diff --git a/src/calibre/utils/windows/winutil.cpp b/src/calibre/utils/windows/winutil.cpp
index 05f7a2b83e..6070eab9ff 100644
--- a/src/calibre/utils/windows/winutil.cpp
+++ b/src/calibre/utils/windows/winutil.cpp
@@ -940,7 +940,8 @@ CALIBRE_MODINIT_FUNC PyInit_winutil(void) {
     PyModule_AddIntConstant(m, "DONT_RESOLVE_DLL_REFERENCES", DONT_RESOLVE_DLL_REFERENCES);
     PyModule_AddIntConstant(m, "LOAD_LIBRARY_AS_DATAFILE", LOAD_LIBRARY_AS_DATAFILE);
     PyModule_AddIntConstant(m, "LOAD_LIBRARY_AS_IMAGE_RESOURCE", LOAD_LIBRARY_AS_IMAGE_RESOURCE);
-    PyModule_AddStringConstant(m, "RT_GROUP_ICON", RT_GROUP_ICON);
+    PyModule_AddObject(m, "RT_GROUP_ICON", PyUnicode_FromWideChar(RT_GROUP_ICON, -1));
+    PyModule_AddObject(m, "RT_ICON", PyUnicode_FromWideChar(RT_ICON, -1));
 
     return m;
 }