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Customizing the "X" in Windows XP

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gustav

Member
Joined
Sep 27, 2003
Location
Folding in Illinois
Hello,

I was wondering if anyone might know how to customize the color of the X in most, if not all, windows in XP? Usually it is red, like this:

My_Computer.png

But for those who have BS Player and have seen the "About" page, know that the X in the window is blue, not red, like this:

BSPlayer.png

So, can anyone help me make this change, or know where I might be able to find out?

Thanks for the help. :)
 
Last edited:
I'm gonna put this out as a do at your own risk type situation since I haven't tried it, nor will I try it since I'm not interested in it. I found the bitmaps for the close button in the C:\Windows\Resources\Themes\Luna folder. Open up regedit, and open up luna.msstyles from the C:\Windows\Resources\Themes\Luna folder, scroll down to bitmaps, and in there you'll see a folder that says blue_close_button_bmp. that's the file you're gonna want to edit. Again I say this is an at your own risk type situation, and I have not tested it therefore I don't know what or if it will screw anything up. Make sure you make backups before doing any testing what-so-ever. Otherwise hope that helps you achieve your goal.
 
Suicide Al said:
I'm gonna put this out as a do at your own risk type situation since I haven't tried it, nor will I try it since I'm not interested in it. I found the bitmaps for the close button in the C:\Windows\Resources\Themes\Luna folder. Open up regedit, and open up luna.msstyles from the C:\Windows\Resources\Themes\Luna folder, scroll down to bitmaps, and in there you'll see a folder that says blue_close_button_bmp. that's the file you're gonna want to edit. Again I say this is an at your own risk type situation, and I have not tested it therefore I don't know what or if it will screw anything up. Make sure you make backups before doing any testing what-so-ever. Otherwise hope that helps you achieve your goal.

Ok...I'm a little confused. I browse to C:\Windows\Resources\Themes\Luna folder and I see the file, you're saying double click it? If I do that I get display properties on the Appearance tab and don't see bitmaps or the blue_close_button_bmp you're talking about. What does regedit have to do with it? Explain more if you can.
 
crap, i said the wrong program, I meant ResHack instead of regedit. ResHack basically looks inside the file and finds the resources that are built into the file, from there you can see what's in the file. For instance you can copy out bitmap images, change them and reinsert them into the file and they'll be changed next time you use it. What we're doing here is the same process as changing your boot logo on windows 2000, putting a new bitmap that's the same exact canvas size as the orginal in place of the orginal.
 
You need an uxtheme patch, then you can change the Luna theme.
Normally XP themes are signed and unless you are MS, you can't change a theme and sign it again. Unsigned themes are just discarded.

The buttons on the windows frames belong to the OS (GDI to be precise) itself, not programs. They aren't ressources like dialogs, icons and strings and such, so reshack won't work here.
 
klingens said:
You need an uxtheme patch, then you can change the Luna theme.
Normally XP themes are signed and unless you are MS, you can't change a theme and sign it again. Unsigned themes are just discarded.

The buttons on the windows frames belong to the OS (GDI to be precise) itself, not programs. They aren't ressources like dialogs, icons and strings and such, so reshack won't work here.

Then how did BS player make it blue?
 
My guess is that button is their coded/drawn button within an invisible (non-standard) frame and therefore doesnt use the windows standard.
For example windows media player 9 (10 too?) showed its own X in the corner but if you hovered your mouse pointer further up the screen the previously invisible menu bar and standard buttons would appear.
 
Ahhh I understand now. WMP 10 doesn't have that feature. Its redesigned and looks almost like 2000 windows, except the backgrond for minimize, maximize, and close is all the same (light blue) and the dash, box, and x are all the same color (dark blue):

WMP.png
 
Try double clicking in the top bar to the right of "Windows Media Player", it should pop up.
Figured it out a while after I posted.
 
It's just part of the Windows Theme... you can use ResHack like said above to only change that. Personally, mine is a blue gradient with a white X.

This makes me want to go change the bitmaps on someone's comp to confuse the crap out of them :p
 
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