Setting an icon for a formless program

The program icon for a VB 6 project can be easily set through the Project Properties... window -- provided that the program contains a form. In formless applications (e.g. some ActiveX EXE components), the icon must be set using a resource file. There are a few ways to do this.

- Ensure the VB 6 Resource Editor is loaded through Add-Ins -> Add-In Manager....
- Right-click in your Project browser window and choose Add -> Resource File
- Choose the Add Icon button in the Resource Editor
- By default the icon will be assigned number "101". Change this to "ICON" or some other string value of your choosing. The name isn't important.
- Save the project and compile it. The first icon will be used as the project icon.

See more information in MS Article Q291569.

Another solution is to use the Resource Compiler command-line utility. This requires much more effort, but is detailed in an outdated article on vbaccelerator.com.

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