How to create a QIcon from a .exe path?

[Mizmas]

Hello, I'm trying to add installed applications and their icons to a QComboBox.

Below is an example code that anyone can copy and run.

It successfully retrieves installed applications from the registry, and also the path of their icon if it exists.

The problem is that QIcon is only created if the application's icon_path is a path with a .ico extension, so if a program's icon_path is retrieved as .exe, a QIcon won't get created.

You can run the code and compare what paths it prints out to the QIcons that are created in the QComboBox:

import sys
import os
import winreg
from PyQt6.QtWidgets import QApplication, QComboBox, QMainWindow
from PyQt6.QtGui import QIcon
from PyQt6.QtCore import QSize


def get_installed_apps_from_registry(registry_path):
    apps = []
    try:
        reg_key = winreg.OpenKey(winreg.HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, registry_path, 0, winreg.KEY_READ)
        for i in range(0, winreg.QueryInfoKey(reg_key)[0]):
            try:
                subkey_name = winreg.EnumKey(reg_key, i)
                subkey = winreg.OpenKey(reg_key, subkey_name)

                # Retrieve app name
                app_name, _ = winreg.QueryValueEx(subkey, "DisplayName")

                # Retrieve app icon path
                try:
                    icon_path, _ = winreg.QueryValueEx(subkey, "DisplayIcon")
                    icon_path = icon_path.split(",")[0].strip()  # Clean up icon path
                    if not os.path.isfile(icon_path):
                        icon_path = None
                except FileNotFoundError:
                    icon_path = None

                # Append app name and icon path to the list
                apps.append({"name": app_name, "icon": icon_path})
            except EnvironmentError:
                continue
            finally:
                subkey.Close()
    except EnvironmentError:
        pass
    return apps


def list_installed_apps():
    registry_paths = [
        r"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall",
        r"SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall"
    ]
    installed_apps = []
    for path in registry_paths:
        installed_apps.extend(get_installed_apps_from_registry(path))

    # Remove duplicates and sort
    unique_apps = {app['name']: app for app in installed_apps if app['name']}
    sorted_apps = sorted(unique_apps.values(), key=lambda x: x['name'])
    return sorted_apps


def create_icon(icon_path):
    # Create QIcon from path
    if icon_path and os.path.isfile(icon_path):
        return QIcon(icon_path)
    return QIcon()  # Return empty icon if path is invalid


class AppComboBox(QMainWindow):
    def __init__(self, apps):
        super().__init__()
        self.setWindowTitle("Installed Applications")
        self.setGeometry(100, 100, 400, 100)

        # Create QComboBox
        self.combo = QComboBox(self)
        self.combo.setIconSize(QSize(32, 32))
        self.combo.setGeometry(50, 20, 300, 40)

        # Add apps to combo box with icons
        for app in apps:
            icon = create_icon(app['icon'])
            self.combo.addItem(icon, app['name'])


def main():
    # Fetch installed applications
    apps = list_installed_apps()

    # Print program name and icon path
    for app in apps:
        print(f"Name: {app['name']}")
        print(f"Icon Path: {app['icon']}")
        print("-" * 40)

    # Set up the PyQt6 application
    app = QApplication(sys.argv)
    window = AppComboBox(apps)
    window.show()
    sys.exit(app.exec())


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

[SGaist]

Hi,

That's because QIcon has no reason to know how to extract a file from an exe binary.
It's a step you have to implement yourself.

[JonB]

@Mizmas
I think https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1616342/best-way-to-extract-ico-from-exe-and-paint-with-pyqt shows how you have to do this. Read each answer carefully, and the little comments, to allow for PyQt6 (or PySide6).

If you can translate the few lines of https://stackoverflow.com/a/50809652/489865 into PyQt/PySide and it works on an exe that's even simpler.

[Mizmas]

@JonB Thanks a lot. Apparently the QFileIconProvider class was removed from PyQt6, but QFileSystemModel can be used instead.

Here's the updated code, it now successfully creates a QIcon for .exe icon paths. On my system there's still some application icon paths that aren't being found by the get_installed_apps_from_registry method, or maybe they just don't exist in the registry, so maybe someone will be able to improve upon this code:

import sys
import os
import winreg
from PyQt6.QtWidgets import QApplication, QComboBox, QMainWindow
from PyQt6.QtGui import QIcon, QFileSystemModel
from PyQt6.QtCore import QSize


def get_installed_apps_from_registry(registry_path):
    apps = []
    try:
        reg_key = winreg.OpenKey(winreg.HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, registry_path, 0, winreg.KEY_READ)
        for i in range(0, winreg.QueryInfoKey(reg_key)[0]):
            try:
                subkey_name = winreg.EnumKey(reg_key, i)
                subkey = winreg.OpenKey(reg_key, subkey_name)

                # Retrieve app name
                app_name, _ = winreg.QueryValueEx(subkey, "DisplayName")

                # Retrieve app icon path
                try:
                    icon_path, _ = winreg.QueryValueEx(subkey, "DisplayIcon")
                    icon_path = icon_path.split(",")[0].strip()  # Clean up icon path
                    if not os.path.isfile(icon_path):
                        icon_path = None
                except FileNotFoundError:
                    icon_path = None

                # Append app name and icon path to the list
                apps.append({"name": app_name, "icon": icon_path})
            except EnvironmentError:
                continue
            finally:
                subkey.Close()
    except EnvironmentError:
        pass
    return apps


def list_installed_apps():
    registry_paths = [
        r"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall",
        r"SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall"
    ]
    installed_apps = []
    for path in registry_paths:
        installed_apps.extend(get_installed_apps_from_registry(path))

    # Remove duplicates and sort
    unique_apps = {app['name']: app for app in installed_apps if app['name']}
    sorted_apps = sorted(unique_apps.values(), key=lambda x: x['name'])
    return sorted_apps


class AppComboBox(QMainWindow):
    def __init__(self, apps):
        super().__init__()
        self.setWindowTitle("Installed Applications")
        self.setGeometry(100, 100, 400, 100)

        # Create QComboBox
        self.combo = QComboBox(self)
        self.combo.setIconSize(QSize(32, 32))
        self.combo.setGeometry(50, 20, 300, 40)

        # Initialize QFileSystemModel to fetch icons
        self.file_model = QFileSystemModel()

        # Add apps to combo box with icons
        for app in apps:
            icon = self.get_icon(app['icon']) if app['icon'] else QIcon()
            self.combo.addItem(icon, app['name'])

    def get_icon(self, icon_path):
        # Fetches an icon using QFileSystemModel based on file path
        if icon_path and os.path.isfile(icon_path):
            index = self.file_model.index(icon_path)
            return self.file_model.fileIcon(index)
        return QIcon()  # Return an empty icon if path is invalid


def main():
    # Fetch installed applications
    apps = list_installed_apps()

    # Print program name and icon path
    for app in apps:
        print(f"Name: {app['name']}")
        print(f"Icon Path: {app['icon']}")
        print("-" * 40)

    # Set up the PyQt6 application
    app = QApplication(sys.argv)
    window = AppComboBox(apps)
    window.show()
    sys.exit(app.exec())


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()