Drupal - How to override default favicon.ico?
Turned out to be as simple as placing favicon.ico into the theme root folder (!)
http://YOURSITE/admin/build/themes/settings - upload your favicon for all enabled themes, as for "Global settings".
In Drupal 7 there's a way that's easier than loading the image file to a particular directory and you get some error checking. There's a global admin page that allows you to upload in icon image. Log in as an administrator and visit
http://www.EXAMPLE.com/#overlay=admin/appearance/settings
Look near the bottom of the page for the "Shortcut Icon Settings". You can turn on/off the default, set a path to a file and upload images.
Each theme has a similar setting that overrides the global setting. Be aware that changing the global setting my not work as you expect for a changed theme.
-Bob