How to change the icon of .bat file programmatically?

You could use a Bat to Exe converter from here:

https://web.archive.org/web/20190304134631/http://www.f2ko.de/en/b2e.php

This will convert your batch file to an executable, then you can set the icon for the converted file.

You can just create a shortcut and then right click on it -> properties -> change icon, and just browse for your desired icon. Hope this help.

To set an icon of a shortcut programmatically, see this article using SetIconLocation:

How Can I Change the Icon for an Existing Shortcut?:

https://devblogs.microsoft.com/scripting/how-can-i-change-the-icon-for-an-existing-shortcut/

Const DESKTOP = &H10&
Set objShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
Set objFolder = objShell.NameSpace(DESKTOP)
Set objFolderItem = objFolder.ParseName("Test Shortcut.lnk")
Set objShortcut = objFolderItem.GetLink
objShortcut.SetIconLocation "C:\Windows\System32\SHELL32.dll", 13
objShortcut.Save

Assuming you're referring to MS-DOS batch files: as it is simply a text file with a special extension, a .bat file doesn't store an icon of its own.

You can, however, create a shortcut in the .lnk format that stores an icon.

The icon displayed by the Shell (Explorer) for batch files is determined by the registry key

HKCR\batfile\DefaultIcon

which, on my computer is

%SystemRoot%\System32\imageres.dll,-68

You can set this to any icon you like.

This will however change the icons of all batch files (unless they have the extension .cmd).