How to: Customize XP's Desktop+bootscreens+more. Use 0 Resources, FREE

In this little tutorial, i hope to share with you how to customize XP's desktop for almost FREE, and using next to 0 resources. Also, the boot screen and comming soon, the login screen. The reason i include for FREE, is why pay a few bucks for software that ends up taking up recources, gets outdated, and forcing you to buy more, when a few little manual tweaks, which are legal, can enable you to it all for free, without any of these worries?

I. Visual Styles

Im sure many of us have wanted to fully customize the visual styles of XP other than the Luna Theme or Windows Classic, for free. There are some programs out there that can do that for us, which can be costly and a hog on resources, such as:

Windows Blinds: Ive tried this program. It is nice, uses small .bmps and .gifs to mask buttons and windows in XP. Problem with this is, its a resource hog even on your strongest machines. Plus, it costs.

StyleXP: This program i kind of liked. It applied actual styles to XP,
opposed to the small pictures, and you could easily change your boot screen within it. This thing does take up small resources, and id reccommend it over windows Blinds any day.

What I use: I use a little patcher. It patches uxtheme.dll in winxp, which allows you to install themes to XP. This little tool can be found at:

http://freethemes.forthnet.gr/preview/310804.html

The instructions on tis site forget something ive learned from trial and error, so ill include how i do it.

1. If you going to install SP1, Install it first!. Do this after.
2. Uninstall any version of StyleXP, Windows blinds, or anything similar.
3. Remove any CD's (especially the XP CD) from your drives.
4. Boot up in SAFE MODE.
5. Run the patch. Click "Patch". Ignore any errors you may get. They mean nothing.
6. Reboot in Normal Mode.

Ok so now we have our patch applied. Now to get rid of those ugly XP styles.

Head on over to www.themexp.org

To the left under "Categories" Click on visual styles. Browse through them until you find one you like, then download it. Ok, its going to be a .zip file. You will find a file in there that ends in ".msstyles". Extract all the files (INCLUDING the .msstyles) to C:\Windows\Resources\Themes if it has a folder with it, just place the folder in C:\windows\resources\themes

Now right click on your desktop and click "Properties" on the first screen that says "Themes", click the scroll box. If youve done this correctly, you will now see your new theme listed. Simply click on it, then click apply.

You are now running Non-microsoft themes, WITHOUT taking up resources or using 3rd party apps.

If your style only applies wallpaper, or the taskbar shows up as a different color and resembles win9x/ME, the patch may have not been applied properly.

There are some visual styles on there that replace explorer.exe such as the longhorn themes, and Blackbox, which makes your computer similar to a KDE environment, only all black. Ive never tried these, but when i do i will get back to you on how to add/remove them.

For you people still running style xp, the themes from Themexp.org are intended for StyleXP

ICONS- Some of these come with visual styles. They usually apply themselves when used. I will have more on this later on how to make your own

CURSORS. You can find mouse coursors all over. Download them, place them in a folder that will not get deleted. Go to your control panel and click on mouse. On the tab on the top, click on Pointers. Simply click on "Browse" and find the cursor of your choice.


WINMAC- Alittle tool i found in a PCmagazine CD. This little freeware program can add the Mac bar to the top of your screen. It can hide the taskbar, as well as do most of the othe rmac functions (i think?). Im not a mac user myself, but i have a machine setup using a mac OS style + winmac for my little sisters, since its all they know. They cant seem to find a difference, yet theyre not hardcore mac users, just elementru school students.

WinMac can be found here : http://winmac.emuunlim.com/
Note: The screenshots show it skinning the whole OS. From my experiences, it doesnt do such a thing. But thats ok, thats what the Uxtheme.dll hack is for.

II. Bootscreens

Im sure if we all think back to win9x-ME, Changing your bootscreen was a peice of cake. Just rename Logo.sys to Logo.bmp and have fun in paint. But in win XP/2k this isnt as easy. I have not tested this on 2k however, so im only sure its works on XP 100%. In order to get a new bootscreen, you have to modify NTOSKRNL.EXE. The slightest mistake can either render your system unusable, or the damaged ntoskrnl will be replaced by the old one. Again, if your going to install service pack 1 DO THIS FIRST.

Head on over to: http://www.bootxp.net/

Download BOOTXP. Bootxp isnt completely free, you can run it without a liscense, but a little box in the corner will remain on your bootscreens saying "BootXP" and/or the price. This isnt such a big deal and the program isnt THAT expensive. So if you like it, id reccommend buying it.

When you first start BootXp, you will receive a message asking you which OS line to modify. For you single OS people this is no big deal. Just click ok. For us dual boot people, make sure you click on XP and NOT linux or win9x.It will say it has made a copy of the boot.ini. Dont freak out this is normal.

Go back to www.themexp.org and look for Bootscreens.

Download one of your choice.

1. Extract the .zip to a directory.
2. Open up bootxp.
3. Drag the .bmp of your choice to the window titled "Bootscreens". Your .bmp should now show up in the left window.
4. You can also select an alternate progress bar. Usually these come in the .zip files. Browse to find the progress bar of your choice and click OK.
5. Click preview bootscreen. If youve done this correctly, you will now see a small screen with your bitmap and a progress bar scrolling. This is how your machine will appear at the next startup.

IMPORTANT!!!

If you dont listen and try to install SP1 after this, it WILL NOT INSTALL. What you will have to do is go to C:\ and find files named BOOT.BXP. and BOOT.INI Swap the filename extensions. This will also undo your modifyed bootscreens.

Basically here, your bringing your old boot.ini back to life by renaming boot.bxp to boot.ini, IE BOOT.BXP--> BOOT.INI

Also, if for some reason you need to run a windows repair, or upgrade, you MUST rename the file extensions. If you dont, your system will get so far within the process, and just blank out. Booting will be no option and you will have to reformat (i found this out the hard way myself).

If this happens to you, depending on how far the process got, you may be able to recover it within the recovery console on the XP CD.

III. Login Screens

OK, this can be alittle scary. In my experiences, ive had NO problems.

Go over here and download this free utility:
http://logonloader.danielmilner.com/download.php

The author of this program recommends the following places to get your login screens:

http://logonloader.danielmilner.com/get_logon_screens.php

Now i got sucked in and the one login screen i downloaded (Led Zeppelin) had SaveNow and some other spyware....so i had to spybot that out. The free utility does NOT have spyware.

Its rather simple. Download and unzip the login of your choice. To make things easy, extract it to C:\WINDOWS\Resources.

Open up Longin loader, click Set Login screen, browse to the .exe of your choice, and there you go.


IV. Fonts

Windows does not come with enough fonts. That simple.
If you go to

www.fontface.com
www.highfonts.com

you can find many free fonts for download. Or google it, but many font

places ask for money/memberships, when u can find the same fonts for free.

Fonts usually come in .zip files as well. Usually, dont bother extracting these. Theres usually junk text files or other folders in them. Double click on the .zip, find your font. It will be titled fontname.ttf. Cut and paste the font from the .zip to C:\WINDOWS\FONTS . do NOT add any subfolders to this, because it doesnt always work out.

EDIT: I take that back. Ive noticed after having thousands of fonts, xp boots SLOW!. ive read placing the fonts in a folder !=C/windows/fonts, then a shortcut to that folder in C;win, fonts, will allow u to use the fonts in multimedia apps, but not slow ur comp down.



Well i hope this little tutorial has helped you to mod your XP desktop to your liking. I will include login screens, icons, and how to make your own bootscreens, icons, themes, cursors, and login screens once i learn the experience. If i have made any mistakes, or someone has something theyd like to add please correct me, or add what you like. Any requests on desktop software is welcome too. Im only one pereson, i dont know it all.

STICKY!!! STICKY!!! STICKY!!!

And here's a guide for the boot screen hack.

I smell something funny? Is it... I think it is! ITS STICKYNESS!!!

great work

abitavenger

lol thank you all

I still love my Windowblinds, but I have to hand it to you for the awesome how to

There's a free program that's a LOT harder to use then BootXP (called Resource Hacker) but if people don't like the idea of it screwing with their art, they can give it a very careful try.

STICKY!!!
JigPu

wow....yea ive messed with resource hacker....lol little different....i just got another PC for my room and was forced to put win98 on it due a video editing card i have...ive heard of customizing 9x machines in similar ways, so ill work on this as well..

OK, as promised....

ICONS!

Well, first off, you can download many icon themes and apply them yourself. Some places i like are
http://www.topicons.com/
http://www.iconarchive.com/

Pc World and Tech TV also have many free sets for download.

Now, for some of us premade icons are ok. But for those who want to COMPLETELY customize your desktop, read on.

Go over to

http://www.freewarefiles.com/programs.php?programID=3156&categoryid=2&subcategoryid=4

and download this program. Yes, it is a 100% free icon editor. It doesnt have all those fancy effects like some of the costly ones, but honestly, who needs dithering and blending and ability to apply photoshop filters on something the size of a coin?

Its pretty self explanatory, you draw your icon in the grid provided. Once your satisfyed with your icon, you can save it. This saves it as a ".ico" extension. But if for some reason you want it for other purposes, you can export as a .gif or .bmp.

Now what about grabbing part of a .bmp thats already made? This little tool here: http://www.zdnetindia.com/downloads/info/2842505.html

I love this program. VERY tiny, no need to install. I just run it from a .zip folder on my zip drive. It will allow you to take small snapshots from your existing .bmp's. Keep in mind your limited to 256 Colors, so if its an actual photo it may be quite distorted.

Basically, how you do it is, move the little square over the part of the picture you like, and click. It will now be still. Go up to FILE and click save. It will automatically set the selected region as a .ico.

Alright so now youve made your icons in either program, and you want to apply them right? Well, first, we'll do the easy ones.

SHORTCUTS: Right click on the shortcut of your choice
1. Click on the Shortcut tab, to the right of general if not already selected
2. Click "Change Icon"
3. Browse to where you have saved your icons from the program.
4. Double click on it. It will now show up in the box below. Click on it and click apply. Your shortcut icon is now changed.


SYSTEM ICONS:

1. Right click anywhere on your desktop and click Properties
2. Click the Destop Tab next to themes
3. On the bottom left, click on Customize Desktop
4. Click on the icon you wish to change, then click "Change Icon".
5. Browse to where you saved your icon, double click, and you now have changed your system icon.

If you mess it up or wish to go back, simply click "Restore to default"


Hope this part helps!

OK its been awhile, ive been really busy to sit down and just play with XP. Been learning linux lately, M$ isnt my friend. Im learning reshack right now though. But a few friends of mine still dont know how to customize the boot screen in win9x/ME. So for them, and others running win9x/ME here it is:

I beleive its in C:\Windows\Sytem, if not do a search for the file logo.sys and make a copy of it. Rename your copy to logo.bmp and open it in your favorite photo editor. The dimensions are 640x480 in 256 colors. The bottom set of 5 (i think it might be higher) pixels is set to scroll. So what ever you put on the bottom will scroll upon boot.

Once you have edited this bitmap to your liking, rename it back to logo.sys. Now, swap your edited logo.sys with the original logo.sys and there you go, next time you boot, your moded boot screen will be what you want.

Simple huh?

Note: for you people dual booting with linux, it is in my experience (especially with knoppix and mandrake), it will automatically see logo.sys as an image without changing the extension. I reccommend changing it anyways to keep on the safe side. Also, i prefer to use the gimp when toying with this. Some people go overkill and use photoshop, Paint Shop Pro and such. Just keep in mind, its 256 colors, so any image you insert will have distorted colors.

Hopefully next post will be RESHACK.

uxtheme.dll for XP SP2!

Ok guys, sorry for the long time in between. I know many of you want to try xp sp2, and find it fixes our little uxtheme.dll hack. Well im here to correct that.
1. Make sure you already installed SP2
2. Go here and download the NEW uxtheme.dll.
http://www.tcmagazine.net/downloadget.php?id=56&file=1&evp=58fed8e77f9276466ed31d9991d1c383

Its a .rar, so you need winrar or winace...etc..

3.Extract it to a temporary directory and rename it from uxtheme.dll TO uxtheme1.dll
4. Copy uxtheme1.dll to C:\Windows\system32

Ok heres the tricky part. We have to boot into the recovery console of the windows XP CD.

5. Insert your windows XP CD, and reboot your computer. Make sure your configured to boot from CDROM. Once you boot into the windows setup, you will be able to choose "Repair an existing installation with recovery console". You press R to get here. So do so.

You will be thrown to a black screen similar to DOS. You will then have to choose which OS, usually its 1., but those of us multibooting have to choose the correct OS.

By NO MEANS do most of the DOS commands work here. DONT MESS AROUND. ONLY follow my steps.
6. At the C:\WINDOWS> type CD system32. This should put you into the folder of C:\windows\system32
7. at the C:\WINDOWS\system32> type ren uxtheme.dll uxthemeA.dll
it might ask a yes or no or confirmation. Tell it yes.
8. At the C:\WINDOWS\system32> , type ren uxtheme1.dll uxtheme.dll

9. At the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 type EXIT. This will reboot your computer.

Now just reapply your previous themes and there you go!

PM if i have the wrong syntax or anything ill correct it.

AWESOME tutorial! gets my vote for a sticky

STICKY ACTION REQUIRED!

im bookmarking this too!!

Mac OSX Dock!

I know for linux we have Superkaramba and plugins to get the Mac OSX dock. I found a version for windows XP. Its in its early development, and has some issues, but its pretty good. It can even notify you when u get mail in you POP3 account, which i find very useful.

http://www.mobydock.com/

i will agree that the aqua theme is more appealing to the eye. Im just too used to the startup bar to keep with Winmac only. If mac had a dark scheme, like my eshock theme i have now, id definently stick with it.

And now with that idea i may just make my own.

Glad to help you out guys!


EDIT: Take a look above, ive added to the login screens.


I need your opinions!

Ive found something called LiteStep. Completely GPL liscensing. What it does is, replaces eplorer.exe. Basically its a bunch of new shells for windows. Its quite complicated however, but once i learn it i will try my best to teach you guys how to use it. The best thing is, it runs on all win platforms. The other thing is, your windows will remain the same from explorer.exe, but i beleive these can be skinned still the old way.

Theres another one i found called serenade. It looks less complicated and is also a shell replacement.
Serenade example:
http://www.customize.org/details/29272

lightstep example
http://www.customize.org/list/ls/30/5/

Talisman was the 3rd shell extension or replacement i found....check it out here
http://www.customize.org/list/talisman

I was gonna go litestep, simply because thats the first one i saw and you can create your own...but then i saw these other ones. The thing here is, you are going WAY farther than just skinning it. Thing about litestep i liked was you could create your own functions, actions and controls. These others are simpler to install though, but i am not as familiar with them as i am litestep.

Gimme some feedback guys. Thanx in advance.

ya can this be stickied, cause i was actually looking for this a while back and couldn't find it cause i suck at using the search button

thanks for the guide, it was very helpfull, espescially the service pack 2 thing.

i was trying to modify my boot screen the hard way, by modifying ntoskrnl.exe manually ( i saw this on tech tv: http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/windowstips/story/0,24330,3650437,00.html), but my modified bootscreen never appears.
i was thinking it probably has something to do with me using service pack 2. the menu to choose which OS to use apears and i choose my modified one, but it seems to try it, then it goes to the default one. you seem to be getting pretty far into this UI stuff, so i was wondering if you had any tips on how to modify the boot screen manually.

do the explorer.exe replacements use up more resources? if it does, ill probably jsut stick with a modified theme.

i have been using the mobydock program, and it gets errors frequently, but other than the frequent problems, it seems to function nicely, and would be exactly what i was looking for.

hmm...well i do not know at this time if it uses more resources....i will have that info for you later tonite hopefully, as i am going to try out litestep. If it does i dont think ill go too deeply into it, since this is for 0resource useage, which i realize ive broken already with WinMac, the dock bar, and any external processes. I have used shell replacements, and havent seen any slowdown. Having our powerful rigs i dont think were going to notice any problems. If you can run the luna theme fine, then it seems these replacements will work nicely. If your trying to cram XP on a 200mhz with 64megs of ram, dont even bother lol

As for your SP2 problem, first off, why do you want to edit it manually? Just wondering. Everyone has their own way. Also, it must be working to an extent if your not getting BSOD right away. I assume it is SP2 right now, so i will work on that. The reason i dont mess with doing it manually, is because i run a dually and my NTOSKRNL.exe is different from single CPU machines, so it must be compiled just right. Ive messed it up before through reshack, and ended up with an unbootable system on both my dually and test rigs. I then end up going thru recovery console and restoring my original ntoskrnl.exe, and in some cases found the machine still wont function. The reason i guess is because of XPs safety feature, that if a major file is deleted, it will regenerate itself.

And just a dumb idea, u try the other OS on the OS boot choice menu? Once in a while XP confuses it. If you get it right on the other OS boot, turn off the boot menu. If you need to know taht get back to me ill walk ya thru it gladly.

Personally i dont have SP2 installed on my main rig. A little girl asked me to fix her laptop she got for free (1.6 ghz p4...its nuts!!!) and im not going to be able to give it back for awhile since she moved. So i installed SP2 on there for best security. Ill give the bootscreen a test on there though. It wouldnt surprise me if that is the problem, being sp2. If it is, im SURE ill find a way around it.

Hah, ive got to say i am flattered with the requests for a sticky. I figured people may have messed with this before and it would be either shot down or moved to the windows tweak section. I just started it because people post things alot of times just to help otherse, and i wanted to do the same. Also so i could send my freinds to a simple online tutorial. Ill get back to you guys on litestep tonite.

i also tried downloading and using the custom boot screens on themexp.org. they come with a modified ntoskrnl.exe which you use the same way as i was trying to do. i have only tried with 1 of them so far, and instead of just going back to the default, it says something about NTfs.exe not being installed.

im not sure why it wouldnt work the way i did it above, since i took a copy of the current ntoskrnl.exe, changed the bitmaps, and made a new one.

thanks for the help.

hah oh im not done zip22 ill figure it out. Why are you doing it manually though? just not wanting to install a 3rd party app? Using the app is usually better since it almost always creates the correct Ntoskrnl.exe , where as compiling it could have problems.

yeah, i dont like having a bunch of apps, but if i cant get it to work this way, then i might go with one of them

edit: also, i dont really wanna pay for stuff

totally understand man. But, i do use all free apps. Those links above SHOULD all still be free. If the one you are looking for isnt, then let me know i will update them.

I used litestep....it looks really nice, but im having problems. I think the only reason im having issues is because im a dual monitor person as well, and since my vision is poor and messed up, having my primary monitor on the right is a must....and litestep only supports it on the left...i

But for all you single monitor people, it truly is nice. I suggest you check it out. If you dont like it you can easily revert back to explorer.exe

Once i figure out the multimonitor scripting i will post it. It must work perfectly for me under all conditions before i release it to you guys.