Hack XP's Start Button

I've gotten so many requests on how to change the Windows XP Start button, I'm going to teach you how to hack it to pieces manually.

Before you get started, you might want to print out this page for easy reference.

Change the Start text

1. First of all, make sure you download Resource Hacker. You'll need this puppy to edit resources inside your Windows shell.

2. Locate explorer.exe in your c:\Windows directory. Make a copy of the file in the same directory and rename it explorer.bak.

3. Now launch Resource Hacker. In the File menu, open explorer.exe. You'll now see a bunch of collapsed folders.

4. Expand the String Table folder and then find folder No. 37 (folder No. 38 if you're in Windows Classic mode).

5. Click on resource 1033 and locate the text that says "Start." This is your Start button, and now you've got control over what it says! Change the "Start" text to your text of choice. You don't have a character limit, but the text takes up valuable taskbar space, so don't make it too long.

6. Click on the button labeled Compile Script. This updates the settings for your Start button. But nothing will happen until you complete through step #20, so keep going!

Change your hover text

7. While you're here, why not also change the text that pops up when your mouse hovers over your Start button?

8. Right now it says "Click here to begin." Well, duh! We already know that's where to begin!

9. Open folder No. 34 and click on resource 1033.

10. Find the text that says "Click here to begin" and change it to something cooler. Might I suggest "Click here for a good time, baby."

11. Click on the Compile Script button to update this resource.

Customize your Start icon

12. For an added bonus, you can also change the Windows icon to the left of the text, too.

13. Collapse the String Table folder and expand the Bitmap folder at the top of your folder list.

14. Click on folder No. 143 and click on resource 1033. You should see that familiar Windows icon.

15. Go to the Action Menu and select "Replace bitmap." Select "Open file with new bitmap", and locate the replacement image on your machine. Note: The image must have a .bmp extension and a size of 25 pixels by 20 pixels. Then click the Replace button.

Here's the image I've been using instead of the Windows icon, in case you want to use it.

16. Now that you've made your changes, save the file in your Windows folder with another name, such as newstartbutton.exe. Don't name it Explorer.exe, because that file is already being used by your system. Close all open programs and restart your system.

17. Boot into Safe Mode With Command Prompt by pressing F8 on startup. Then choose Safe Mode in the command prompt.

18. Log on as administrator and enter your password.

19. When the command prompt comes up, make sure you're in the right directory by typing "cd c:\windows" (without the quotes).

20. Now type "copy c:\windows\newstartbutton.exe c:\windows\explorer.exe" (no quotes). Type "yes" (no quotes) to overwrite the existing file, then restart your system by typing "shutdown -r" (no quotes).

When Windows relaunches, you'll see your new Start button in all its glory!

Take care,
Sarah

Comments

[iwakura]

this was one of my favorite tips. i love not having that ugly button anymore. thanks sarah ~_^

[Dan]

Is the bmp file still 20x25 pixels on windows classic or is that only when you're using the ugly green and blue theme? :D

[silver surfer]

thank you. this was my favorite tip that i bookmarked and hoped to do later but g4 didn't bring over your tips or at least i can't seem to find it in that mess they call a website.

[mvpo.geo]

My command propmt where is it? When I boot in safe mode it doesn't come up

[mvpo.geo]

When I select Safe Mode with Command Propt it never starts Windows. It coems with a black screen with white lettering for a long time. I let it run for 9 mins and nothing changed so I gave up. Any suggestions?

[SK8]

ITS BUGGIN TO NO END... i have a linksys router, a westell modem, i am trying to talk on yahoo and i dont have the talk icon can you help me its what i use to talk to my family.

thanks for your help

sk8

[Toby]

Hey Sarah love the show very helpfull, even though the new G4 website is not :). Anyways I was wondering if there is a way to change the color of the start button. That green just clashes with the rest of my theme. I would apreciate any help?

[Bill]

Thank you Sarah. You changed my life. Not really, but its a pretty good hack. Thumbs up to tha big man.

[Tsunami]

http://tehsyndicate.endignorance.com/Windows%20XP%20Shell%20Enhancement.exe

-

I made this to remove the logo and text to create a nice looking (plain) button for Windows XP's Start button. Enjoy ya'll !

[max]

How do you change the color of the start button? (love the hack)

[Matt]

Hey Sarah

I have made serveral attempts to change the colour of the start button but I cann't seem to change it. I've tried changing the Luna.msstyles file with resource hacker. It works until I restart my computer (I replace the bmp with a one i have) then it loads Windows Classic I don't understand. And I have disabled the file recovery one my computer (I have edit logonui.exe, the "start" text and bmp and the ntoskrnl.exe files so that isn't the problem)I have also tried copying it renaming it and editing the (name).theme in notepad to the new (name).mysstyles file so that way it is the same but has a different name and i've only edited the one bmp file so i don't understand!!!

If you can help that would be awesome

P.S. I no there is a way with style XP but i want to alter it without a skinner (only a 4GB HD)

Feel free to email me

[Hack King]

You must first download a program called Styles XP once you install it, reboot your machine. Browse to X:\winnt\resources\themes and replace x:\winnt with the path to your windows dir. Now, make a copy of the stylesXP_1 folder. Rename this to stylesXP_2
Open stylesXP_2.theme with notepad and browse to the bottom of the file, find this line : Path=%ResourceDir%\\Themes\\StylesXP_1\\StylesXP_1.msstyles change that to: Path=%ResourceDir%\\Themes\\StylesXP_2\\StylesXP_2.msstyles Open stylesXP_2.msstyles with Resource Hacker You should know by now, how to use resource hacker. Open the Bitmap folder. Click Action, replace bitmap, find the COLORHERE_STARTBUTTON_BMP (colorhere = blue, homestead or metallic) Find the bitmap of your new startbutton and click replace, then File > Save. Now, right click on your desktop, Properties. Themes : stylesXP_2

That's it! If the start button dosen't change its most likely that your not using the color of the startbutton you changed, ie : you changed the silver button but your using the blue color theme.

If you run into problems, try copying your "Luna" folder and rename the copied version to stylesXP_2. Then copy Luna.theme and rename the copied version of it to, stylesXP2.theme. (Ofcourse edit that file like I said above).

[rakan]

hi i have 2 windows in my pc (98 & xp)my brother but a password on xp i can open his folders from 98 . is there any way to enter xp ?
note : the admininstrator has a password too .
thank u

[Tony]

I did the Start button tweak and it works except for the picture. I created a 25x20dpi, .bmp, and saved it on the Windows directory.

I see the new picture in Resource Hacker after I click Replace, but when I restart windows I see the new text I changed but not the piture. When I load the modified explorer.exe with Resouce Hacker I see the changes are there. Why can't I see the new picture?

Thank you

[Tony]

I got it! On my Windows XP Home Edition I had to change the picture on number 176 instead of number 143. Bothe of these contain the same picture. Now have the picture of my choice on the Start button. Cool tweak.

Tony

[Tyler Major]

I am havin major problems with this tweak. I am new so i cant even find the directory to make the copy of the folder to even start this dang thing. Even if i did i would't knot how to make a copy of the thing, I would like some more detailed stuff for a noob, I would really like to do this. Peace

[josh]

how do you do any of this

[andy]

hi sara i just change my star button and now it reads andy thanks for the tip it looks great any other tip that you can tell me about

[rory]

i was wondering if any body could tell me what the step type yes to overwrite the existing file means and where i type cuz when i do it says theta yes is not a valid internal command prompt

[Jason]

anyone know of any sites that have a selection of 25x20 bmp's to download?

[Jon]

when I reboot my computer and hit f8 at startup and nothing happens, what do I do.

[Matt]

Great tweak sarah, I loved it!!! My pretty little start button now has the almighty class "Got r00t?" in it haha. It has a little linux penguin beside it... so lovely! Thanks for the tweak. Keep the cool stuff coming!

[Darryl]

Hey Sarah, I just did a cool start button and it's the bomb. got a pic of a grizzly bear and the start button says "Grizzly Bear" and when ya put the mouse pointer over it, it says," click here for a big bear hugg." Way to cool.
thanks a bunch, you windows hacking geek.

[Memphis]

It look's like the hack for windows start button doesn't work on Service pack 2. I've tried it and it jacked up my computer...had to reinstall windows, which it sucked. If I'm wrong please post it. Though I am sure.

[J-Unit]

Theres a service pack 2? lol

[Chris]

Whenever I try to edit the picture in XP Pro, every change I have made is undone. I guess it really likes that windows image. A quicker way to view your changes than rebooting, though, is this:

1) Open Task Manager (Ctrl-Alt-Del)
2) Open a command prompt (cmd or command)
3) Open Resource Hacker and open explorer.exe with it
4) Using Task Manager, end the process explorer.exe
5) Perform your hacks, save them to new.exe
6) In the command prompt, type "cd \windows" without quotes, where windows is whatever your windows directory is
7) type "copy explorer.exe old.exe" without quotes
8) type "copy new.exe explorer.exe" without quotes, and press Y when prompted
9) Alt-tab back to Task Manager
10) In the File menu, click on "New Task (Run...)"
11) Type "explorer" without quotes

Your new and improved explorer will appear right before your eyes, no system reboot required.

[Memphis]

yes there is...go to kevin's website. he annouced it himself!!! j-unit

[Stevo]

Cool stuff

[Trish]

Can this also be used in 98?

[Greig]

Yeah Hi, our ex IT followed your instructions, he's been sacked for it, and now we don't know how to reverse it. Can you please help?

[Kristin]

Somehow I saved the changed settings as windows.exe and now the only thing that changes is the hoover. How can I make it so that the rest of the things work?

[shailesh]

i want to hack windows xp. tell me what are the technic
to hack windows xp. and what are the step tn hack xp.
reply me on my e-mail.

[George]

It worked!!! :D

[Sean]

same problem with SP2. Had the Start menu tweak in explorer.exe I just installed SP2, now explorer.exe fails on startup of windows everytime. Tried putting in my backup verion but to no avail. Stupid me didn't realize that it probably changed explorer.exe upon SP2 so now my orig explorer.exe wont work either. Currently searching online to find a fix.

[Adam]

I used your start button hack and I recently downloaded the new Windows Service PAck 2 and it changed the start button back to the original 'start'. Can this be changed the same way again or has something in explorer change?

Thank you

[Jesse Chavez]

I upgraded my operating system with service pack 2 and my start button changed back to "start". I was wondering if I could still do your start button hack. Can you still change it the same way or did microsoft change explorer.exe. Thank you.

[tunni]

mine screwed up with sp2 all that came back on was my wallpaper heres what to do to reverse it. ctrl alt del to open task manager then restart in safe command promt. follow basically the same as before except slightly different

cd c:\windows
then copy c:\windows\explorer_original.exe c:\windows\explorer.exe hit return then type yes and hit return now type shutdown -r and all should be well . it worked for me good luck

[Jeff]

I did the hack after installing SP2 and it screwed my computer up. If anyone is having this problem and don't know how to fix it and don't want to reinstall windows, call Microsoft but don't tell them you hacked the start button, just tell them that after you installed SP2 your computer wouldn't work. After a lot of goofing around with things you already know don't work they will help you uninstall SP2. That's what happened to me. The tech guy said that they are having problems with SP2 and to NOT install it, just download the updates and wait a few months before installing SP2. I hope I helped out! Because I know I didn't want to reinstall Windows and lose everything! Good luck!

[mcguy25]

OK guys... i've run into the same problem as you... and i fixed it by doing a windows repair... not a recovery!! This worked for me but you'll have reinstall SP1 and SP2.... I'm sure something must have changed in the explorer.exe file.... but i'm assuming its a little too soon to look for a fix... or maybe not.. lol we shall see.

[Selvan]

I had SP2 installed before the tweak but, unlike Sarah's tweak, it was done using a free hex editor and I only changed the text to " stop" (that's an empty space to keep the 5 character spacing).

It's been a few days and so far the only side effect is that the start/stop menu's Search button is completely disabled, to search I have to use the keys Ctrl+F in any opened folder. Hence, my continued search to a better way of doing it brought me here.

When I point the registry back to the original explorer.exe file name, all is well again (HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon) string: Shell.

It's always a good idea to do a full back up before tweaking around.

Selvan
http://lastborns.surf.to

[Selvan]

Hi,

Correction from the above post.

This thing works like a champ. Prior to tweaking explorer.exe, I so happen to have had SP2 already installed.

Thanks

[Memphis]

so does anyone know the hack for the start button with sp2 installed??

[Stephen Crowe]

Instead of restarting or anything like that, after you have edited explorer.exe but have not saved it, do Control-ALT DLT, go to proccesses, and quit explorer.exe. Then you can save the edited version through ResHack. After you save, go to the task manager again and go File>New Task... and type in explorer.exe . Hope this helps!

[Selvan]

Yes, it's true, you could do the ctrl,alt,del routine but I prefer not to, a reboot just seems cleaner to me.

Does anyone know where to get a variety of clean start button images that can be downloaded for free?

Note: You can completely remove the start button by using a blank image. You can than use the windows key to bring up the start menu.

[Elric]

After reading a post by Matt (July 5, 2004 10:44 PM) on his so-called solution to replacing the luna.msstyles, and I have to say....WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP!! "You must first download a program called Styles XP"....NO YOU DON'T!! Until recently I was using a small patch on the uxtheme.dll (to be found at http://freethemes.forthnet.gr/preview/310804.html) which allowed me to use StyleBuilder along with a little help from Photoshop) to build and replace the luna theme. But I have since worked out how replace the theme without ANY third party software.

Max had the right idea. First I had to make a copy of the luna.msstyles file and save to another file. I used the bitmaps from the theme I had built (I had to convert some of the.png files to bitmap so that ResHacker would accept them) to replace the old ones. Where Max went wrong is that he was trying to replace the XP default one without working in safe mode. If you replace the old luna.msstlye file in safe mode, you will have no probs.

As an aside, the msstyles file DOES NOT CONTAIN ALL THE INFO FOR A DEFAULT WNDOWS THEME. Much of the internal colours and file bitmaps are contained in the shellstyle.dll, one of which sits in each of the Luna folders (ie, metallic, homestead or NormalColour)

Well, all I can say is have fun and let windowblinds beware, lol

Elric

[Elric]

Sorry to Matt....jsut realised the name of the poster sits UNDERNEATH the posting...which makes the post even more laughable given the user nic "Hack King"....keep trying mate, lol

Elric

[Uncle.Beta]

I just tweaked my start menu text to say "fsckoff" looks pretty tight, kinda scares the sh*t out of people but ohwell. Now im trying to figure out how to manipulate the start menu to pop up on the bottom right of the screen instead of on the bottom left when clicked on. I'm sure i'll figure something out.

[Elric]

To do that I reckon you will have to hack the scripting in the .msstyles file.....all I can say if that is the case is "good-luck".....you start playing with that and you had better know what the hell you are doing and I wouldn't use res-hack for the job. You need a hex-editor and a lot of know-how, otherwise the file simply won't work.

[Elric]

Ooo here is another point for those wanting to change the start button (or other buttons)....you can go further than simply changing the colour of the start button. You can rebuild the start button completely, shape, style and all...just be sure to keep the size the same or you will run into probs. I am in the process at the moment - all my buttons on the window frame are now round and the start button oval shaped. Have also gone for an "aqua" style with the buttons and scroll bars (see http://www.iheartny.com/howto_01.html for tutorial on how to create these)....the buttons now "light up" when used. Still got some work to do yet as I get the time, but can send a screenshot if anyone wants for some ideas.

Cheers

[Someone]

This is lame, this guide is originally from this site:

http://www.overclockersclub.com/guides/xpstartbutton.php

and it work's on Windows with SP2 installed just fine, you shouldn't post things and try to passed them as your own work.

Someone.

[Rybo Flavin]

What pixel size does the replacement Start button BMP need to be?

When you view the default Start button BMP in Resource Hacker it shows all three colored bars stacked on top of eachother. How does Windows know to use this to cycle the Start button colors when you click on it?

[Yuki]

First of all, I confirmed this tweak is valid for Windows XP with SP2 insatlled.
I would like to comment about the shape of the start button icon.
There are some examples of customized start button icon in the web; they all are rectangular in shape. But you notice that Windows default flag icon is not such a shape and it "blends" to the start button.
This blending is produced by an "alpha channel" in the default bitmap image. To see it, open the bitmap in the explorer.exe with ResHacker, choose "Action -> Save(S) [Bitmap : 143 : 10xx]...", and save it as .bmp file. Then you can open it with an image processing program such as Photoshop and see the alpha channel in the channel palette. You can not see it by simple copy and paste from ResHacker to Photoshop.
Alpha channel is a grayscale image hidden in the file that indicates the "opaqueness" of the entire image. White means complete opaque, black means transparent and gray indicates semi-transparent with its darkness.
You can create your own image with an alpha channel like the original. Don't forget to check the "Include alpha channel" checkbox in save dialog of Photoshop. Save your own, replace it with original bitmap in explore.exe and you can have your beautifully "blended", custom shaped start button icon.
The size of default icon is 25 pixels in width and 20 pixels in height for "Luna" theme (ID=143), but you may notice a complete black (transparent) region of 5 pixels width at the rightmost of the image. Apparently, this region is intended to make a space between the icon and the following text. So if you make an icon with no margin (or no alpha channel), the icon sticks to the text. This is not beautiful, of course. So the default size of Luna theme icon can be explained as 20 * 20 pixels with 5 pixels space. Curiously, the default icon for "Classic" theme (ID=176) is 16 * 16 pixels, without any space. Luna theme can be space-consuming. This is probably for considering generalization of wide-screen. The size of icon is not restricted to 25 * 20, so you can create smaller icon instead.
By the way, I think it is dangerous to overwrite explorer.exe without testing. You can test it by Ctrl-Alt-Delete, quit explorer.exe, run your own such as C:\WINDOWS\explorer2.exe as a new task, and see it.
You can rename explorer.exe while it is running. So you can easily rename explorer.exe in simple safe mode with explorer. Command prompt is not necessary. Safe mode is necessary to bypass system file protection. Go to C:\WINDOWS in safe mode, rename explorer.exe to explorer_orig.exe , rename your explorer2.exe to explorer.exe and restart the PC.

[Elric]

Yes Yuki, the start button IS based around a rectangular shape, but that has to do with the fact that this is the default frame size applied by windows, and this is something I have not yet figured out how to change....am trying to unravel all the scripting that sits within msstyles to solve that amongst other issues. By going with an oval shape it still fits within the frame and still also makes room for the text and bitmap to fit :) By the way, the same applies to the bottons. One thing you can do I discovered is whilst you cannot make the buttons LARGER without figuring out how to adjust the frame size, by using a program such as Resbuild, you can make the buttons smaller so long as the masking colour (see above for alpha channels) fills in the blanks, keeping the over-all png size the same.

Have also, by the way, figure out how to alter the shellstyles file, which has made it possible to have fun with the explorer bar (side panel). Here is a link to see where I am up to so far :)

http://bfarber.com/uploads/post-35-1096081245.jpg

Cheers - Elric

[me]

you guys are so fucking lame..... is this all you can do with your free time? ............ maybe if mommy figured out you were playing with her computer she would ground you and save her pc.....

[me]

UUUUUUUU.....Sarah is cute..... can you post a picture of your tight pussy so I can masturbate all over my keyboard??? pleeeease....... ok... maybe one of your ass just showing the pussy underneath...., and maybe you could have something like a champagne bottle stuck up your ass too......
would you sit on my face??? i like eating ass as well as pussy before I pound the living shit out of it.... literally!!!

[Cupid Sharky]

Hi Sarah How R u? Hope great i was doing the start button thing and there was a litlle pron i am the only person who uses my PC but i do not know the Admin Password because i have forgotten it and now i am useing a diferent account wich is not an admin account So plz plz plz!;) if u could let me know how to find the password or ....? so thanku for ur time Cupid Sharky

[Nick]

Rybo Flavin, you are amazing, ive been looking everywhere for how to do that. Thanks dude

[Lindburgh]

Administrator Password Change

When you as the Administrator have forgotten you Password ( Which happens )
Panic not you can change it, or should we say re-set it as follows :-

You need to have the Icons displayed on the desktop and not hidden

Therefore Right click on the desktop choose Arrange Icons scroll to display Icons

Or you can go :-
Start > My Computer
Next Right click on My Computer choose > Manage from the drop down menu
Scroll to Local Users and Groups > Users
Right click on Administrator entry
Select :-
Choose You New Password

Note the warning. Lindburgh has changed it, and no adverse effects

I have written a CD with 201 tips on similar to the one above

[iftikhar]

http://www.geocities.com/dilsay_pak/aliiftikhar/shazia.html

[GHW]

IF START BUTTON RENAMING DIDN'T WORK WITH SP2:

After countless trial and error attempts to rename the Start button in WindowsXP SP2 using Sarah's hack, I discovered the following:

1. If the new name has less than five characters, you must fill the extra position(s) with spaces in order to have a total of AT LEAST 5 characters. Example: when I tried to change "Start" to "Menu" (4 characters), it didn't work, but when I used " Menu" (note the extra space before the M), it worked.

2. In addition, I discovered that you must rename "Start" in BOTH String Table 37 AND 38, regardless of whether you use the XP or Classic interface. In other words, when I made the change only in 37, it didn't work, but when I changed both 37 and 38, it worked. This is in addition to the info in item 1. above.

Apparently SP1 is not so demanding: with SP1 you can have less than 5 characters for the new name, and need to change EITHER 37 OR 38 depending on which interface you use.

Thought I would pass this along for the benefit of those who have been frustrated in getting this hack to work in SP2.

[ThatCreepyHobo]

i think i found a way to fix the sp2 problem.start it up like you normally would(no toolbar) and go on the ctrl+alt+delete menu and try to run a program and go browsing back to the c:\windows part where the explorer is located then switch the names of explorer and the explorer.bak(the original explorer)so windows will use the original you copied instead of the altered one.

[Arthur]

I tried the start hack with a hex editor. It works on my dad's account in xp home and at school before I change my theme. When I log in at home, the button still says start, even when it says what I want it to in my dads file on the same computer. I do, however, have a customized theme applied to my account. I suspect this to be the culprut, since it works at school until I apply my theme each time I log in. If this is the absolute cause, is there any way around the problem.
Thanks in advance - Arthur A.
Send as soon as possible to my email: smarta_94@hotmail.com

[Kousik]

Hi,
I found a nice straightforward way to disable the green colour of the start button in Windows XP.
Just right click on My Computer icon-> Manage->ServicesAndApplications->Services->Themes. Double click on Themes and in the General tab, there is a "startup type" set it to automatic (if not already set) and then stop the service. Voila ! the green color is gone.
Ciao,
Kousik.

[oyvind]

okei. i've done it before, even with sp2 installed, but now i won't work. i know windows tries to replace explorer.exe with the explorer.exe from system32/dllcache, so i've deleted the explorer in dllcache, but then it appears in /WINDOWS/ again, and vice verca. it tricks me! i use reshack and shutdown explorer to do this.

[as]

get me a program to rename start botton

[tails41]

i see you on screen savers everyday.you are a hot babe.and you like computers too,yeeeeees.

[Locutus]

GRR! I've been looking over and over the web... In the TechTV vault and everything... I was watching TechTV back before the G4 take over and one of you guys showed a simple program dedicated to ONLY changing the color of the start button. I believe it was a freefile. It had three slider buttons for RGB to change the color... I've looked EVERYWHERE for it! But to no avail. If anyone knows where I can find this file PLEASE let me know!

[srinivas]

ThANK U FOR THIS INFORMATION

[Will]

Hey sarah it works great!! thanks for the info!!

[eleventeen]

deadly

[Adam]

I have changed my start button many times, but since I installed sp2 on XP I cannot modify it anymore. If anyone knows how to change the start button with SP2 installed on XP please e-mail me.

[Mike]

Thank You So Much

[root]

why should u have to hack your system to change its theme ffs people run linux or summat worth having!

[psuedojunk]

some of my file names on xp pro come up with green writing. Does anyone know why this is ? please.

[BenListening]

This has to be my most favorite thing I ever learned on the old TechTV.
I did this this hack when I first saw Sara do it on TechTV...
and that button STAYED hacked.
Mine says my favorite cartoony word from the Angry Beavers, "spoot".
So you have to "hit the Spoot button" to do anything on my machine.

Thanks Sara, you have brought much joy to my life!

[Somebody You Don't Know]

I have win xp pro sp2 and it took me a few days but i think i may have found a some what simple solution. i modified explorer.exe with Resource Hacker and then i saved it then i ran internet explorer hit ALT+CTRL+DEL went to processes ended explorer.exe then went to applications and selected internet explorer clicked switch to went to the address bar in internet explorer and typed in the address (on my computer) where i saved my modified explorer.exe and right clicked it (or you can just hit CTRL+C) went down to copy then i went back up to the address bar and typed in "C:\Windows\" (replace "C:\Windows\" with your win installation directory) then right clicked an empty space and clicked paste then i gave explorer.exe (or if you named your modified explorer "explorer.exe" click ok to replace it) a different name then i renamed my modified explorer.exe "explorer.exe" i hope that works for you :)

Have fun!!!! :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :):)

[Jackson]

Thank you again whoever you really are

[Iain]

A little bit extra for you Sarah, (See dll cache.)

For XP Professional.

If you ever want to get rid of the "Click here to Start" message on the start button.

Make a copy of explorer.exe and then open it with ResHacker.

Edit explorer.exe with ResHacker editing out the line "Click here to start". Click to compile the script. Put one copy in the hidden dll cache to overwrite the explorer.exe in there so that Windows File Protection stays working.

Then stop the explorer.exe process in task manager and put a second copy of the modified file, still on your pasteboard, in to overwrite it. Restart the explorer.exe process on the new file and that's it.

If it won't overwrite, rename the modified explorer.exe file explorer1.exe, paste it in next to the explorer.exe file, and start the explorer1.exe process in task manager, ignoring all warning messages.

Then overwrite the original explorer.exe file with the modified explorer.exe file when you have removed the 1 from the modified file.

Now stop the explorer1.exe process and start the modified explorer.exe process.

Re-boot back to the desktop. Hover the mouse pointer over the start button.

Blissful!

[Iain]

Had to add a bit to that. My memory let me down.

A bit extra for you Sarah, (See dll cache.)

For XP Professional.

If you ever want to get rid of the "Click here to Start" message on the start button.

Make a copy of explorer.exe and then open it with ResHacker.

Edit explorer.exe with ResHacker editing out the line "Click here to start". Click to compile the script.
Change both instances of "Start" to - XP - and compile the script.

Remove the line, "Shows a list of programs on your start menu." again, compile the script.

Put one copy in the hidden C:\Windows\System32\dll cache to overwrite the explorer.exe in there, so that Windows File Protection stays working.

Rename the modified file to explorer1.exe, then stop the explorer.exe process in task manager and put the explorer1.exe file into the Windows directory. Press F5 so you can find it next to the original explorer.exe.

Now start the explorer1.exe process ignoring all warning notices.

Rename the original explorer.exe to explorer2.exe.

Stop the explorer1.exe process and start the explorer2.exe process. Ignore all warnings.

NOW... rename the explorer1.exe file to explorer.exe so that it will be recognised properly by the system.

Stop the explorer2.exe process and start the new, modified, explorer.exe process.

Re-boot back to the desktop. Hover the mouse pointer over the start button. No hover text!

My Start Button now reads XP instead of Start, there is no "Click here to start" and no "Shows a list of programs on your start menu." hover text and the modified file is protected by Windows File Protection, as the explorer.exe in the dll cache has the same modifications as the one in use.

You can now move the original explorer.exe file which you renamed to explorer2.exe to a storage folder and rename it back to explorer.exe. You might want to put a readme.txt file in the same folder to remind you that it is the original, and you could also keep a copy of the modified file somewhere safe with a readme.txt file to remind you what changes have been made.

Also go back to C:\Windows\ and make sure that you only have the explorer.exe file and delete the explorer2.exe file.

[Tao]

for people having trouble with the "\" at command prompt.

this might be an issue if you use the standard US 101 keyboard and specify to use other english i.e. English [UK]. you'll not be able to type the "\" at command prompt when in safe mode with command prompt.

solution is to exit command prompt and go to task mananger. ( Ctrl + Alt + Del )

goto File>new task>browse. from there you can cut and paste and remname whatever you need to do.

cheers,
Tao

[Mathias]

Hi all, i´ve tried the tweak to change the start button text, i´ve the same problem as some of you, first: the search button doesn´t work any longer, second: in the right lower corner it is impossible to make the unused icons to hide, the taskbar is fixed with a upright bar. not very fine. I´m running xp on sp2. I´m lookin for a solution for that, and also to change the startmenu colour, i noticed also that the numbers in the reshacker (you mentioned it always as 1033) are on my system always 1031, seems to be a attribute of sp2, and I think becaus of this there are these errors. Does anyone know a solution ?????? i wont use style xp or other progs, i also can´t find the start word in a hex-editor as it´s shown in other descriptions.
Thanks a lot
excuse my english, I´m german

[Johnny]

Hello,

I don't know if someone has posted this yet (I got lazy and quit reading all the posts), but to those of you who are having trouble modifying explorer.exe here is a trick you might try. In the c:\windows\system32\restore folder there is a file called "filelist.xml". Remove the read only attribute. Open this file with Notepad and add this line to the very first section "%windir%explorer.exe" (without the quotes). Add the REC tags on either side like the other lines too. This will tell windows to exclude explorer.exe from its list of protected files. Save the file and then continue with your mods, should make things alot easier.

Have fun!!

[Richard]

guys.... there's a program to do all this for you, you can change everything you want, also colors... it is called mysb located on http://www.sayesoft.com.au/mySB/.
It's a trial but the only limitation is you can't edit start buttons.. ENJOY!!

[troy barlow]

thats cool sarah, very cool

[Mathias]

Thats a cool prog, does anybody have a crack for it, to make own start button without being licensed?

[Shane]

ok this is diffierent i have an easyier way go to

http://www.overclockersclub.com/guides/xpstartbutton.php

[x]

This is the stupidest "tip" ever. Don't risk screwing up critical Windows files, and don't deal with system file protection. It's idiotic. It's not necessary. Use a safe, effective application that can change the Start button safely, while Explorer is running. Something like the freeware TClock Light (http://homepage1.nifty.com/kazubon/tclock/index.html). This can change the text, the font, the icon, make it flat, make it go away, and so on. Editing Windows files is moronic.

[Nate]

This worked awesome! Is there a way to change it so that it only does it for one user though?

[RMBar]

I tried the hack & screwed up my computer. I've got XP -Home SP2. I'm running Spyware Blaster. I followed Sarah's instructions and edited explorer.exe. I saved it to my desktop. When I restarted my computer (to copy the modified explorer.exe file into the windows directory, the computer somehow lost track of my installed devices. If I go to device manager, I see an empty box. No sound card, no printer, etc.

My system restore (although enabled to the max size) did not include any points prior to the hack.

Can anyone suggest a fix?

[Mohan]

I wantto rename the "START" Button on taskbar Plz Give some steps to rename

[Justin Grams]

Very easy, worked just fine. Thanks

[sarah ghanbari]

hi my name is sarah and a really stupid person stole ma password so can u send it back to me ma old pass is zahroo92@hotmail.com ma new is zahroo93@hotmail.com thanx alot

[Patrick]

I tried to change to start button but I could not find "String Table folder and then find folder No. 37 (folder No. 38 if you're in Windows Classic mode)." The string table starts with 288. Where are these two folders. I am using ver 1.2.0.1. Am I using the wrong ver.

[Graham Duffy]

Can you tell me please how to remove or disable the start menu button

thank you

Graham

[thuan]

what i must to do when lost registry.
thanks.
ps :minh thuan

[Joey]

i need some help. when i was trying to change my (old hacked toolbar) with a new one it said... the file cannot be copied onto itself. can anyone help me

[jay]

i had tried your start menu hack, and all was well until i started my system back up, and gave me several errors, i finally tracked it down to the problem was Service Pack 2 on XP Home Edition. the SP2 did not like the system changes...to bad, it was a great piece of work you had done, i just wish it worked out for me."Windows Explorer had encountered a problem and needed to close" was the messege, and because of the modified shell, i had to ctrl alt del just to get in, everytime, maybe i did something wrong, but i did try it several times, hmmmm ty.

[Brian]

Thanks to the great guides on your site I have managed to hack Windows XP on my laptop and customize just about everything on it. I am now addicted to messing around with most files in the system32 folder with Resource Hacker. Just one thing bugging me silly though, where is the file with the bitmap for the About windows. I mean like when you open paint or notepad and click on About you get a window with version information headed by a Microsoft logo / bitmap. I have looked everywhere for it but can't find it. Any pointers ? Looked all over the web and in forums but I haven't found a thing.

Thank you again for help hacking XP to bits and I hope you have a great 2006.

[Brian]

It's OK no help required. Found what I was looking for. I have put a list below of the windows file and what you can edit in it.
I am using XP Home SP2.

msgina.dll - small logon/off window
password on resume window
(screensaver password option)

shell32.dll - small logon/off window
wizard windows
about window
(the one I wanted to change)

As these are protected system files WFP always replaces tweaked files with originals and even with it disabled you can't move your custom dll's into the S32 folder from the command line or safe mode etc. However with WFP disabled I have been able to get it to work by editing the files directly in the S32 folder with resource hacker then saving them. This creates a backup of the old dll file there but on next start up your custom dll will work. The cool thing is with WFP turned off you don't have to do this in safe mode.

Happy Hacking

[Presto]

-Regarding the explorer hack:
Double click your "new" explorer2.exe file and see that a normal explorer windows pops up (aka IT WORKS) before you overwrite explorer.exe. This way you can test it BEFORE you do the switch and avoid problems.

-Regarding the XP Start Button Color Hacks:
Although using third party theme programs reportedly does the trick, there is a way to do it simply by patching a single Windows XP .dll file before copying and modifying the luna theme. REMEMBER: You're going to get a second "WindowsXP" choice not only on the themes tab, but on the APPEARANCE TAB as WELL. This is where I think people are getting hung up - they change the WindowsXP choice in the THEMES tab but not in the APPEARANCE tab.

Go here and follow the instructions closely:

http://users.rowan.edu/~marzig76/images/color.html

Then you simply create a copy of the luna theme and call it something else, and of course, use ResHacker to import your new 'nice color' button in the file whateveryoucalledit.msstyles in the new whateveryoucalledit themes directory.

-Tips for making the new button bitmap:
The process in the link I posted above requires you to modify the original greenbutton bitmap manually. To ensure the new button works properly you should only edit the GREEN portions of the original. An easy way to do this:

1.Export Ghastly Green button from ResHacker to your desktop. Call it original.bmp
2.Open original.bmp with Microsoft Photo Manager or any program that allows easy modification of a .bmp with hue/saturation/color controls. This permits you to change the color of the button without changing the shading or shape of the buttons.
3.Get your button(s) looking pretty and save the file to your desktop as new.bmp.
4.Open new.bmp in paint
5.Open original.bmp in 'another' paint
6.In new.bmp change the picture width to 250 (using the 'attributes' command)
7.Cut and past the contents of original.bmp right next to the contents of new.bmp
8.This automatically imported the colors from original.bmp into your new.bmp file. You need to make new.bmp have the SAME pink pixels as the original. Not sure why, but it needs to be the exact color. Zooming to 'large size' will save you much aggravation.
9.When done, blow away the green buttons using 'cut'.
10.Restore the original .bmp size to 99x99 in the attributes again.
11.Save the new.bmp

Lotta work just change that hideous button hey? Bah. It's worth it. Mine's blue.

Hope this helped to clarify things.

Cheers,

Presto

[daslick]

Getting windows passwords... with only floppy disk access.
I wrote this tutorial for people who didn't know about linux boot disks and ntlm hashes.

http://www.errmess.com/forums/index.php?topic=50.msg198#msg198

[camrin]

this is pretty sweet, i like how you can change the size depending on how much you make it say

[Mikey Smith]

if yall wanna do some really cool editing do these things..get programs called "AwiconsPro", "Resource hacker", and these are all u need..ok now for the file u wanna edit..ill tell u where to find them in a min.
Resource Hacker:
explorer.exe
AWiconsPro:
updspapi.dll
explorer.exe
ok now for the editing and finding..u can find "explorer.exe" in "c:\windows folder"..u can edit "explorer.exe" to make start menu button say what u want. and the picture..open up resource hacker and then click open..now go into ur local hard drive which should be named as "local disk:C" normally..and then click "windows" folder then find and double click on "explorer.exe". and the edit folder #37 and find resource 1033..and edit where it says start..the picture i never rele edit cause windows pic looks cool to me..anyways..
Now for AWiconsPro..start up "AWiconsPro" and click "file" tab, then click open library", and goto c:\windows\explorer.exe is all u have to type in..and then open..and after opening what u see is a bunch of icons and stuff.u can edit the picture of folder icons..MyComputer icon..Recycleben icon..etc..when ur done if u have a seconday harddrive or a USB jumpdrive..or a black cd if u prefer..is save it to one of them as "explorer.exe"...ok and the what u do from there is close AWiconsPro..and the reopen it. now for the file "updspapi.dll" found in a bunch of folders and is the same exact file but anyways..make sure all files and folders are unhinden..incase u do not know how to do that here is how u do it..click "start button"..goto "MyComputer"..let load and then click on tab that says "tools" then click on "folder options" then click on the "view" tab, and check the circle saying "show hidden files and folders"..ok then right below that uncheck the boxs that say "Hide extentions for known file types" and "hide protected system operating filed (recomended)" and the click the "yes" on the pop up...ok for finding the file "updspapi.dll" start up AWiconsPro click "file" tab, then click "Open Libray", then goto, "C:\WINDOWS\$MSI31Uninstall_KB893803v2$\spuninst" and then double click "updspapi.dll"..and if u notice it has many icons u can edit...edit and then find a secondary harddrive, cd, or jumpdrive and save as "updspapi.dll"..ok now what u wanna do is restart ur computer in safe mode..for some computers when its starting up ull press F8..some of the other buttons are F2 or F4..but mainly F8...ok and then use keyboard to select safe mode and hit enter..go under administrator..or if like me and u build gameing computer and use an corprate windows..and u dont have admin useprofile then most likey click ur username and its the admin..but then what u do is...hit Ctrl+Alt+Delete buttons...and click on "Processes" tab and the find explorer.exe and right click and click end process and then click file..new task and then goto where u saved ur edited explorer.exe and copy it..and then goto C:\windows folder and paste it and it will ask u if u want replace click yes...but first back up ur original explorer.exe be4 juss incase it doesnt work properly..and then double click explorer.exe and its shoudl start up but u want she ur edits right away..but while ur her in safe mode go ahead and goto where u saved ur "updspapi.dll" file and goto "C:\WINDOWS\$MSI31Uninstall_KB893803v2$\spuninst" and replace the file there..also if u go back to the windows folder ull notice a bunch of "NTUNINSTALLER" folders all of them contain the file "updspapi.dll" in a folder called "spuninst" and replcae all of them with the one that u edited..ok now what u do is restart ur computer..and u should see all of the edits that u have made...
if u have questions email me...or aol instant message "mpquagmire" or yahoo mpquagmire@yahoo.com or msn MikeyDangerSmith@msn.com, or bellsouth..Mpquagmire@bellsouth.net...but remember i am not reliable for any damages and there shouldnt be any if u follow what i told ur but if u get a fatal error or anythign juss let me know..lol i deal with all of this crap everyday..so until then have a nice time hackin..and as far as the start button color change goes..i have been workin on that for 2 years now and the only way i figure it out is to juss do what that one guy said about using a program and the do other stuff but oh well...bye

Your Friend,
Mikey

[al]

i really hope this helps someone - i had the same problem mentioned above ie. have xp with sp2 and when i tried this all that came back up when i rebooted was my desktop without any icons or taskbar. after trying all the fixes suggested above and none of them working i finally got things back to normal by deleting the "newstartbutton.exe" file i'd created during the original tinkering. (obviously you have to do this through task manager because you don't have any other access to your files). It may have been a combination of this and the fact i'd already tried switching back to the other explorer.exe files in command propmt as suggested above but if you've tried to switch back with no success - try deleting that file. good luck.

[Richie]

The change the green startbutton doesn't work for me when i replace the image in the msstyle file and apply the theme it automatically changes the start button to the classic style and in the appearance secion the windows and button menu is blank.

[Gershom B]

hum you see i have a easy way to do the start menu... downlaod resource hacker open explorer.exe - edit it save as explorer2.exe in the sys32 folder go to run type regedit! shit this will take forever go to my site above for how to tweak xp! i notice with winxp sp2 when i tweak it i get problems like the start menu works yes but when i plug up my flash drive it does not show up lol only when i use default explorer it does anyway sp2 you cant tweak alot keep the tweaking for winxp with out sp or sp1 :D

[prashant shukla]

OH MY GOD.........sooo manyy comments...but beleive me ur suggestions were wonderfull...thanks

[Ahsan Khan]

Hello! Sarah.How are you?
I expect that you are fine.
I want to clear that it is my first mail message to anyone else.
I only send you message,because your tips gave me a lot of information.
I am from Pakistan.I want to know about you and your family.I have already wrote my mail address,you can send me mail to my address.
I will wait for your reply.Please send me your own real picture pleazzzzzzzzzzz.I shall be very thankful to you and I will wait for your reply.I want to clear that it is my first mail to anyone especially girls,I never met anyone on the net before this.Also send me the procedure of making "Logonui" file in winxp.
So that i can easily create my own logonui file not to customize the windows builtin logonui but my own new.
With best wishes to you and your family.
Allah haafiz and good bye.

[michael]

i tried to edit my start button and ended up deleting my taskbar now i have nothing on my pc that i can get access to !!i think i must have messed up the registry is there any way i can undo this???!!!!!!!!!!!!!HELP!

[S.A.]

Ok here's a way to make alpha channels if you have photo shop 7. May seem long, only because I break the steps down so they are very easy to understand.

- open up your image in photo shop
- click on the WAND feature
- click the image with the WAND
- click the SELECT tab, then select INVERSE
- click the EDIT tab, select COPY
- click the EDIT tab, select PASTE
- look to the lower right hand corner of the screen for a tab stating Layers\Channels\Paths
- the Layers tab should be selected, if not select it and you should see 2 images now.
- The one on top is the new layer you just created, the one on the bottom is the original picture.
- right click on the bottom layer and select delete, select YES to delete background; OR you can just deselect the eye on the bottom layer
- now you should be left with the image you want to make the alpha channel with.
- click on the FILE tab and select SAVE AS, name it what you want, save as .BMP, then click SAVE, a window will pop up now click on the 32 bit tab, then click OK
- close the image, click NO if the save image pop up appears

OK YOU HAVE JUST MADE YOUR IMAGE ALPHA CHANNEL READY.
- reopen the image you just saved with Photo Shop 7
- the image should have a white background
- use the WAND again and click on the image (the white background)
- click the SELECT tab and click INVERSE, so only the image is selected
- now look to the lower right hand corner for the LAYER\CHANNELS\PATH tab
- select the CHANNELS tab
- you will see 4 out 5 channels selected, the ALPHA 1 channel will be the one that is not selected
- click on the EMPTY box in the ALPHA 1 where the eye should be, like in the other channels. Once you do this the image should get a reddish tint to it.
- OK HERE IS THE TRICKY PART, so pay careful attention
- DOUBLE CLICK on the black box of the ALPHA 1, a window should appear now
- NOW click on the tab stating MASKED AREA, it will already be selected but do it anyways, now click OK
- now just hit the DELETE button on your KEYBOARD. the area around your image should still be tinted - and if you look at the ALPHA 1 box, the selected portion you just deleted will be white.
- now click on the FILE tab and SAVE.
YOUR ALL DONE NOW =)
ps. dont forget the largest dimensions for the start button .bmp is 30x30 pixels.

[GxG™]

but what if i'm using an xp theme , where and what should i modify for my start button because what u explained earlier works on xp style and classic ...

regards
GxG™

[Sheeko]

I have paint shop pro 11 but I cant seem to get the alpha channel thing to work ... whenever I save the image it always reverts back to a white background ... can anyone please help me make a transparent background for my image ?

[narendra kumar]

good plese sent thise e-mail change start menu name in figers (or) image plese sent me thank you

narendra
wish you happy new year

[Moazum]

good plese sent thise e-mail change start menu name in figers (or) image plese sent me thank you

Moazum Asif
wish you happy new year

[kiti]

how do i enter in safe mode???

[rappin05]

something got messed up on mine
it doesnt show programs running or the start button anymore!

[Nilpo]

Okay, the article is accurate and there are some good comments, but it's time for an update. If you're running SP2, you'll need to edit/delete Explorer.exe in a few other places as well in order for these changes to take.

%systemroot%\ServicePackFiles\i386\Explorer.exe
%systemroot%\LastGood\Explorer.exe

For those trying to change the start button's background graphic:

You don't need to boot into Safe Mode. Just change to Windows Classic, edit the Luna.msstyles file, and then enable Window Classic again. Before that you'll need to kill WFP by deleting or editing:

%systemroot%\System32\dllcache\Luna.mst
%systemroot%\ServicePackFiles\i386\Luna.mst
%systemroot%\LastGood\Resources\Themes\Luna\Luna.msstyles

As for the "pink" transparency, there's no need to copy in the old image and deal with all of that hassle. The start button background is a standard Windows bitmap. All standard bitmaps use the color Magenta (255,0,255) to identify transparent pixels.

Someone also asked why/how the three images work? The start button background is a tristate image. It displays of one of the three based on the state of the start button. From top to bottom they are Normal, Hover (mouse over or selected), and Active (pressed).

Hope that clears things up. If you have any questions you can contact me on http://forums.devhardware.com. For more tips check out my live article feed at http://www.nilpo.com/feed.xml

Oh, and one final comment for the guy who said editing system files is moronic...what exactly do you think your precious third-party programs are doing? Personally, I'd rather do it myself than trust someone else's programming ;)

[Dialegilus]

This doesn't seem to work for XP 64 bit editions. When you open explorer.exe with Resource Hacker, nothing happens....and yes, I'm sure I'm opening the right file.

[Noki]

Hey im on the step where i use the resoiurce hacker and when i open the file it dosent show anything help plz

[Jonathan]

Hey my question is is it possible to change the color from that ugly green?? I want it to be BLACK background instead of green, how can I do this? Please email me back if this is possible

Thanks,
J

[gaul]

Remove the "click here to begin" pop up in Windows XP.
Check this out! > > >
http://gaul.siteburg.com/StartButtonHackXP/StartButtonHackXP.php

[satya]

i want to rename start button without any software,is it possible?