TUTORIAL: All About Resource Hacker! A Brief Tutorial

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I've looked all over the place in my system for this dialog and I'm not having any luck finding it. The closest I can find is dialog 2450 inside msgina.dll, but I have no earthly idea where it is getting the background image from. I have already modified BMP's 20140 & 20142 thinking that it was coming from there, but it's not. I've successfully moded *most* of my system and whittled away at it so that it takes up as little space as possible. This one screen is all I have left. Does anybody know where I can find the image resources for this:

...many thanks in advance for your answer and many thanks to everyone for showing me how to do this in the first place.

[Vishal Gupta]

^^ Open "%windir%\System32\Shell32.dll" and change "14351" and "14354" BITMAPs.

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Originally Posted by Vishal Gupta

^^ Open "%windir%\System32\Shell32.dll" and change "14351" and "14354" BITMAPs.

Excellent!! I had changed 14351 already, but somehow missed the other. Thank you kind sir.

[Vishal Gupta]

^^ u r welcome.

[Pratik Roy]

Thanks Vishal, you only made me learn about Resource Hacking....

[Vishal Gupta]

^^ My pleasure buddy. I'm glad that my tut helped u.

[cooldip10]

Vry good and LONG tute Sir

[Vishal Gupta]

^^ thnx.

[ashok_wise]

Originally Posted by Vishal Gupta

!!! WARNING !!!

Playing with system files using resource hacker can be Dangerous for your system and it can make your system not working.

So use it at your own risk!

UPDATE: Don't forget to visit following posts/threads:

TUTORIAL: List of Files to be hacked using Resource Hacker!
TUTORIAL: List of some Interesting Hacks, which can be made using Resource Hacker!
TUTORIAL: Changing Windows XP Login Screen Text Entries !
TUTORIAL: Change Look-n-Feel of Windows XP Start Menu
TUTORIAL: Enable HIBERNATE Button in Shutdown Dialog Box !
TUTORIAL: How to enable "VIEW" Menu on Desktop !
TUTORIAL: Make Your Windows XP look-a-like Windows Vista


Guys!

So many members hv asked me a lot of questions about Resource Hacker, like:

=> How to replace existing Resources ( Bitmaps, AVI, Icons, etc.) in a file?
=> How to add ur own resources?
=> How to change Menus/ Strings?

and so on...

So here I'll try to cover all such questions and many other tips-n-tricks.
So here we go.....

NOTE: I hv divided this tutorial in 2 parts:

PART1 : BASIC INFORMATION
PART2 : ADVANCED INFORMATION

Basic part contains Basic details, like viewing/replacing resources, etc.
Advanced part covers some advance information which is described for geeks. Like Adding ur own resources, using scripts with resource hacker, etc.

PART1 : BASIC INFORMATION

What is Resource Hacker:

Resource Hacker is a Free s/w to edit 32-bit windows files (DLL, EXE, CPL, and many other). U can add/delete/view/rename/modify existing resources in a file using this gr8 piece of s/w.

Download Link:

U can d/l Resource Hacker from here.
U don't need to install it, simply extract the files and run the s/w. It also doesnt make any entry in Registry!

Using Resource Hacker:

When u open a file in Resource Hacker, it shows various directories in left-side pane, like:

AVI
Cursor
Bitmap
Icon
Menu
Dialog
String Table
Accelerators
Version Info

and so on...



These directories vary from file to file!
Following is a small description of these directories:

AVI : This directory contains AVI files.
Cursor : This directory contains Cursor files.
Bitmap : This directory contains Bitmaps.
Icon : This directory contains Icons.
Menu : This directory contains various Menus.
Dialog : This directory contains various Dialog boxes.
String Table : This directory contains various Strings.
Accelerators : This directory contains Shortcut keys.
Version Info : This directory contains version information of the file.

Viewing Resources:

U can view any resource embedded in the file. Simply expand the directory and click on the name of the resource.
Actually each resource contains 3 parts:

Resource Type
Resource Name
Resource Language

Resource Type : Its indicate that the resource is an AVI/Bitmap/Menu/Cursor/Icon/String/etc.
Resource Name : It describes the name of a resource, no 2 resource can hv the same name.
Resource Language : Its the language used in the file. For ENGLISH its 1033.

Changing the Resources:

=> For Icon/Cursor/Bitmap:

1.) Select the resource ( e.g. Bitmap -> 131 -> 1033 ).
2.) Click on Action -> Replace Icon/Cursor/Bitmap....



3.) It'll open a new window, click on Open file with new Icon/Cursor/Bitmap button.
4.) Select the desired resource in the OPEN dialog box and click on Open button and then Replace.

=> For other resources like AVI:

Its a little bit different.

1.) Click on Action -> Replace Other Resource....
2.) It'll open a new window, click on Open file with new resource button.
3.) Select the file and click on Open button.
4.) Now u hv to give the required information for this resource, which I mentioned earlier.

Resource Type
Resource Name
Resource Language



In type give the type of resource, e.g. if u r replacing AVI file then give the type as AVI.
In name give the exact name of the existing resource which u want to replace with this new one.
In language give 1033 for English.

5.) And finally click on Replace button.

=> For Menus/Strings/Dialogs:



To change String/Menu/Dialog boxes, Select the desired resource, e.g., String Table -> 4 -> 1033, and make ur changes and then click on Compile Script button. It'll compile the script and will give ERROR if something goes wrong so that u can correct the problem!

Continued...

Use full Information.

[Vishal Gupta]

^^ thnx. I'm glad u liked it.

[saurabh kakkar]

hi vishal
wana know two things :-
1- how can i change hibernating screen in xp .
2- whenever i try to paste any bitmap on logoff screen my switch user , log off and cancel icons disappears behind that bitmap screen what should i do so that these icons appera on the bitmap ?

plz help

[Vishal Gupta]

1. I never used Hibernate in XP and never tried to look for it in any file. But u can try "%windir%\System32\ntoskrnl.exe". may be the BITMAP exists in this file?

2. For it u hv change all required dimensions in LogonUI.exe file. The easiest method will be to use Logon Studio.

[saurabh kakkar]

Originally Posted by Vishal Gupta

2. For it u hv change all required dimensions in LogonUI.exe file. The easiest method will be to use Logon Studio.

sorry vishal i was not able to explain u properly what i wana ask
my problem is :
whenever i try to insert a bmp image on any thing like run dialog box or shutdown box etc my icons disappers behind the bmp image i.e i am able to view only bmp image .
what should i do so that these icons appear on the bmp image.

like my logoff screne is coming like:


instead of coming like this :

[Vishal Gupta]

Try this:

Right-click on BMP and select "Edit Control". Now scroll down to bottom and enable option "WS_CLIPSIBLINGS". Now compile Script.

[saurabh kakkar]

Originally Posted by Vishal Gupta

Try this:

Right-click on BMP and select "Edit Control". Now scroll down to bottom and enable option "WS_CLIPSIBLINGS". Now compile Script.

thanks buddy u r genius i think u have done masters on RESOURCE HACKER

[Vishal Gupta]

^^ thnx for ur comments buddy.
So it worked for u?

[arijit2002]

I am trying to edit my sysdm.cpl file to give it a customized look. I am trying to make it look like this -

Reduced 92%

1240 x 604 (131.09K)

//




The script is compiling and everything seems to work fine in Resource Hacker but when I save the file this is what I get -

Reduced 86%

689 x 561 (60.49K)

//

How do I correct this problem? Any help would be appreciated!

[Vishal Gupta]

^^ Buddy pls don't make duplicate posts. U posted the same post in 3 other threads too.

Regarding to ur problem, place that BMP file in "%windir%\System32\" folder and rename the BMP as "OEMlogo.bmp".

[nr_think]

Hello Vishal Sir ,

I just love the way u shared tutorial,
i want to know the tutorial u shared in page no.1, is for XP or Vista ? i want to try .
Is it possible to put my own pic in log in screen ?


Thanks in Advance
Nr.

[saurabh kakkar]

Originally Posted by nr_think

Hello Vishal Sir ,

I just love the way u shared tutorial,
i want to know the tutorial u shared in page no.1, is for XP or Vista ? i want to try .
Is it possible to put my own pic in log in screen ?


Thanks in Advance
Nr.

welcome to digit forum

this tutorial is for windows XP users if some one places tutorial for VISTA he

places on the title bar or in the Message that this tute is for VISTA

SO u want to coustomise ur login screen follow this tute of mine

HOW TO Customize Ur login screen


i hope this will help

[evewin89]

Vishal u r cool man...... thankzzzzz...

[047]

@ vishal

i want to know how to replace start button usin res. hack.
one more thing if i want to change the taskbar in res hak. wat shud be the size(pixels) of the file .

[Vishal Gupta]

1. Look for "Changing the Start button Text" in following:

List of a few Locations in Windows XP to be Hacked

2. It depends upon the theme. You just need to replace the taskbar BITMAP using resource hacker.

[Masroor]

Hi,

Download Resource Hacker 4.00

Created By: Numair

Enjoy downloading Resource Hacker 4.00

http://rapidshare.com/files/59047660/ResHack.exe.html

Size: 566KB
Publisher: Numair

The product has run at the follwing operating systems

Win2000 & XP

[Vishal Gupta]

^^ I just checked your site and found you have totally copied pasted my resource Hacker tutorial there without giving any credit and source. Its plagiarism dude and will not be tolerated.

I have replied your mail and request you do what I suggested in mail, if you don't want to get in any trouble.

[the_sweet_poision]

get free book on hacking from computer section of www.ebooksengine.com

[munaf]

Dear Vishal Gupta
you are great man. thanks for your tutorial. it is a goot work.
dear i want to create my own windows xp installer CD with my own screen shoots. how can it possible. pleas help me.
thanks
munaf
a_mshahid@hotmail.com

[Vishal Gupta]

^^ Its possible using "nLite":

http://www.nliteos.com/

[munaf]

dear Vishal Gupta
thanks for your respond. but i m still to know that how can i add my own screen shoots. is it possible in nlite. i download it but not use at this time.
thanks.
munaf
a_mshahid@hotmail.com

[Vishal Gupta]

What do you mean by adding screenshots? Pls be more clear.