Change the icon of the exe file generated from Visual Studio 2010

Question

I am currently creating an application in Visual Studio 2010. After building the project to generate the output of my application, I find that the .exe is built with the default icon.

Is there any way to change or use my own picture as the icon for the .exe file generated by Visual Studio 2010?

Answer 1

To specify an application icon

1. In Solution Explorer, choose a project node (not the Solution node).
2. On the menu bar, choose Project, Properties.
3. When the Project Designer appears, choose the Application tab.
4. In the Icon list, choose an icon (.ico) file.

To specify an application icon and add it to your project

1. In Solution Explorer, choose a project node (not the Solution node).
2. On the menu bar, choose Project, Properties.
3. When the Project Designer appears, choose the Application tab.
4. Near the Icon list, choose the button, and then browse to the location of the icon file that you want.

The icon file is added to your project as a content file.

reference : for details see here

Answer 2

I found it easier to edit the project file directly e.g. YourApp.csproj.

You can do this by modifying ApplicationIcon property element:

<ApplicationIcon>..\Path\To\Application.ico</ApplicationIcon> 

Also, if you create an MSI installer for your application e.g. using WiX, you can use the same icon again for display in Add/Remove Programs. See tip 5 here.