Resource Hacker Icon Replacer Action

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🎨 A GitHub Action to automatically replace Windows application icons. This action downloads and uses Resource Hacker™ automatically.

✨ Features

• 🚀 Automated: No manual installation of Resource Hacker required - the action downloads it automatically
• 🎯 Simple: Just provide an exe file and an ico icon
• 🔧 Flexible: Support for custom resource names, types, and languages
• 📦 Lightweight: No third-party executables included in the repository
• ✅ Reliable: Complete error checking and logging

📋 Requirements

• Windows runner environment (use runs-on: windows-latest)
• Valid .ico icon file
• Target Windows executable file (.exe)

🚀 Usage

Basic Usage

name: Replace App Icon

on:
  push:
    branches: [ main ]

jobs:
  replace-icon:
    runs-on: windows-latest
    
    steps:
      - name: Checkout repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
      
      - name: Replace icon
        uses: overflow65537/resource_hacker@v1
        with:
          exe-path: 'path/to/your/app.exe'
          icon-path: 'path/to/your/icon.ico'

Advanced Usage

- name: Replace icon with custom settings
  uses: overflow65537/resource_hacker@v1
  with:
    exe-path: 'MyApp.exe'
    icon-path: 'icons/custom.ico'
    output-path: 'MyApp_Modified.exe'  # Optional: output to new file
    resource-name: 'MAINICON'          # Optional: resource name
    resource-type: 'ICONGROUP'         # Optional: resource type
    resource-language: '0'             # Optional: language ID (0=neutral)

Complete Workflow Example

name: Build and Customize App

on:
  release:
    types: [created]

jobs:
  customize-app:
    runs-on: windows-latest
    
    steps:
      - name: Checkout code
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
      
      - name: Build application
        run: |
          # Your build steps
          dotnet build -c Release
      
      - name: Replace application icon
        uses: overflow65537/resource_hacker@v1
        with:
          exe-path: 'bin/Release/MyApp.exe'
          icon-path: 'assets/icon.ico'
      
      - name: Upload artifact
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: customized-app
          path: 'bin/Release/MyApp.exe'

📝 Inputs

Parameter	Required	Default	Description
exe-path	✅	-	Path to the executable file to modify
icon-path	✅	-	Path to the new icon file (.ico)
output-path	❌	(same as input)	Output file path, leave empty to overwrite original
resource-name	❌	MAINICON	Resource name
resource-type	❌	ICONGROUP	Resource type
resource-language	❌	0	Language ID (0=language neutral)

📤 Outputs

Output	Description
output-file	Path to the modified executable file

Output Usage Example

- name: Replace icon
  id: icon-replace
  uses: overflow65537/resource_hacker@v1
  with:
    exe-path: 'app.exe'
    icon-path: 'icon.ico'

- name: Display output path
  run: echo "Modified file: ${{ steps.icon-replace.outputs.output-file }}"

🎯 Use Cases

• 🔄 CI/CD Automation: Automatically replace application icons in build pipelines
• 🎨 Brand Customization: Generate applications with customized icons for different clients
• 📦 Batch Processing: Process icons for multiple applications at once
• 🌍 Localization: Set different icons for different regional versions

⚖️ License

This Action's License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Resource Hacker™ License

This action uses Resource Hacker™, which is:

• ✅ Freeware
• ✅ Available for personal and commercial use
• ✅ Supports command-line automation
• ⚠️ Cannot be redistributed (this action downloads it from the official website via script)
• ⚠️ Must only be used for legal software modification

Important Notes:

• This action does not include Resource Hacker executables
• Resource Hacker is downloaded from the official website at runtime
• Resource Hacker™ © 1999-2025 Angus Johnson

⚠️ Disclaimer

When using this action, please ensure:

1. ✅ You have the right to modify the target application
2. ✅ The target application's license allows resource modification
3. ✅ You use it for legal purposes only

The author of this action is not responsible for any misuse.

🛠️ Troubleshooting

Error: Executable file not found

# Ensure the file path is correct, use relative or absolute paths
exe-path: './build/app.exe'  # ✅ Relative path
exe-path: 'D:/project/app.exe'  # ✅ Absolute path

Error: Invalid icon file

# Ensure you use .ico format icon files
icon-path: 'icon.ico'  # ✅ Correct
icon-path: 'icon.png'  # ❌ Wrong, needs conversion to .ico

Resource Hacker download failed

If the official website is unavailable, the action will fail. This is expected behavior as we do not redistribute Resource Hacker.

🔗 Related Links

• Resource Hacker Official Website
• Resource Hacker Command Line Documentation
• Create .ico Icon Files

🤝 Contributing

Issues and Pull Requests are welcome!

📧 Contact

For questions or suggestions, please contact via GitHub Issues.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Angus Johnson - Author of Resource Hacker™

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Note: Resource Hacker™ is a trademark of Angus Johnson. This project is not officially affiliated with the author of Resource Hacker.