How to change the icon of an exe file

Windows 7

There are common ways to personalize the icons of computer, recycle bin, network, folder and shortcuts, but how do you change the icon of an application?

The first thing that you will have to do is download yourself a free copy of Resource Hacker. Once installed it adds an option to the context menu.



Now you need to locate the executable (not the shortcut) of the program that you want to change the icon for. Right click on it, and choose the “Open using Resource Hacker” option.



Click on the Action menu and click on the "Replace Icon ..." link.



When the dialog pops-up click on the button to locate a new icon, this can either be a *.exe, *.dll, *.res or *.ico file.



Once you have selected your icon, hit the replace button in the bottom right hand corner. Now select the File menu, and save the file.



And that’s its folks, all done.

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