MOD: System Properties

[XcOM]

System Properties

As im sure you will all know that the system properties box displays all the information about your system and allows you to edit your system information, BUT say you want to be different, then read on and i will show you how.

WARNING
Modifying your system files can cause problems if not peformed correctly. Failure to follow all procoutions beforehand will result in you screaming and pulling your hair out!

Always BACKUP your entire system or atleast the files your changing.

I can not and don't accept any damage to your system as a result of this tutorial. You peform this at your own risk.

What you will need
* Res Hacker
* Any BMP's you wish to use
* Time and patience

Getting started
To begin we need to find the system properties file, Load command (Start-->CMD)
once there navigate to your system 32 folder

cd \
cd windows
cd system32

Now your there make a new folder in the root of your C:\ drive (Or which ever drive your OS resides on) and copy the file we require into said new folder

MD c:\sysmod
copy sysdm.cpl c:\sysmod\sysdm.cpl
copy sysdm.cpl c:\sysmod\sysdm.cpl.bak

note the second copy has the extention .bak, this is the backup should something go wrong.

Ok, this is what the system properties box looks like normally:

Open resource hacker and select the sysdm.cpl file you just copied, notice the tree on the left, this helps to group all the different files within sysdm.cpl,
the first file we need is a BMP image, expand Bitmaps-->1 and select 1033

if you ignore the pink you can see where this image belongs, Now i have been informed that if you use a 4bit or 8 bit BMP the four corners of the image define the colour that will be transparant, but if you use anything higher then this option won't work, but if you set the image background to white you shouldn't see it anyway.

You can make this image any size you wish but please remember if you change it you will need to change the image size in the dialog tree also.

If you wish to add any more images to your dialog then add them now, (Action-->Add New Resource, and open your images (Must be BMP) and select language 1033) and as you can see i have added 3 and changed one

The Dialog

This is where the major changes come in and where the fun begins. Expand the Dialog's tree and select 101 (Dialogs-->101-->1033)

You will see loads of text but please don't be afraid:

it really is simple once you know how, If you wish to change the size/shape of the dialog then click and drag the dialog sample (Asif you were resizing a window)

if you altered the size of your BITMAP-001 then alter the size accordingly in the dialog window, click and drag to guess or if you know 100% then edit the code

   CONTROL "", 1, STATIC, SS_BITMAP | SS_CENTERIMAGE | WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE, 7, 11, 120, 100

change the last two numbers

    120, 100

these are the pixel size's of the image

to add a new image then insert a new line of code along these lines:

CONTROL 6, 0, STATIC, SS_BITMAP | SS_CENTERIMAGE | WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE | WS_GROUP, 1, 4, 106, 207

You need the word CONTROL,
6 is the uniquie control ID that links to the image number you wish to display
0, STATIC, SS_BITMAP | SS_CENTERIMAGE | WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE | WS_GROUP,
this tells it to display a BITMAP

This is the code used for my system properties window:

101 DIALOGEX 32, 10, 376, 215
STYLE DS_FIXEDSYS | DS_MODALFRAME | WS_POPUP | WS_VISIBLE | WS_CAPTION
CAPTION "General"
LANGUAGE LANG_ENGLISH, SUBLANG_ENGLISH_US
FONT 8, "MS SHELL DLG"
{
   CONTROL 6, 0, STATIC, SS_BITMAP | SS_CENTERIMAGE | WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE | WS_GROUP, 1, 4, 106, 207 
   CONTROL "Windows Edition", 304, BUTTON, BS_GROUPBOX | WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE, 110, 5, 265, 73 
   CONTROL "", 52, STATIC, SS_LEFT | WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE | WS_GROUP, 130, 20, 162, 8 
   CONTROL "", 54, STATIC, SS_LEFT | WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE | WS_GROUP, 130, 36, 100, 8 
   CONTROL "", 58, EDIT, ES_LEFT | ES_AUTOHSCROLL | ES_READONLY | WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE, 147, 192, 107, 8 
   CONTROL "System", 304, BUTTON, BS_GROUPBOX | WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE, 110, 80, 265, 65 
   CONTROL "", 62, STATIC, SS_BITMAP | SS_CENTERIMAGE | WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE, 272, 152, 89, 54 
   CONTROL 4, 0, STATIC, SS_BITMAP | WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE | WS_GROUP, 326, 90, 41, 47 
   CONTROL 5, 0, STATIC, SS_BITMAP | WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE | WS_GROUP, 235, 98, 80, 15 
   CONTROL "", 63, "Link Window", 0x50000000, 130, 101, 100, 8 
   CONTROL "", 64, "Link Window", 0x50000000, 130, 91, 100, 8 
   CONTROL "", 65, "Link Window", 0x50000000, 130, 111, 100, 8 
   CONTROL "", 66, "Link Window", 0x50000000, 130, 121, 100, 8 
   CONTROL "", 67, "Link Window", 0x50000000, 130, 131, 100, 8 
   CONTROL "&More Information", 69, BUTTON, BS_PUSHBUTTON | WS_CHILD | WS_DISABLED | WS_TABSTOP, 235, 123, 80, 14 
   CONTROL "Windows Activation", 304, BUTTON, BS_GROUPBOX | WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE, 110, 147, 265, 60 
   CONTROL "PID :", 0, STATIC, SS_LEFT | WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE | WS_GROUP, 131, 192, 17, 9 
   CONTROL 1, 0, STATIC, SS_BITMAP | WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE | WS_GROUP, 309, 13, 64, 59 
   CONTROL "This version of Windows is Genuine.", 0, STATIC, SS_LEFT | WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE | WS_GROUP, 131, 180, 115, 10 
   CONTROL "Copyright © 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.", 0, STATIC, SS_LEFT | WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE | WS_GROUP, 115, 54, 195, 9 
   CONTROL "", 56, EDIT, ES_LEFT | ES_AUTOHSCROLL | ES_READONLY | WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE, 130, 160, 100, 8 
   CONTROL "", 57, EDIT, ES_LEFT | ES_AUTOHSCROLL | ES_READONLY | WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE, 130, 170, 100, 8 
}

As i was attempting to make my system look like vista at the time i decided to add the windows geninue activation image:

save that BMP as OEMLOGO.BMP in the system32 folder and create a INI file with notepad called OEMINFO.INI in system 32 also, and insert this:

[General]
Manufacturer = XcOM Productions
SupportURL = http://www.thebestcasescenario.com

[Support Information]
Line1= For Technical Support:
Line2= 
Line3= Visit TBCS
Line4= 
Line5= http://www.thebestcasescenario.com

if you look at the other dialogs you can change near enough every tab in there.

now save SYSDM.CPL and exit res hacker.

now copy your new SYSDM.CPL into system32 overwriting the old one, you should beable to do this within windows, now right click my computer and select properties and look at your hard work.

If it dosent change then you need to copy the file into c:\windows\system32\dllcache at the same time as you do into system32, you have about 2 seconds to do this.

Here is my finished dialog box:

enjoy and play around, but please be careful as you can distroy windows if you mess with something which it requires to function correctly.

As for windows update, im not 100% sure if it will replace it, but mine has stayed the same sofar, a prime example of this is windows explorer (Explorer.exe) in which you can mod in much the same manor will erase all your changes when you do windows update.

Guide adapted from Vishal

XcOM

[SXRguyinMA]

Awesome! +rep I'll be doing this tonight

[SXRguyinMA]

alright I did it, and copied it, but it doesnt work, and I dont have a dllcache folder

[XcOM]

you can't see dllcache folder, its hidden even if you tell it to show hidden folders and show system folders.

http://www.2000trainers.com/windows-...lcache-folder/

[SXRguyinMA]

got it thanks you werent kiddin about that 2-second thing were ya, holy crap lol

[SXRguyinMA]

heres the prelim.....

needs some fine tweaking, but I'd say she's goin places

[XcOM]

lookin good mate