Hacking Windows XP screen

[FXGuy3369]

Ok mods dont hit me, I am not talking about really hacking, but when you start your computer the Windows XP loading screen, isn't there a way to change that?

 

[timswim78]

You can get rid of it, as has been posted on many websites:

The Windows XP splash screen is designed to hide all of the behind the scenes boot information that is ordinarily never needed to view. However, if you need to troubleshoot a startup problem, it may be necessary to view this information to determine the trouble. To find out, you can disable the splash screen by making a small change to the Boot.ini file. Follow the steps below:

1. Press [Windows][Break] to open the System Properties dialog box.
2. On the Advanced tab, click the Settings button in the Startup And Recovery section.
3. In the Startup And Recovery dialog box, select the Edit button in the System Startup section.
4. The Boot.ini file will open in Notepad; locate the line that ends with the /fastdetect switch.
5. Position your cursor right after the parameter, press the spacebar, and add the /SOS switch.
6. Save the Boot.ini file, and close Notepad.
7. Click Cancel to close both the Startup And Recovery dialog box and the System Properties dialog box.
8. Restart the system.

When the system restarts, the splash screen will no longer appear. You can observe some of the operations that Windows XP performs during the startup stage.

To revive the splash screen, simply repeat the above steps to edit the Boot.ini file and remove the /SOS switch.

 

[imported_Lucifer]

Yes, you can, but I dont know how.
My brother's friend's computer had a Bruce Lee picture on the Windows startup screen. Bruce Lee was on the left and right side, and some japanese symbol was right in the middle. The Windows XP Professional logo was still there, with the little startup bar under the XP logo.

It looked pretty cool though.

 

[timswim78]

You might be able to change it with the stuff on this site:
http://www.themexp.org/listings.php?type=boot&view=date

 

[mechBgon]

Microsoft's TweakUI powertoy can do that too, I believe, search MS for "Powertoy."

 

[Tarrant64]

BootXP

 

[Zugzwang152]

yup, several windows xp theme websites out there provide these. for the boot screen, look for appropriate files named ntoskrnl.exe. For the Welcome/login screen, the file will be named logonui.exe. be sure to get the appropriate version for your Service Pack, or else you'll be forced to boot off a cd and manually replace the files back. that said, keep the original files in a safe easily accessible place o nyour hard drive, or simply rename them to *.bak.