[colecampbell666]

I've read on the internet (AlienWare website, and others) that you can make your own custom boot logo for when your PC starts. How do I accomplish this feat?

[Dark RevenantX]

Tried google lately?

[Herra Tohtori]

Stardock's bootskin works pretty well... Or, you can edit the boot config manually to show a 16-colour 640x480 still image without animation. But Bootskin is perhaps the easiest way to keep the "progress bar" animation going and still use custom boot load screen.

I'm currently using this...




Although occasionally I change it to this just for kicks...

[Bobboau]

yeah, what he said

[BloodEagle]

But Bootskin is perhaps the easiest way to keep the "progress bar" animation going and still use custom boot load screen.

What's the harder way?

[colecampbell666]

Is ObjectDesktop worth 50$? (yes, I know that BootSkin is free)

[Davros]

your motherboard has to support this feature
if it does the supplied cd will contain the program for flashing the logo into your bios

From my motherboard manual:

[Herra Tohtori]

What's the harder way?

Well... you can modify the BOOT.INI file from Start->Run->msconfig... you need to enable /NOGUIBOOT (which disables the standard image and animated progress bar that are actually embedded to the Windows NT kernel), and add an argument /bootlogo to the list of boot arguments, to tell the system to use a provided bitmap image as boot logo instead.

Then you need to put a 16-colour bitmap file named boot.bmp into your Windows folder. Then the system will use that image when you boot the PC. IT isn't really hard, but it lacks the animation and it more laborous than installing the BootSkin or equivalent freeware program.


There is a third option, though - editing the WinNT kernel file (ntoskrnl.exe) with some tools, and replace the bitmaps 1, 8 and 10 embedded to that file with customized ones (1 is the main image, 8 is the progress bar chunks that move, and 10 is . IIRC they need to use the same palette as the old files (unless you want to edit the palette ALSO, which is embedded elsewhere into another system file as hex code), and I wouldn't really bother doing this. Besides, it's apparently illegal... Microsoft EULA forbids you to replace the Windows logo with your own. BootSkin and the method above do not replace the Windows logo in the kernel file, they override it AFAIK. So that's not illegal.

These are the ways I can think of. Some MOBO's apparently have trouble with BootSkin, but if it works it's the easiest way to customize your boot screen and it's free as well. So that's what I'm using.


Customizing the POST screen logo is another can of worms altogether...

[BloodEagle]

Do you install Bootskin, or is it a self-contained program?

[Herra Tohtori]

It does make registry entries and has an installer, so I'd say it isn't a self-contained program lie portable Firefox and such. I do not know exactly what it does to change the boot screen graphics, but it works fine and the bootskin manager is extremely simple, user-friendly and functional.

[colecampbell666]

Once you install the StarDock programs and change things, the changes stay in effect even after the program is uninstalled. This doesn't appear to be the case with WindowBlinds Free, though.

Once again:

Is ObjectDesktop worth 50$? (yes, I know that BootSkin is free)

[Herra Tohtori]

I would not pay for a program that changes the visual appearance of my computer's graphical user interface. Freeware is cool, as well as modifications I can do (and fix) myself, but I don't consider pretty GUI worth using money to achieve it.

That's just my view on the matter, obviously. Whether or not ObjectDesktop is worth 50$ for you, I cannot determine.

[colecampbell666]

I think that it would only be good for someone who used that stuff a lot; graphical designers, people who made a living off of desktop design, etc etc.