Windows 7 to officially support logon UI background customization

By Nemo Live
in The Fast Ring (Insider Previews)

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Lord Ba'al

Posted
Posted

I finally got the custom background working, but it was a real pain in the ass :pinch:

Editing the registry was easy, the key was already there, and I just changed it to "1"... but then the trouble started.

Created the folder %windir%\system32\oobe\info\backgrounds (which wasn't there). Made a login screen (254kB), named it backgroundDefault.jpg, put it in there and rebooted. Didn't work.

Ok, perhaps still too big. Made another, only 202kB, put it in there and rebooted. Didn't work.

Renamed the file to background1920?1200.jpg (with the proper '?', not the letter 'x') and rebootedDidn't workb>.

Ok, I thought, perhaps you need to use SysWow64 on x64, so I moved the folder there (%windir%\SysWow64\oobe\info\backgrounds) and rebootedDidn't workb>.

Now that was already strange. I now put it additionally in the system32 folder and rebootedDidn't workb>.

Now I was getting really mad. As a final attempt, I renamed both files (in system32 *and* SysWow64) back to backgroundDefault.jpg and rebooted for a last try. Miraculously, it finally worked.

Thus, I conclude two things out of this:

- when using x64, you need to have the files in the proper system32 *and* SysWow64 directories.

- background1920?1200.jpg doesn't work (not even with the proper '?'). Use backgroundDefault.jpg instead.

Apprentice

Share.Corp

Posted
Posted
  Lord Ba said:
Thus, I conclude two things out of this:

- when using x64, you need to have the files in the proper system32 *and* SysWow64 directories.

Srr but this is not true, im using x64 7057, just create folder %windir%\system32\oobe\info\backgrounds then put the picture inside and it works, did it on 3 computers

Veteran

Lord Ba'al

Posted
Posted
  Share.Corp said:
Srr but this is not true, im using x64 7057, just create folder %windir%\system32\oobe\info\backgrounds then put the picture inside and it works, did it on 3 computers

No, doesn't work :no:

Tried it myself, no chance. I had to put it in *both* directories and name it backgroundDefault.jpg, otherwise it wouldn't work at all.

Experienced

winlonghorn

Posted
Posted
  Lord Ba said:
No, doesn't work :no:

Tried it myself, no chance. I had to put it in *both* directories and name it backgroundDefault.jpg, otherwise it wouldn't work at all.

What you have to do is name the image backgroundDefault, but also make sure it is the exact same resolution as your monitor. :) Also, I wrote a program to make it much easier (a few simple clicks). If you want it, just let me know. I would be glad to provide it free of charge.

Collaborator

hanko panko

Posted
Posted

My 7057 x64 just needs one folder: %windir%\system32\oobe\info\backgrounds.

I copied the following *jpg images to therer:

- backgroundDefault.jpg; 96dpi; 24bit; 1440x900; 250kb

- background1920x1200.jpg; normal "x"; 96dpi; 24bit; 1920x1200; 250kb

Strange enough this didn't work the first time. I figured something might be wrong with my jpeg's. So I converted them to bitmaps, made sure it was 24bit color and 96dpi and then converted them back to jpeg. I still don't understand it but now it works!

Make sure your images are less than 256kb!

Grand Master

david

Posted
Posted
  GreenMartian said:
Here ya go. Source included for the curious (and paranoid. NO MALWARE!)

Feel free to do anything with it.

Does all this in one go:

  • Enables/Disables the registry key
  • Resizes the selected image to your current rez (or any other size if you tell it to)
  • Sets it to 96dpi 24bit
  • Finds the highest JPG compression that would still keep it below 256kb
  • Saves it as backgroundDefault.jpg in the correct folder (and create a backup if one is already in there)

Tested on 1 VM @ 1024x768 and 1 PC @ 1680x1050.

LogonChanger.zipFetching info...

Program works fantastic. rating_5_mini.gif

Collaborator

DerAusgewanderte

Posted
Posted
  GreenMartian said:
Just found out all this also works on earlier builds. The article didn't say, but I (and I assume many ppl) thought it only applies to 7057.

yes, it was mentioned that this was already there in WinXP.

I suggest before people try and get too frustrated to get this to work to go to the original post because a lot of problems you encounter are already covered over there.

Grand Master

david

Posted
Posted
  starless.bible.black said:
yes, it was mentioned that this was already there in WinXP.

I suggest before people try and get too frustrated to get this to work to go to the original post because a lot of problems you encounter are already covered over there.

This works on XP?

Veteran

Lord Ba'al

Posted
Posted
  winlonghorn said:
What you have to do is name the image backgroundDefault, but also make sure it is the exact same resolution as your monitor. :)

Of course it is, do you think I'm a moron? :crazy:

Anyway, did some more testing and found out that the file size limit is even *below* 256kB! :blink:

After I had got it to work by copying "backgroundDefault.jpg" to both appropriate System32 and SysWow64 folders, I tried out another pic which was 253kB, and it wouldn't work anymore! :no:

After considering what to do, I finally decided to decrease the file size bit by bit. Finally, when I reached 246kB, it worked again :laugh:

Any bit more, and it wouldn't work. So the file size limit is actually 246kB. I think that should be updated in the first post to prevent further confusion why it doesn't work.

I seriously hope they still increase that tiny limit, doing good pics in 1920x1200 which aren't too heavily artifacted from too heavy jpg compression is quite difficult :(

Mentor

GreenMartian

Posted
Posted
  DARKFiB3R said:
@ Lord Ba'al, Just use the new app posted above "LogonChanger"

:pinch: Did more testing with a bunch of different images, and found that in some rare cases the algorithm would result in an image waaay above the limit (I was sleepy, and didn't implement binary search properly :p).

Putting in a fix as we speak. I'd hold off any downloading if I were you :D

Grand Master

FiB3R

Posted
Posted (edited)
  GreenMartian said:
:pinch: Did more testing with a bunch of different images, and found that in some rare cases the algorithm would result in an image waaay above the limit (I was sleepy, and didn't implement binary search properly :p).

Putting in a fix as we speak. I'd hold off any downloading if I were you :D

Could you also add to option to open the background folder? :)

Another app I found, but have not tried.

windows7 logon screen changer [english]

Capture.JPG

http://rapidshare.com/files/210772304/W7LSC.rar

Edited by DARKFiB3R
Mentor

GreenMartian

Posted
Posted

New version. As usual, source included.

LogonChanger_1.0.1.zipFetching info...

Changelog:

  • Fixed major bug in calculation. I did an automated test of 100s pics. Seems to work fine now.
  • Warning if not running as admin.
  • Changed double click to single click.
  • Opening the background folder by right clicking.
  • Some error handling so you see nicer messages instead of dying with cryptic errors.

  DARKFiB3R said:
Could you also add to option to open the background folder? :)

Another app I found, but have not tried.

Already taken care of. As for the other app, it doesn't seem to resize & compress your pictures for you (haven't really tried :p)

  Fubar said:
it's pretty easy todo even without the tool.

It is. The tool's there to save people from the hassle of manually resizing & re-compressing their pictures. It gets annoying when you have a lot of them to try.

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