How To *Really* Change Program Icons In Windows 7

Do you want to change program icons instead of only changing the shortcut icon? If so, you can use ResourceHacker to modify any program icon quite easily. Here’s how.

1. Download Resource Hacker from http://www.angusj.com/resourcehacker/. ResourceHacker with 64-bit support can be downloaded here.

2. Start an elevated instance of ResourceHacker (right-click on ResourceHacker.exe and click on Run as administrator) and press CTRL + O to open the “Open file dialog”

3. Find the .exe file of the program that you want to modify.

4. Let’s say we want to modify the program icon of PowerISO:

5. Next, click on Action, then on Replace Icon …

6. Now, select one of the program icons that you want to change in the right column, then click on Open file with new icon … and locate your new icon

7. When you’re done, click on Replace to change the program icon.

8. Click on File, Save and you’re done. If you did not open an elevated instance ad described above you will not be able to save the file, then you will have to save the file somwhere else and replace it manually. E.g. save it as PowerISO2.exe and then replace it with PowerISO.exe manually.

9. You have now successfully changed the program icon via ResourceHacker. Enjoy your new program icon:

Ok, this ain’t much better than the default PowerISO program icon, but this was just an example. There are other useful tools to change program icons in Windows 7, e.g. IcoFx.