diff --git a/cmake/Modules/Tools.cmake b/cmake/Modules/Tools.cmake
index ad7c021e6e..efb3876468 100644
--- a/cmake/Modules/Tools.cmake
+++ b/cmake/Modules/Tools.cmake
@@ -34,7 +34,16 @@ if(BUILD_LAMMPS_SHELL)
   if(NOT LAMMPS_EXCEPTIONS)
     message(WARNING "The LAMMPS shell needs LAMMPS_EXCEPTIONS enabled for full functionality")
   endif()
-  add_executable(lammps-shell ${LAMMPS_TOOLS_DIR}/lammps-shell/lammps-shell.cpp)
+
+  # include resource compiler to embed icons into the executable on Windows
+  if(CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME STREQUAL "Windows")
+    enable_language(RC)
+    set(ICON_RC_FILE ${LAMMPS_TOOLS_DIR}/lammps-shell/lmpicons.rc)
+  endif()
+
+  add_executable(lammps-shell ${LAMMPS_TOOLS_DIR}/lammps-shell/lammps-shell.cpp ${ICON_RC_FILE})
+  target_include_directories(lammps-shell PRIVATE ${LAMMPS_TOOLS_DIR}/lammps-shell)
+
   # workaround for broken readline pkg-config file on FreeBSD
   if(CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME STREQUAL FreeBSD)
     target_include_directories(lammps-shell PRIVATE /usr/local/include)
diff --git a/tools/lammps-shell/icons/lammps.ico b/tools/lammps-shell/icons/lammps.ico
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..cce156bf79
Binary files /dev/null and b/tools/lammps-shell/icons/lammps.ico differ
diff --git a/tools/lammps-shell/icons/lmpfile.ico b/tools/lammps-shell/icons/lmpfile.ico
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7e1636584f
Binary files /dev/null and b/tools/lammps-shell/icons/lmpfile.ico differ
diff --git a/tools/lammps-shell/lmpicons.rc b/tools/lammps-shell/lmpicons.rc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a9da9eea17
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/lammps-shell/lmpicons.rc
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+id1 ICON icons/lammps.ico
+id2 ICON icons/lmpfile.ico