Windows 7 to officially support logon UI background customization

By Nemo Live
in The Fast Ring (Insider Previews)

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pasty2k2

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Posted

Has anyone actually got this to work?

My laptop is 1920x1200, so I got a1920x1200 image in JPG format, named it both backgroundDefault.jpg and background1920x1200.jpg. Ive checked the reg entry, run it under admin privs, the lot - no dice.

One thing I also tried is that I noticed in the article Rafael labelled the files slightly differently for some reason.

look closely at the filenames - they are background1920x1200.jpg. Look at the X character - its not an "ex", but a multiply sign (not in this post, check the article). Copy it into notepad and type a lowercase X next to it, youll see what I mean. I tried calling the file that as well, with the multiply sign instead, but no luck.

Anyone got any ideas? The images are definitely pixel-perfect for sizing, the reg key enabled, and the files in the correct place, triple checked.

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DerAusgewanderte

Posted
Posted
  pasty2k2 said:
Has anyone actually got this to work?

My laptop is 1920x1200, so I got a1920x1200 image in JPG format, named it both backgroundDefault.jpg and background1920x1200.jpg. Ive checked the reg entry, run it under admin privs, the lot - no dice.

One thing I also tried is that I noticed in the article Rafael labelled the files slightly differently for some reason.

look closely at the filenames - they are background1920x1200.jpg. Look at the X character - its not an "ex", but a multiply sign (not in this post, check the article). Copy it into notepad and type a lowercase X next to it, youll see what I mean. I tried calling the file that as well, with the multiply sign instead, but no luck.

Anyone got any ideas? The images are definitely pixel-perfect for sizing, the reg key enabled, and the files in the correct place, triple checked.

I had similar problems. If you check the properties of the image it needs to be 96dpi and 24bit. resolution unit is not shown for the ones that work in my case. If you take one of the background images from the web folder under windows and resize that to exactly your screen resolution with ms office picture manager it should work. did for me.

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pasty2k2

Posted
Posted

The image is 24bit/96dpi.

However, I have my DPI setting at Medium now, because the screen is only 17" and is tiny. Will try resetting this, but I dont think its dependant on it, just an idea.

Nope, no good.

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DerAusgewanderte

Posted
Posted
  pasty2k2 said:
Also tried using a windows\web image, which are already 1920x1200 and 24bit/96dpi, no luck.

here is what I found. when I take the image from the given website at the correct resolution it won't work. but when I download a higher resolution and resize it in ms office picture manager to the correct screen res then it works. don't ask me why, but that's how I got it to work. for me the wallpapers from windows work since I have to run them through the picture manager as well. I bet if you grab a higher resolution from the web and resize it will work.

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DerAusgewanderte

Posted
Posted
  pasty2k2 said:
Also tried using a windows\web image, which are already 1920x1200 and 24bit/96dpi, no luck.

just read the original article again and it was updated. I was just lucky with these :). the image cannot be larger than 256kb.

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JoseyWales

Posted
Posted (edited)

ok, so that works. finallllllllllllly...sheesh!

i deleted the info/backgrounds folder i created in syswow and it still worked. so we just need to add the info/background folder in sys32.

so follow the guide by Rafael on his within windows site at http://www.withinwindows.com/ . the key should be in the reg allready HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\LogonUI\Background . set it to 1 of course. i didnt have the info/backgrounds folder in system32/oobe so i had to add it. i then put in the picture that i resized with office picture manager. i resized it to the size of my desktop-1920x1200. i named it background1920x1200 as a .jpg. and put it in the backgrounds folder %windir%\system32\oobe\info\backgrounds.

so thier it is. working. if you want it to load with any desktop size you will need to add the same pic resized to all the resolutions that your monitor will handle. me, i stay at 1920x1200, so i wont load the rest. dont need em. if i tweak someones system later on ill add em all. just so it wont screw up if they change the desktop res and reboot.

just had a thought. i need to at least add the one for booting into safe mode. so add an 800x600 also fo safe mode. 800x600 in vista and 7, i think? what ever the res is....

Edited by billstelling
Mentor

JoseyWales

Posted
Posted

quote--- just read the original article again and it was updated. I was just lucky with these . the image cannot be larger than 256kb.---end

might not need office picture manager.....ill have to try one thats under 256.

he added that. thanks J.....

Proficient

pasty2k2

Posted
Posted

Aha. Thats gotta be it then!

Im not moaning, but that really, really sucks. 256kb? Why is there a limit at all?

It is brand spanking new though, and isnt meant to be seen by us underdogs yet, so I wont blame them yet - just hoping that theyll remove this limit.

Now I need to find a cool pic thats 1920x1200 and is less than 256kb. Is there any way I can reduce JPG filesizes (by increasing compression im guessing) without having to use Office Picture Manager? I dont have that installed nor do I have a copy of Office at hand at the moment to test this out with.

Collaborator

DerAusgewanderte

Posted
Posted
  pasty2k2 said:
Aha. Thats gotta be it then!

Im not moaning, but that really, really sucks. 256kb? Why is there a limit at all?

It is brand spanking new though, and isnt meant to be seen by us underdogs yet, so I wont blame them yet - just hoping that theyll remove this limit.

Now I need to find a cool pic thats 1920x1200 and is less than 256kb. Is there any way I can reduce JPG filesizes (by increasing compression im guessing) without having to use Office Picture Manager? I dont have that installed nor do I have a copy of Office at hand at the moment to test this out with.

photoshop or any other decent image editing program like gimp should allow you to change the jpeg quality when you save as... This doesn't work in office picture manager (it probably uses a default).

worked for me with photoshop. had to go smaller than jpeg quality setting of 8 for some.

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DerAusgewanderte

Posted
Posted
  xJakex said:
Yeah i can't seem to get it to work on my monitor, it's 1280x800. I have everything set-up correctly. I wonder if it's because my monitor isn't supported as shown in the article..

I have the same resolution that you got on my Dell Inspiron E1505/6400. It's working fine.

Proficient

pasty2k2

Posted
Posted

Argh! I cant get this damn thing to work :p

What a pain. Tried GIMPing it to 253kb, set it to backgrounddefault and 1920x1200. Those are the only 2 images in that info/backgrounds directory. The key is on. Both images are the same. Both are 24 bit, 96dpi on both vertical and horizontal axis. Both are labelled with .JPG, not .JPEG just in case. My Windows DPI setting is at normal.

Anyone got any ideas or am I gonna have to ignore this feature until a later build?

Proficient

pasty2k2

Posted
Posted

Got it, but its 1280x800, is that going to work for me? My res is 1920x1200. It scales to it, but if theres a 1920x1200 option Im wondering why it has to. Will try this one though anyway - thanks dude.

No dice mate. It was 400kb odd, so I GIMP'd it to 235kb, no go.

I know im probably getting on everyones nerves now, but as a last resort, anyone mind sending me a confirmed working image please :D

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Penryn

Posted
Posted

This is what Windows should have been. All Windows features should let up to the end users to decide to customize whther they want it on nor off. I'm, glad that Micosoft is on the right track with Windows 7. Hoep they will surprise me even more when the final version launch.

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