diff --git a/scripts/build-appimage.sh b/scripts/build-appimage.sh
index 79ebdcf..cabe6cf 100755
--- a/scripts/build-appimage.sh
+++ b/scripts/build-appimage.sh
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ APP_DIR="$BUILD_DIR/$APP_NAME.AppDir"
 
 PYTHON="${PYTHON:-python3}"
 PIP="${PIP:-pip3}"
+VENV_DIR="$BUILD_DIR/venv"
 
 ARCH="${ARCH:-x86_64}"
 APPIMAGE_OUTPUT="$PROJECT_DIR/$APP_NAME-${ARCH}.AppImage"
@@ -37,9 +38,6 @@ check_deps() {
             missing+=("$cmd")
         fi
     done
-    if ! "$PYTHON" -c "import PyInstaller" 2>/dev/null; then
-        missing+=("pyinstaller (pip install pyinstaller)")
-    fi
     if [ ${#missing[@]} -gt 0 ]; then
         err "Missing dependencies: ${missing[*]}"
         exit 1
@@ -47,10 +45,15 @@ check_deps() {
 }
 
 install_pyinstaller() {
-    if ! "$PYTHON" -c "import PyInstaller" 2>/dev/null; then
-        info "Installing PyInstaller..."
-        "$PIP" install pyinstaller
+    if [ -f "$VENV_DIR/bin/python" ] && "$VENV_DIR/bin/python" -c "import PyInstaller" 2>/dev/null; then
+        return 0
     fi
+    info "Creating virtual environment..."
+    "$PYTHON" -m venv --copies "$VENV_DIR"
+    info "Installing PyInstaller and dependencies..."
+    "$VENV_DIR/bin/pip" install pyinstaller
+    # Install project dependencies for bundling
+    "$VENV_DIR/bin/pip" install -r "$PROJECT_DIR/requirements.txt"
 }
 
 download_appimagetool() {
@@ -73,14 +76,14 @@ build_appdir() {
 
     info "Running PyInstaller..."
     cd "$PROJECT_DIR"
-    "$PYTHON" -m PyInstaller \
+    "$VENV_DIR/bin/pyinstaller" \
         --onedir \
         --name "$APP_NAME" \
         --distpath "$APP_DIR/usr/bin" \
         --workpath "$BUILD_DIR/pybuild" \
         --specpath "$BUILD_DIR" \
-        --add-data "src:src" \
-        --paths src \
+        --add-data "$PROJECT_DIR/src:$APP_NAME/src" \
+        --paths "$PROJECT_DIR/src" \
         --hidden-import PyQt6.QtMultimedia \
         --hidden-import PyQt6.QtMultimediaWidgets \
         --collect-all PyQt6 \
@@ -123,11 +126,13 @@ APPRUN
 }
 
 create_icon() {
-    # Generate a simple SVG icon or use a placeholder
     local icon="$APP_DIR/$APP_NAME.png"
-    # Create a minimal 256x256 PNG using Python + Pillow if available
-    if "$PYTHON" -c "from PIL import Image" 2>/dev/null; then
-        "$PYTHON" -c "
+    local py="$VENV_DIR/bin/python3"
+    if [ ! -f "$py" ]; then
+        py="$PYTHON"
+    fi
+    if "$py" -c "from PIL import Image" 2>/dev/null; then
+        "$py" -c "
 from PIL import Image, ImageDraw
 img = Image.new('RGBA', (256, 256), (0, 0, 0, 0))
 draw = ImageDraw.Draw(img)
@@ -170,8 +175,8 @@ main() {
     echo -e "${CYAN}========================================${NC}"
     echo ""
 
-    check_deps
     install_pyinstaller
+    check_deps
     mkdir -p "$BUILD_DIR"
     download_appimagetool
     build_appdir