures ablum cover theres no link to edit photos?
Hi anonymous, thank you for your good question.
Unfortunately, Facebook does not allow you to change the cover image for your “Profile Pictures” album in the same way that all other albums works. Instead, they automatically use your current profile photo as the album cover.
Therefore, to change your “Profile Pictures” album cover I believe you will need to change your current profile picture. I hope this helps!
Best regards,
-JD
thank you so much!!
)
You are very welcome cha!
Best regards,
-JD
thank you! this was very helpful.
You are very welcome!
Best regards,
-JD
THANK YOU SOOOO much I wish I saw this earlier.. I spent countless frustrated key banging trying to find this option!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi Maria, I am very glad it was helpful
Thank you very much for your nice comment!
Best regards,
-JD
Thanks!!!!!!
You are very welcome Heather!!!
-JD
Thank you so much! It was driving me crazy!
No prob Tia
I’m glad it helped!
Best regards,
-JD
Thanks! This was helpful!
Glad it was helpful XRX!
Have a great week,
-JD
Thank you so much. It’s hard to keep up with facebook’s changes. So helpful.
You are very welcome Angie, thank you for your nice comment!
Best regards,
-JD
Thanks…had same problemm with out of date instructions…would never have found it on my own. How do I give you a 5 star rating ??
Awesome Janet, I am very glad these up-to-date instructions helped! I have marked your rating down as a 5, thank you very much
Ha ha… the “non intuitive part”. Damn right, but with your help I got it cracked too. Thanks for posting this. Be Well.
Thanks for commenting Stephen, good job getting it working!
Best regards,
-JD
Facebook will not allow me to “title” my picture albums. It gives the alums this title: Untitled Album.
Hi Dianne,
I am sorry to hear about your album titling issue!
The steps that work for me are to:
#1 Go to the album I want to title
#2 Click the “Edit Album” link
#3 Click the title that I want to edit (in your case “Untitled Album”)
#4 Type in a new title
#5 Click the “Done” button
I hope that these steps work for you too
Best regards,
-JD
Lawdy Lawd am I glad to have found this. Facebook hid this well !
Thanks
Awesome Snoopingas, glad this helped!!
Best regards,
-JD