Description
A simple command line tool to change the image for the Windows Vista login screen contained within imageres.dll.
It opens the image resource file image.dll within the windows system directory and then uses the native Windows-API to replace the contained images. There are a number of images for the login screen with different image resolutions according to different screen sizes and resolutions. A replacement image has to be exactly the size of the image resource that shall be replaced. Typically JPEG images are used for the Vista login screen but windows bitmaps are also possible. The NTFS filesystem permissions are automatically altered to allow manipulation of the imageres.dll file and a backup of the file is done beforehand.
The second type of contained images is for the moving circle that is displayed in front of boot messages on the login screen. These are bitmaps for different display resolutions and each shows this circle in its 18 different rotation states combined into a single image. These images can also be replaced, buto nly images in bitmap format are usable for this purpose.
e.g. 5003, 450 x 25:
→
To replace an image its resource ID and a replacement image file have to be specified.
User account control is supported, but if access to the imageres.dll is denied, you should try to disable user account control. The Vista Login Screen Changer also works with Windows 7, but there you can also configure the login screen without any additional tool.
Usage
Vista Login Screen Changer 0.3.0.0, Jun 15 2009, Florian Lutz
Usage: vlsc.exe [option] resid file
-h display this help
-l list valid image resource IDs
-e do not try to restart elevated
-r restore original imageres file
resid ID of the resource to change
file image file to use
Changes the Windows Vista login screen image contained in imageres.dll
Changeable Images
C:\> vlsc03.exe -l Background Images Moving Circle Bitmaps ID Width Height ID Width Height 5031 1280 x 1024 5000 216 x 12 5032 1280 x 960 5001 288 x 16 5033 1024 x 768 5002 360 x 20 5034 1600 x 1200 5003 450 x 25 5035 1440 x 900 5010 12 x 216 5036 1920 x 1200 5011 16 x 288 5037 1280 x 768 5012 20 x 360 5038 1360 x 768 5013 25 x 450 5039 1024 x 1280 5040 960 x 1280 5041 900 x 1440 5042 768 x 1280 5043 768 x 1360
Example
C:\> vlsc03.exe 5031 c:\bootlogo.bmp C:\Windows\system32\imageres.dll resource 5031 -> c:\bootlogo.bmp image file with resolution 1280 x 1024 changing access rights to access imagesres file the token does not have the specified privilege you must be logged on with administrator rights restarting with UAC privilege elevation C:\Windows\system32\imageres.dll resource 5031 -> c:\bootlogo.bmp image file with resolution 1280 x 1024 backup file created resource changed successfully C:\> vlsc03.exe -r C:\Windows\system32\imageres.dll restoring from backup file: C:\Windows\system32\imageres.dll.orig changing access rights to access imagesres file the token does not have the specified privilege you must be logged on with administrator rights restarting with UAC privilege elevation C:\Windows\system32\imageres.dll restoring from backup file: C:\Windows\system32\imageres.dll.orig imageres file restored successfully
Download
Binaries: vlsc03.exe
Source: vlsc-0.3-src.zip
Changelog
| Version 0.3 |
- Support for user account control - Function to restore the original file |
| Version 0.2 |
- Added icon - Fixed a bug when opening bitmap files |
| Version 0.1 |
- Initial release - Support for jpeg images - Support for bitmap images - Change file permissions before modifying DLL |
License
Vista Login Screen Changer, Copyright © 2007-2024, Florian Lutz
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files, to use the software personally without restriction.
Legal Warning
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.