Windows Icons

A simple Rust library to extract icons from files and running processes on Windows platforms.

Features

• Retrieve icons by file path or process id
• Request Explorer-aligned sizes (Small 16, Medium 48, Large 96, ExtraLarge 256)
• Save as a PNG or base64 encoded string

Installation

Add to your Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]

windows-icons = "0.4.0"

Usage

use windows_icons::{get_icon_by_path, get_icon_by_path_with_size, IconSize};

// Get icon as an image from a file path
let icon = get_icon_by_path("C:\\Windows\\System32\\notepad.exe").unwrap();
icon.save("notepad.png").unwrap();

// Get icon at an Explorer-aligned size
let icon = get_icon_by_path_with_size(
    "C:\\Windows\\System32\\notepad.exe",
    IconSize::Large,
).unwrap();
icon.save("notepad_large.png").unwrap();

// Get icon as a base64 string from a file path
let base64 = get_icon_base64_by_path("C:\\Windows\\System32\\calc.exe").unwrap();
println!("Calculator icon: {}", base64);

// Get icon as an image from dll
let folder = DllIcon::new().with_shell32(5);
let icon = get_icon_by_dll(folder).unwrap();
icon.save("output/folder.png").unwrap();

// Get icon as a base64 string frome dll
let explorer = DllIcon::new().with_explorer(1);
let base64 = get_icon_base64_by_dll(explorer).unwrap();
println!("Explorer: {}", base64);

// Get icon as an image from a process ID
let process_id = 1234;

let icon = get_icon_by_process_id(process_id).unwrap();
icon.save("process.png").unwrap();

// Get icon as a base64 encoded string from a process ID
let base64 = get_icon_base64_by_process_id(process_id).unwrap();
println!("Process {} icon: {}", process_id, base64);

For more examples, check the examples.

cargo run --example icon

cargo run --example process -- <process id>

cargo run --example dll

The process example is the easiest way to check a UWP app, since the install folder under WindowsApps is not readable without elevation: start the app, then pass its process id.

Requirements

This library is designed to work on Windows systems only.

License

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

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

Acknowledgements

This library uses the following crates:

• image for image processing
• base64 for base64 encoding
• glob for matching file paths
• windows for Windows API interactions

Disclaimer

This library uses unsafe Rust code to interact with the Windows API. While efforts have been made to ensure safety, use it at your own risk.