Add/Remove Programs icon resized incorrectly

[chrisdavoren]

Hello,

I use InstallShield LE with Visual Studio 2012. I have selected an add/remove programs icon file (.ico) for my app installer, which contains a broad range of sizes including 256x256, 128x128, 64x64, 32x32, 48x48 and 16x16. However, after installation when I view my application in the programs list, it appears with a downsampled 16x16 icon instead of using the original (and much better looking) 16x16 embedded version.

Is there anything I can do to fix this problem?

Regards,
Chris.

[phill_mn]

In my experience this is probably an OS issue although there may be changes that you can implement in your setup to mitigate the issue. Look at the following for general information on the topic and I am sure you can find many other posts along this line.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/49819-icon-cache-rebuild.html
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/appicons.htm

The approach I would take to isolating this issue is:
1) Install your application (and observe the issue)
2) Reset the Icon Cache and determine if this helps. If it does integrate that into the setup.
3) Under your ProductCode under the Uninstall key, do you have a DisplayIcon entry. If not create in manually in the registry and experiment with the incon index value to get the behavior that you want. Then integrate that back into your setup.

I hope this helps.

[chrisdavoren]

Thanks phill_mn,

The problem appears to have been fixed by using an icon file with 8-bit icons instead of 32-bit. I can only assume this is some internal Windows 7 restriction that I haven't previously seen documented. A few extra points:

1. Resetting the icon cache didn't help.
2. The DisplayIcon registry entry was not set, and is still not set, yet it works.
3. The application icon, and the one embedded in the .exe file is still 32-bit.

I am happy that the icon now appears correctly, but I'm wondering now where the Add/Remove Programs dialog is getting the icon from? It's not (apparently) in the executable, and there's no DisplayIcon path that indicates its location. The icon file itself is not in the application's Program Files directory. Magic?

Cheers,
Chris.