TUTORIAL: Change Look-n-Feel of Windows XP Start Menu

[Vishal Gupta]

Guys!
In this tutorial, I'll tell u about a few things, which can be used to change the look-n-feel of XP start menu.
After following my tut, u'll get ur Start menu look as shown in following screenshot:

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/2690/startmenuhy9.jpg


http://www.askvg.com/folder-list-and-favorite-links-in-navigation-pane-bug-in-windows-vista/

[Tech Geek]

nice tut
repped you

[salilrane]

xcellent work vishal......

[ashisharya]

gr8 info......

[Vishal Gupta]

thnx guys for ur valuable comments and the reps. :D

[wizrulz]

i dunno how u come with so good tuts....but i must say everytime u make it better.....i am literally standing and applauding...feel it...
repped u..:D

[Vishal Gupta]

Buddy! that was a wonderful comment :)
Its really so nice of u ;)
thnx for ur appreciations and reps...

[Quiz_Master]

Hey Vishal you are genius. Keep them coming.

[mrmani]

Great Job guys... keep cont....

[anandk]

a real nice one vishal, abhi tuze kya rep karega :D thanx.

[Vishal Gupta]

thnx a lot guys for such precious comments :D

[Ron]

Hey Guru............
Great Tut.......................
Sorry unable to rep u as "You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Vishal Gupta again.".....................

[Vishal Gupta]

Ur valuable comments are better than the reps ;)
It means a lot for me that u spent ur time in reading my tuts. :D

[Siddharth Maheshwari]

tHANX ViShAl
cAN u tell me how to link images in a resource file say .dll to a menu or dialog box and can u provide me a site which tells how to create a .dll file.
And thanx for the reply in the Q&A section u r great
Vishal Gupta = God of computer

[Vishal Gupta]

thnx buddy for the appreciations. :D
Regarding to the image linking, I'm not sure if its possible. I never tried it so can't tell u much. But I'll try it whenever possible. ;)

[iceeeeman]

Great Job Vishal... keep cont....;)

[Siddharth Maheshwari]

Can u tell me some free sub-domain provider sites
Plz give me ur yahho messenger name and id so that i can add u.I think u will like to be my frnd although i know u r a very busy person.

[Tech Geek]

Can u tell me some free sub-domain provider sites
Plz give me ur yahho messenger name and id so that i can add u.I think u will like to be my frnd although i know u r a very busy person.
you could have created a separate thread for it
can you give me your i'd VG

[Siddharth Maheshwari]

you could have created a separate thread for it
can you give me your i'd VG
I didn't nderstood what do u mean by i'd VG

[Abhishek Dwivedi]

hey vishal grt job...need a lil help...i tried replacing all programs but couldnt...can u post the reg file to do so...plzz....and aslo where cani change the name of recycle bin...del MY PICTURE & MY MUSIC folder...plzz tell....

[Vishal Gupta]

hey vishal grt job...need a lil help...i tried replacing all programs but couldnt...can u post the reg file to do so...plzz....and aslo where cani change the name of recycle bin...del MY PICTURE & MY MUSIC folder...plzz tell.... thnx buddy, Its my pleasure that u liked it. ;)

I hv attached the REG file, which will do the following points automatically:

5. (a.) Disable "All Programs" option from Start menu
5. (b.) Change "Favorites" path to "Programs" folder

NOTE: I'm assuming that u hv Windows installed on C: Drive, if its installed on some other partition, then simply change C: to that drive letter in the file.

To change the name of Recycle Bin, just goto:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\ShellFolder

and in right-side pane, change value of Attributes to 50 01 00 20. After applying this trick, u can rename the Recycle Bin. ;)

[Abhishek Dwivedi]

that worked...lol....well i just got a cool new virus in ma PC...well i was just trying to FTP a site and got it...nevermind....the problem is that this virus has
done this:

1. when i open cmd.exe ...windows restart
2. Regedit.exe is banned...well no problems in that...i can edit regestry though registry editor
3. flocked folder option
4.there a a few stupid files with a icon of a folder at C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Application Data
i wana delete them...used UNLOCKER...tune up...didnt work...i dont wana user anti virus...can u help a lil...thatnx buddy....

[Chetan1991]

It,s really a good one!:)!and the visual style made by you is really awesome.Is there any way we can enlarge the icon in windows like in Vista??

[s18000rpm]

very nicely done Tutorial.

Thanks again Mr.Vista:)

[infra_red_dude]

ok one question: how do u remove the icons before my computer/music/run/search etc by hacking explorer.exe?

[casanova]

Nice tut Vishal.
Does VistaVG =VistaVishalGupta
5.) And this one is my favorite trick.
I use this trick to remove "All Programs" menu from Start menu bcoz it doesnt look decent and manytimes it gets automatically selected while selecting other entries in Start menu. So I change "Favorites" path to "Programs" folder, so that we can access our program shortcuts. So just follow these steps:
So true

[Vishal Gupta]

thnx to everyone. :)

@infra_red_dude
It has to be done in he theme (.msstyles file).

@casanova
Yeah! u can say. :D

[ax3]

nice 1 ...............

[::sandeep::]

that is wow

[MR.MOUSTACHE]

This Is The Place .... That I Have Beem Looking For.... All This Time..... Vish U Are The Best...... Keep It Up ........ One Suggestion ...... Why Dont U Start A Forum Related To Hacking The Windows ..... And Stuffs.... It Will Be An Learning Experince....

[Vishal Gupta]

^^ thnx for the appreciation and ur valuable suggestion. ;)

[infra_red_dude]

hey vishal i need some help. the buttons on the shutdown dialog are a bit displaced. i edited the msgina.dll and moved the buttons down by 2 units (47), saved and replaced the orginal file wid replacer. but it doesn't help. the layout didn't change. here is the image:

http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/3626/shutdownlw6.th.jpg (http://img145.imageshack.us/my.php?image=shutdownlw6.jpg)

[Vishal Gupta]

Try to set it to "49". U'll hv to play with these settings. But I think 49 will do the job. ;)

[infra_red_dude]

:( outta luck.. dunno why.. not working!

[..:: Free Radical ::..]

I think it will be just easier to do all this stuff by regeditting CLSIDs of the Start Menu shortcuts instead of modding shell32.dll Infact all the text infos and icon/bitmap locations can be changed. I know its tedious but is less of a memory hog because the registry loads all such modded files into memory.
A modded file esp. if its shell32.dll which has less than optimal size can affect performance esp. if you load the shell into RAM. That is why all those transformation packs do slowdown your computer. I will post my regedits soon :D Or may be @VG can help us out.

[rakeshishere]

Excellent one Again :D

[Goten]

What do u mean by that.

Peace~~~!

[iceeeeman]

dude can u help me in this
http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/2690/startmenuhy9.jpg

how to expand da control panel n rename it,,i mean how to get the small arrow so tht when when put da mouse cursor on tht it wil expand..n how to change the log off and turn off computer text in the start menuu..PLZ HELP

[Vishal Gupta]

To expand "Control Panel", there is an option for it in "Start menu & taskbar `Properties". And regarding to changing names, u can look into "Explorer.exe" file. :)

[iceeeeman]

thnx once again yaar:D

[poorlyduck]

Vishal you are genius, we should call you Vishall gate :)
I have one little question, when you change the strings do you keep the & between the letters or it doesnt matter for example:
7012, "|Undock Comput&er|&Log Off|T&urn Off Computer|D&isconnect||"
7013, "|Undock Comput&er|&Log Off|Sh&ut Down|D&isconnect||"
how you will change that?
thank you very much, I was starting to making skin for PDA's but when I found out about this great stuff you post here I forgot about everything and Im more playing with windows xp now :)

[REY619]

^^Yes thats what i was thinking too... Is & sign necessary?

[Vishal Gupta]

@poorlyduck
thnx for ur sweet comments. :D

Regarding to the &, its used for displaying shortcut key "Underlined". for example, if u put "Vis&hal", then it'll show "h" underlined, so that u can know about the shortcut key. ;)

Its not necessary...

[REY619]

WOW! Thanx! :)

[poorlyduck]

@poorlyduck
thnx for ur sweet comments. :D

Regarding to the &, its used for displaying shortcut key "Underlined". for example, if u put "Vis&hal", then it'll show "h" underlined, so that u can know about the shortcut key. ;)

Its not necessary...
Man, how do you know all that? I would never thought about it, this site is just awsome , thank you so very much :p
I managed to make my first bootskin yay!

http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/5003/screenbd7.jpg

[Vishal Gupta]

thnx buddy. Its just a few years experience of doing R&D with registry and Resource Hacker. :D

and ur boot screen is looking cool. ;)

[saurabh kakkar]

hi vishal
i have been using ur VistaVG 2.0 theme for long and just want to ask a question .I use windows classical view a lot but in ur theme the icons are of xp. HOW CAN I CHANGE THESE ICONS TO THAT OF VISTA.
http://img362.imageshack.us/img362/9210/untitledlw2.png

[Vishal Gupta]

^^ For it u'll hv to edit "Shell32.dll" file. :)

[saurabh kakkar]

^^ For it u'll hv to edit "Shell32.dll" file. :)
hi vishal thanks 4r the reply can u provide me the steps to replace icons in "shell32.dll" . plz buddy

[Vishal Gupta]

Open "%windir%\System32\Shell32.dll" file in resource hacker and expand "Icon Group". Now check which icon u want to change and replace it with ur desired icon. ;)

[poorlyduck]

Im using Icon tweaker with vista icon themes, but Im having a hard time to change dvd drives, memory stick and others (see picture below) even I do change each individual drive, but when I restart he computer the original icons comes back, please anyboy can help, thank you in advance.

http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/294/mycomputervp6.jpg

[infra_red_dude]

hmmm.. i used icontweaker/iconpackager but this problem persists for me too. except the optical drive all other icons are perfect! any help wud be appreciated! :)

[Vishal Gupta]

I hv also faced this problem when I used XP. All icons are changed bu CD/DVD drive icon wasnt changed, even after rebuilding the icon cache.

What I did, either change those icons manually in "Shell32.dll" file or use "Tuneup Utilities". Its Styler can change those icons without any problem. :)

[poorlyduck]

I hv also faced this problem when I used XP. All icons are changed bu CD/DVD drive icon wasnt changed, even after rebuilding the icon cache.

What I did, either change those icons manually in "Shell32.dll" file or use "Tuneup Utilities". Its Styler can change those icons without any problem. :)

Thank you vishal. I did what you told me dnd installed tuneup UT bust still the same problem, do I have to remove the tweaker and just use tuneup to apply the vista packages and if I do where I can find tuneup vista icon packages?
somehow before even I install the tuneup I went to safe mode and there, the CDrom icons shows as vista icon, but in normal windows wont, weired!
TIA.

[Vishal Gupta]

^^ Just replace the icon in "Shell32.dll" file with Vista one. thats the BEST solution. ;)

[poorlyduck]

^^ Just replace the icon in "Shell32.dll" file with Vista one. thats the BEST solution. ;)

thank you vishal, I guess that what I would do, I .st need to locate the .ico folder in windows and post the ones I need there then open shell32 with SH and change the .ico right? if it is then my last question is where the windows .ico located, and which number I will look in SH to modify just to be in the safe side, thank you vishal for your help and effort you put on this site.

[Vishal Gupta]

^^ For Vista icons, u can get all icons in "%windir%\System32\imageres.dll" file in Vista.
Now u hv to open XP "Shell32.dll" file in resource hacker and then change what icon u want to change. For changing icons, etc. u can follow my Resource hacker tut. :)

[Ron]

hey i am unable to change my boot screen through STARDOCk BOOT SCREEN.....

[ITTechPerson]

Vishal thnks a lot, ur posts help to give a vista look to my xp.

[cooldip10]

How did you apply VISTAVG? Plz help.

BTW your tut is cool. But I'm always getting stuck with most of the times.

[REY619]

How did you apply VISTAVG? Plz help.
VIstaVG is a visual style(with extension .msstyle). By Default XP doesnt allow third party visual styles. But you can use third party visual styles by patching your uxtheme.dll file.
Use Neowin UXtheme multipatcher (http://www.nicmyers.com/media/UniversalUXThemePatcher%20v1.2.zip) to patch your uxtheme.dll file. Then download Vishal's VistaVG and simply double click on it. it will be applied automatically. ;)

[iceeeeman]

dude i m havin a problem

whenever i open my computer n then close it n the after tht when i right clcik on desktop the right clcik menu gets displayed after 2 seconds

can u plz tel me how to overcome this problem:confused:

[REY619]

dude i m havin a problem

whenever i open my computer n then close it n the after tht when i right clcik on desktop the right clcik menu gets displayed after 2 seconds

can u plz tel me how to overcome this problem:confused:
This sometimes happen when the system is overloaded... There may be too many processes or programs running...

[iceeeeman]

This sometimes happen when the system is overloaded... There may be too many processes or programs running...

no dude there arent any high processes running !!!:confused:
i think theres been some registery change!!:confused:
HELP ME GUYS !!!!1 GETTING ANNOYED :rolleyes:

[REY619]

^^This happens to me when something in background is going on...

[cooldip10]

VIstaVG is a visual style(with extension .msstyle). By Default XP doesnt allow third party visual styles. But you can use third party visual styles by patching your uxtheme.dll file.
Use Neowin UXtheme multipatcher (http://www.llbbl.com/data/nw_uxpatcher.zip) to patch your uxtheme.dll file. Then download Vishal's VistaVG and simply double click on it. it will be applied automatically. ;)


Hey,the link is not working.It opens up and says -Error 404 File not found.

[REY619]

Sorry link updated in the previous post. THIS IS (http://www.nicmyers.com/media/UniversalUXThemePatcher%20v1.2.zip) the working link. ;)

[cooldip10]

Sorry link updated in the previous post. THIS IS (http://www.nicmyers.com/media/UniversalUXThemePatcher%20v1.2.zip) the working link. ;)

Thanx buddy..

I performed some part of the tut. and liked it.

BTW I tried to add WMP shortcut in the start menu. But it's not working. ERROR: Destination not found. How do I delete that from registry.

[REY619]

^^You may have installed WMP other than the default directory...

[cooldip10]

^^You may have installed WMP other than the default directory...
How can I delete it from the registry now so that the shortcut will not appear in the startmenu???

[Vishal Gupta]

^^ Following is the code to delete this key: ;)

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}]

[cooldip10]

^^ Following is the code to delete this key: ;)

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}]



Thanks Vishal Sir. It worked.

Now how do I creat the correct shortcut for WMP?

[Vishal Gupta]

^^ Can u pls tell me how u r creating the shortcut? and also in which drive ur windows is installed?

[cooldip10]

^^ Can u pls tell me how u r creating the shortcut?

I found this whole thing in your tutorial : How to use the free space under RUN in New Windows XP Start Menu!

Here's the code that I used:

Quote:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}]
@="Windows Media Player"
"InfoTip"="Windows Media Player 10"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\DefaultIcon]
@="%SystemRoot%\\system32\\SHELL32.dll,168"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\InProcServer32]
@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00 ,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\
00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00 ,32,00,5c,00,73,00,68,00,\
64,00,6f,00,63,00,76,00,77,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c ,00,00,00
"ThreadingModel"="Apartment"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\Instance]
"CLSID"="{3f454f0e-42ae-4d7c-8ea3-328250d6e272}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\Instance\InitPropertyBag]
"CLSID"="{13709620-C279-11CE-A49E-444553540000}"
"method"="ShellExecute"
"Command"="Windows Media Player"
"Param1"="%ProgramFiles%\\Windows Media Player\\wmplayer.exe"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\shellex]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\{2559a1f 6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}]
@=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\shellex\MayChangeDefaultMenu]
@=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\ShellFolder]
"Attributes"=dword:00000000


->Used notepad and added the above code and saved it as a ".REG" file.

in which drive ur windows is installed?
->Windows is installed in C: drive.

->There is only one prob. I have WMP11. Will it Affect? I completely forgot to see that.

[Vishal Gupta]

^^ Pls check the filename "wmplayer.exe" in "C:\Program files\Windows Media Player" folder. May be the filename is different?

[cooldip10]

^^Let me check it..

If it doesn't work. I'll contact later. :) Thanx

[cooldip10]

^^ Pls check the filename "wmplayer.exe" in "C:\Program files\Windows Media Player" folder. May be the filename is different?

Sir,The file name is just fine.

I am having a new problem: The shortcut appears in the Menu... But after clicking on it, it says "Cannot creat shortcut here. Do you want to place a shortcut on the desktop? options: |YES| |NO| "

Also can you tell me how did you reduce the icon size in the white space of your pic provided..

[Vishal Gupta]

^^ I hv no idea about ur problem. I never faced such problem and it always worked fine for me. :)

Regarding to the 2nd point, I'm using my VistaVG theme...

[cooldip10]

gud to have you online..

Sir.

I found the code to show the texts while shutting down.

But where did you actually replaced the code?

Can you plz explain it how to get to the UIFILE section that you mentioned many times.


Regarding to the 2nd point, I'm using my VistaVG theme...

->But how did you reduce the size of the icons in the white space in the start menu? I already downloaded the VISTAVG theme and applied it.

[Vishal Gupta]

Once I posted a tut to change those text:

http://www.thinkdigit.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35013

And regarding to the size, u can reduce it from "Taskbar & Startmenu Properties". ;)

[cooldip10]

Thank you sir..

[dreams]

Hi Vishal Genius..

Its really gr8 to hv u in this forum workin for us..all the tuts are goood...

I d/l the visual style frm deviant art and it doesnt seem to work 4 me..i dbl clikd on msstyles and nothin happens..also i copied the whole folder to themes folder..stil nothin..also i hv patched the UXtheme also..

any other tricks??

TIA

[Vishal Gupta]

^^ Hi
thnx for ur comments. the theme will appear in "Appearance" tab in Desktop properties. so pls try it. ;)

[dreams]

I hv tried in Appearence tab vishal..but nothin shows up..

[Vishal Gupta]

Thats strange. Which theme did u d/l from DeviantArt?
Try to patch uxtheme.dll again in safe mode and also d/l the theme file again or try with some other themes.

[dreams]

I d/l ur Vista VG styles..not only this time..for loooong bac too i am not able to apply any themes like these..so i mostly prefer windowblinds..but the WB5 version didnt work for me perfectly so jus searchin for any simple methods like the one u hv posted..

Also i hv a quick qn.. i hv a screensaver frm a vista computer..i copied the .scr file and kept the file in system folder..this too not showin in the screesavers dropdown??

any guesses??

[Vishal Gupta]

Pls try to patch the uxtheme.dll file again in Safe Mode using the patcher mentioned by me in following thread:

http://www.thinkdigit.com/forum/showthread.php?t=30897

Also try to d/l the latest VistaVG RTM theme.

Regarding to screensaver, it'll not work in XP until u patch it. ;)

[dreams]

I d/l the patcher frm ur post only..wil try it to apply once again..and reg the scrsaver u told it cant work without patching..which means??

I hv one more critical qn 4 u!!!

[Vishal Gupta]

Vista applications, screensavers, etc don't work in XP. U'll get "Invalid Win32 application" like error. But there r softwares available which can patch them so that u can use them in Vista. Like u can use Vista Sidebar, mspaint, calculator, screensavers, games, etc in XP. One such software is VAIO Pack. Just google for it and u'll know what I'm talking about. ;)

[dreams]

finally i made it to work..again ran theme patcher..nw i got ur style workin..its really awesome..

and reg the scrsaver i jus got it thru an vista transformation pack..when i installed it it came wit some cool scrsavers..i jus copied the scrsaver and want it to knw hw to show the scr saver in the scrsaver tab..

[Vishal Gupta]

Glad to know u got it working. ;)

Reg. to Screensaver, copy them to "%windir%\System32\" folder and it should work. :)

[dreams]

Glad to know u got it working. ;)

Reg. to Screensaver, copy them to "%windir%\System32\" folder and it should work. :)

Stil no go..also i hv loads of scrsavers shown in the dropdown menu in scrsavers tab..some of them doesnt seems to work..somewhr sumthin is corrupt..

[ramprasad]

vishal,
I want to change only the start button from the normal one to a round one.

I cam across a software, which just overlays on top of it. but I need to make it rather permanent...

Can u ls help

[Vishal Gupta]

^^ For it u hv to edit the Windows theme (msstyles file) in Resource Hacker.
What u need is, just replace the Start Button BITMAP from ur customized BITMAP.

[Vishal Gupta]

I think u need this: ;)

http://www.thinkdigit.com/forum/showthread.php?t=49663

[ramprasad]

exactly.....
but I have a normal start button now....
If I just replace it, then can get as shown in that screenshot or do I have to edit the task bar also...?

[Vishal Gupta]

The link I posted above contains my "VistaVG RTM" theme. It'll change ur XP theme to Vista theme and u'll get the exact startmenu and taskbar as shown in the screenshot. ;)

[ramprasad]

thanks a lot vishal....
I will check it out.....

and what is the bitmap number for the start menu.....

[ramprasad]

VIshal,

I am not able to extract the Start menu bitmap from ur style..
I am not able to locate the bitmap itself

Hope u dont mind helping me

[poorlyduck]

is this tutorial gone? I only see the image in the 1st post.

[Vishal Gupta]

^^ Its here:

http://www.askvg.com/folder-list-and-favorite-links-in-navigation-pane-bug-in-windows-vista/

[handsomevarun]

hi dear i m sorry brother actually i m not getting any thing from this
because i dont know is this tutorial is for window vista or for xp because i have xp and the tutorial dosnt match the requirements
kindly reply i m waiting

[Vishal Gupta]

^^ Its for Windows XP. ;)

[quan chi]

nice tutorial there vishal gupta thanks.

[047]

@ vishal. can i replace all windows folders with my personal ones without using 3rd party icon replacers.

[Vishal Gupta]

^^ It'll be very complicated method even I never tried it. ;)
The best way is to use software like Icon Packager, Tuneup Utilities, etc. :)