There are certain adjustments that cannot be made without using a third-party application and the same happens if we want to change the icon of an EXE file. For this, we must use applications such as GConvert or Resource. But in this article, we are going to show you an alternative to learn how to change the icon of an EXE file without programs easily.
As we are not planning to use an external application to change the icon of an EXE file, we are going to use a trick, where we are going to create a shortcut for the file. Then we will edit the icon of this shortcut, so we will be able to fulfill our requirement without having to use an application or program for it.
In order to easily change the icon of an EXE file without programs, we are going to use different methods. You just have to follow the steps that we will show you in this tutorial, where, as in another article, we have done it. And you could without problems change the icons of both the desktop, as well as the files and folders in Windows 10.
How to change the icon of an EXE file without programs
As what we are thinking of doing would not be effective without the use of a program, we are going to apply a trick that will create a shortcut of that EXE file on the desktop. Then to that shortcut, we are going to change the icon and the original EXE file, you will hide it in a folder. Thus we will use the shortcut found on the desktop as if it were the original file.
It is important that you understand that you should not under any circumstances move the original file from where you have it saved. Once you have created the desktop shortcut, the link to the original file will be broken. With these recommendations in mind, let’s start with the tutorial.
Steps to change the icon of an EXE file
The first thing we are going to do before creating our shortcut on the desktop is to look for an icon, we must get the icon file to use. This icon file that we will assign to the shortcut must be of the ICO type. It will be impossible to use images, you must use the search engine to download the icon from a web page.
You must make sure that when choosing the icon image, it is downloaded in the correct format, that is ICO and not for example in PNG or JPG format. Save the icon file in a folder that you don’t have to change, it is preferable to do it in the Images folder. Now we will go to the next step, which is to create the shortcut on the desktop of the EXE file.
Find a free area on the desktop and locate yourself with the mouse cursor, right-click, this action will generate a menu with different options. In it, you must select the New option and another menu will be displayed, here you will select the Direct Access option. And the window to Create Shortcut will be displayed on the desktop.
The next step is to click on the Browse button, to find the element to which you want to create a shortcut. Make the choice of the EXE file, you must go to the location where the file is located, once you locate it, click on it. Now you must click the OK button and this action will create the EXE file as the destination of the shortcut.
Continue with the wizard and now click the Next button, the next step is to assign a name to the shortcut and finally click Finish. And it will show a shortcut on your desktop for the EXE file. The next step is to change the icon and we will do this by right-clicking on the shortcut, which will display a menu of options.
Select Properties and then Change icon, in this window, click the Browse button to locate and select the icon file. Then click Open, then OK again and finally click the Apply button and then OK. Done this is what you should do to change the icon of an EXE file without programs easily.