rcedit

To build rcedit manually, you must have CMake 3.15+ and Visual Studio 2015 or above installed. Follow these steps:

1. Clone the repository.
2. Create a build directory: cmake -E make_directory build
3. Change to the build directory: cd build
4. Make the CMake project: cmake ..
5. Build: cmake --build . --config RelWithDebInfo

rcedit is a command-line tool used to edit the resources of Windows executables (.exe) and dynamic link libraries (.dll). The basic usage pattern is to provide the filename as the first argument, followed by one or more options to modify the file.

Usage:

rcedit <filename> [options...]

Note: Changes are only applied to the file when the command completes successfully (the Commit phase).

You can control how the Windows OS handles the application's privileges using one of two methods:

1. Execution Level: Use --set-requested-execution-level <level> with one of the following values:

   • asInvoker
   • highestAvailable
   • requireAdministrator

2. Manifest File: Use --application-manifest <path-to-file> to point to a specific .manifest file.

Warning: If you provide an --application-manifest, the --set-requested-execution-level option will be ignored.

You can update the versioning information of an executable using --set-file-version or --set-product-version. These commands accept a version string in dot-separated format (e.g., 1.2.3.4, 1.2.3, 1.2, or 1).

When using these commands, rcedit updates both the numeric version values and the corresponding FileVersion or ProductVersion version strings automatically.

Example:

rcedit myapp.exe --set-file-version 1.2.3.4
rcedit myapp.exe --set-product-version 2.0

rcedit allows you to manipulate specific resource IDs within the executable.

Set/Get Resource Strings

Use --set-resource-string to update a string resource. The <key> must be an integer ID. Use --get-resource-string to retrieve it.

Example:

rcedit myapp.exe --set-resource-string 101 "Hello World"
rcedit myapp.exe --get-resource-string 101

Replace RCDATA

Use --set-rcdata to replace an RCDATA resource with the contents of a file. The <key> must be an integer ID.

Example:

rcedit myapp.exe --set-rcdata 200 ./new_data.bin

Modify other executable properties using these commands:

• Set icon: Use --set-icon <path-to-ico>.
• Set resource string: Use --set-resource-string <id_number> <new_string_value>.
• Set requested execution level: Use --set-requested-execution-level <level> with one of: asInvoker, highestAvailable, or requireAdministrator.
• Set application manifest: Use --application-manifest <path/to/manifest/file>.

Retrieve existing resource values using these commands:

• Get version string: Use --get-version-string <property>. Use FileVersion to retrieve the value set by --set-file-version and ProductVersion for --set-product-version.
• Get resource string: Use --get-resource-string <id_number>.

Use the following commands to modify versioning information in the executable:

• Set a specific version string property: Use --set-version-string <property> <value>. Properties follow MSDN documentation (e.g., Comments).
• Set file version: Use --set-file-version <version>.
• Set product version: Use --set-product-version <version>.

To see the available command-line options and help text, run rcedit with the -h flag.

rcedit -h