Some windows XP hacking

[ecoli]

Yeah' date=' it is. There's a couple ways, you can either use the task manager to kill explorer.exe, then use the rec. hacker to save a new version, and start a new instance of explorer.exe... or you can follow the directions on the link above to change the actual shell file (exe) loaded. I like the second option myself.

 

Anyways, those are the only two ways I know of, but there are probably a bunch more out there.[/quote']

 

ah, I see what you mean. but the one you liked isn't working, so why don't you just use the other method?

[Callipygous]

speaking of that tutorial... any idea how to get that pallet for the gimp? i dont have photoshop : P

[calbiterol]

ah, I see what you mean. but the one you liked isn't working, so why don't you just use the other method?

 

Ahh, oh contraire. The one I found by something like trial and error didn't work, and the second one (from the website) which DOES work, is the one I like better anyway. So, long story short, simple misunderstanding, and my bad on the bad choice of words.

[5614]

wait... you mean you named the new file "explorer.exe" , after you changed the start menu name with res hacker? You have to come up with a new name, save it, then redirect the source file of the start menu using the system registry.

I'm not sure if that's a question or not... either way it is right! Actually, maybe you are answering Callipygous's question... ah, whatever!

 

Remember your new registry telling the computer to open explorerNEW.exe instead of the old explorer.exe can be seen as malware/spyware by programs such as Adaware, do NOT delete it because then your computer will not know to load explorerNEW.exe or explorer.exe, it will do nothing.

 

This isn't actually so bad, because it will load My Computer from which you can access the registry and replace the registry you just deleted, but still, just don't delete it in the 1st place!

 

Callipygous: You need a program which can import palletes such as Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop... if you don't have either then download the demo for either!

[ecoli]

you should back up the explorer.exe file' date=' same name, but store it somewhere else on the harddrive... I think that's what the website said.

 

 

 

see for yourself....

 

[img']http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v492/ledflyd/search.jpg[/img]

 

it seems that this post got lost in the change of topics...

[Callipygous]

Callipygous: You need a program which can import palletes such as Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop... if you don't have either then download the demo for either!

 

 

the gimp cant do that? pretty disappointing...

 

i downloaded photo shop, its showing a negative image... ??

[Callipygous]

when i open up ntos, i have 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,13,14,15.

 

no ten, which is one he mentions...

[ecoli]

neither did I, which is why I gave up on that one...

[5614]

i downloaded photo shop, its showing a negative image... ??

Have you imported the correct pallete?

 

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I still have 10, which is weird that you guys dont. Maybe it has change in winXP SP2 (I'm still running SP1).

 

Either way its 1 which you really want to edit.

 

9 which is what you are missing is the the green progress bar used by XP Home... either you have XP Prof or it's changed in winXP SP2

 

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A good second guide is here:

http://www.geocities.com/thejjoelc/XPbootcolors.html

although it still includes the same numbers.

 

=====

 

You could always disable the boot screen entirely by:

 

1. Edit boot.ini

2. Add " /noguiboot" right after "/fastdetect".

 

So that at the end of it you end up with a boot.ini that looks like:

 

[boot loader]
timeout=30default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /noguiboot

 

==[edit]==

 

Found this:

/BOOTLOGO

Use this switch to have Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 display an installable splash screen instead of the standard splash screen. First, create a 16-color (any 16 colors) 640x480 bitmap and save it in the Windows directory with the name Boot.bmp. Then add "/bootlogo /noguiboot" to the boot.ini selection.

from here:

http://www.sysinternals.com/Information/bootini.html

I like this method, it works very well and is simple.

[Callipygous]

i think its the correct pallete.... i downloaded both of the ones he linked to, loaded the one paintshop recognized.

[5614]

ooh yeah, mines like that too... just ignore that (prob windows being stupid or sumin)... I think scrap the ntoskrnl, the method I edited into my last post is way better in many respects.

 

1) Create a 640 x 480 image file

2) Save it as a 16 bit .bmp file called "boot.bmp" (without the "")

3) Place it into the Windows directory e.g. c:\windows

4) Edit c:\boot.ini so the bit at the end reads:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect /bootlogo /noguiboot

you can edit the bit in the "" (ie. MS winXP etc.) to say whatever you want (but remember to leave the "" in there!) so you could edit it like this:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="5614's OS (winXP)" /fastdetect /bootlogo /noguiboot

but you don't generally see this text anywhere so it makes little/no difference.

 

There's no need to leave room for the progress/loading/scrolling bar that is in the default boot screen, all that you'll see is what is in that .bmp you just saved.

 

I am going to see what happens if you use a 24bit .bmp file instead of the crappy 16bit file, will post results.

 

NB: Please note if your boot.ini shows something different like:

multi(0)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect 

(Note the different numbers in the brackets) then you must NOT alter those numbers at all ever! It's only the bit at the end you are changing ie. adding /bootlogo /noguiboot

 

[edit] 24bit .bmp files do not work at all for the boot logo, don't bother trying it, it just turns out all screwed up!

[Callipygous]

when i restarted it changed it back... ??

how can i make it stay?

[Callipygous]

no one knows why it changed it all back or how i can make it stay? O.o

[H2SO4]

whatr happens if you edit your boot screen and do it incorrectly? Will lyour computer fail to boot or just keep gouing past the boot screen anyway?

[calbiterol]

depends on how you do it. One of the ways, I would imagine it would just bypass placing the screen up and boot the computer. The other, it probably wouldn't load - you'd have to go to setup or the boot menu, or boot from an .iso.

[5614]

Callipygous: What have you done? What are you trying to change?

 

Have you made the 16 bit C:\Windows\Boot.bmp ?

Have you edited the boot.ini file so it has /bootlogo /noguiboot at the end?

 

H2SO4: Like calbiterol said it depends how you do it. If you follow what I said in post #36 (editing the boot.ini file) then all that will happen is the screen will go black until windows has loaded and then it will all be normal.

[Callipygous]

i opened up explorer.exe.

 

changed some stuff like the start button and menu, then closed explorer, replaced with the changed version and started it up. it makes the changes until i restart.

[5614]

Open explorer.exe in resource hacker

 

Do your changes

 

Click 'compiler script' (if required, which it is when changing the start menu)

 

File > Save as and save the changes... make sure to save it in c:\windows

 

Edit the registry so that it automatically loads your new explorer which can be found here:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows NT\ CurrentVersion\ Winlogon

(it's called Shell and you want to change it from "explorer.exe" to "explorerNEW.exe" that is if when you clicked save as in resource hacker you called it explorernew.exe... if you called it Callipygous then you want Shell to read Callipygous.exe

 

Tutorial can be found here:

http://www.theeldergeek.com/change_text_on_xp_start_button.htm

(it does work!)