Pyinstaller setting icons don't change

Question

When I use the command:

pyinstaller.exe --icon=test.ico -F --noconsole test.py

All icons do not change to test.ico. Some icons remain as the pyinstaller's default icon.

Why?

All icon change in

windows 7 32bit
windows 7 64bit (make an exe file OS)

Some remain default

windows 7 64bit (other PC)

score 122 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 06 '15 at 01:50

122

I know this is old and whatnot (and not exactly sure if it's a question), but after searching, I had success with this command for --onefile:

pyinstaller.exe --onefile --windowed --icon=app.ico app.py

Google led me to this page while I was searching for an answer on how to set an icon for my .exe, so maybe it will help someone else.

The information here was found at this site: https://mborgerson.com/creating-an-executable-from-a-python-script

answered Nov 06 '15 at 01:50

Sludge

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You can also add the icon to your `.spec` file as done here: https://shanetully.com/2013/08/cross-platform-deployment-of-python-applications-with-pyinstaller/ – erb Jun 09 '17 at 10:17
pyinstaller.exe --onefile --icon=app.ico helloworld.py < -- Not working for me. What am i doing wrong? – anandhu Jun 24 '20 at 14:03
does this work on ```.sh``` python script in ubuntu? – Aug 27 '20 at 10:39
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The icons are cached by windows explorer. – Pedro Lobito Jan 02 '21 at 05:11
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In windows (in file explorer) list view there is an error (it shows the default disket icon), but in large or medium icons it shows the file that's included with pyinstaller command. – Chris P Sep 20 '21 at 16:45

score 60 · Answer 2 · edited Oct 12 '16 at 22:34

60

I think this might have something to do with caching (possibly in Windows Explorer). I was having the old PyInstaller icon show up in a few places too, but when I copied the exe somewhere else, all the old icons were gone.

edited Oct 12 '16 at 22:34

Jonas Byström

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answered Mar 03 '16 at 21:17

Alan L

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Yeah, it seems Explorer does some caching when the .exe file is first shown, so a rebuild with an icon did not reflect the change until the .exe was shown in another directory. – Jonas Byström Oct 12 '16 at 22:36
I had the same issue. Thank you. – SaundersB Oct 11 '17 at 20:59
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Same issue here. Closing and reopening the window doesn't help, but copying the executable elsewhere will show the correct icon. – I_Ridanovic Oct 20 '18 at 07:02
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In Windows, you can restart Windows Explorer: Task Manager -> Process -> Windows processes -> Windows Explorer. Click Restart. The cache will be cleared and the correct icon will be displayed. – Chris Collett Apr 07 '21 at 20:13
Thank you for this, saved me a huge headache since I thought I was doing something wrong. Stupid Windows – Kevin Pauli Oct 07 '21 at 21:34
Great! had the same issue, now it's solved. – Kurdish Learner Oct 24 '21 at 12:50

score 16 · Answer 3 · edited Oct 14 '20 at 19:14

The below command can set the icon on an executable file.

Remember the ".ico" file should present in the place of the path given in "Path_of_.ico_file".

pyinstaller.exe --onefile --windowed --icon="Path_of_.ico_file" app.py

For example:

If the app.py file is present in the current directory and app.ico is present inside the Images folder within the current directory.

Then the command should be as below. The final executable file will be generated inside the dist folder

pyinstaller.exe --onefile --windowed --icon=Images\app.ico app.py

score 10 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 21 '21 at 11:07

10

I had similar problem. If no errors from pyinstaller try to change name of .exe file. It works for me

answered Feb 21 '21 at 11:07

Антон Смирнов

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Works, but i tried to upload the file on google drive with the modified title, download it and then the default disket icon is appeared. I tried to modified it again but icon change in the second time. – Chris P Sep 20 '21 at 16:39
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@ChrisP this is because of windows icon cache. Checkout https://superuser.com/a/499079/357349 – Dwza May 16 '22 at 15:35

score 5 · Answer 5 · answered Jun 07 '22 at 12:15

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The solution for me was refresh the icon cache of the windows explorer

for Windows 10: Enter "ie4uinit.exe -show" in Windows run

Link: https://superuser.com/questions/499078/refresh-icon-cache-without-rebooting

answered Jun 07 '22 at 12:15

Adrian Zürcher

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score 4 · Answer 6 · edited Oct 14 '20 at 19:20

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Here is how you can add an icon while creating an exe file from a Python file

open command prompt at the place where Python file exist

type:

pyinstaller --onefile -i"path of icon"  path of python file

Example-

pyinstaller --onefile -i"C:\icon\Robot.ico" C:\Users\Jarvis.py

This is the easiest way to add an icon.

edited Oct 14 '20 at 19:20

Sabito stands with Ukraine

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answered Oct 24 '19 at 20:32

Abhisek Upadhaya

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score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Apr 14 '21 at 05:13

if you want to set the default icon, not the one pyinstaller sets for you there is an option while building EXE just add "-i NONE" in command.The default os icon will be applied to your executable.

pyinstaller --onefile --clean -i NONE <filename.py> --noconsole

reference https://pyinstaller.readthedocs.io/en/stable/man/pyinstaller.html#windows-and-mac-os-x-specific-options

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Oct 24 '21 at 17:12

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In my case, the new icon of the file did not show up in the dist folder but appeared only when I moved the icon on the Desktop.

answered Oct 24 '21 at 17:12

Nicola Spanu

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Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please [edit] to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers [in the help center](/help/how-to-answer). – Community Oct 24 '21 at 17:17
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That is correct, Windows caches the icons for some files, so if you initially built the exe with no icon then added the icon, you will still see the initial/default icon from pyinstaller. – Arise Dec 25 '21 at 21:21

score 0 · Answer 9 · edited Jun 21 '20 at 06:36

0

That's error of a module in pyinstaller. The stuff would be sth like this, right:

File "c:\users\p-stu\appdata\local\programs\python\python38-32\lib\site-packages\PyInstaller\utils\win32\icon.py", line 234, in CopyIcons
    except win32api.error as W32E:
AttrubuteError: module 'win32ctypes.pywin32.win32api' has no attribute 'error'

edited Jun 21 '20 at 06:36

jizhihaoSAMA

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answered Jun 21 '20 at 06:14

user13518412

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score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Dec 26 '22 at 03:42

Very old tho. I encountered same problem but with additional stuff like it's not really building the application even with some changes of the entry file stopping at INFO: Checking EXE.

I solved this and my problem by deleting the app.spec and build folder that was genereated by the pyinstaller.

The icon is really updated (see the app icon at upper left), window just cached it I think.

score -1 · Answer 11 · edited Oct 14 '20 at 10:59

-1

pyinstaller --clean --onefile --icon=default.ico Registry.py

It works for Me

edited Oct 14 '20 at 10:59

Tomerikoo

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answered Oct 14 '20 at 08:55

LilDavid

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Welcome to SO! When answering to an old question (this one is over 5 years old) that already has an accepted answer (that's the case here) make sure your answer adds something _substantially_ new. Don’t answer if not. – Timus Oct 14 '20 at 09:02

Pyinstaller setting icons don't change

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