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Autor : Shirin
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I have seen a lot of sites that talk about XP boot screen,but most
of them are not complete,and also some of them will not work in all
kinds of windows xp.
So here i am going to tell you almost all you need.
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Notes befor talking about changing boot screen:
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Windows XP always uses NTOSKRNL.EXE (inside ..system 32 directory) to show
boot screen.But this file is defferent for each kind of systems.
so if you make a boot screen that works perfectly in your system,there is
posibility that not work in your friend's computer.
so what we should know and what we must do:
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There is 4 kinds of boot screen file in windows XP CD as below:
ntoskrnl.exe
ntkrnlmp.exe
ntkrnlpa.exe
ntkrpamp.exe
These 4 kernel files are located in "SP2.cab" inside I386 directory of XP setup CD.
At the time that XP setup begins to copy needed files to hard, it detects the kind
of Processor used in system.
If it is Windows Single Processor Kernel type,then setup process copies ntoskrnl.exe
from sp2.cab to system32 directory of computer.
If it is Windows Multi Processor Kernel type,then setup process copies ntkrnlmp.exe
from sp2.cab to system32 directory of computer,and also renames that to ntoskrnl.exe.
ntkrnlpa.exe is for Windows Single Processor Kernel with more then 3 GB of RAM
ntkrpamp.exe is for Windows Multi Processor Kernel with more then 3 GB of RAM
Note that:
AMD Processors are ALL considered Single Processor systems.
Intel Pentium 4 processors WITH Hyperthreading are Multi Processors .
All NON Hyperthreaded processors are Single.
(If you do not know your system is single or multi processor kernel,and look at
processors,if there is written the type of your processor in one raw,so you are
using single kernel,but if there is written in two raw so you are using multi).
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Changing boot screen
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So if we want to change our boot screen,so that can work on all systems,we must
change all of those 4 kernel files.and we do as steps below:
Step_1.Copy sp2.cab from I386 directory of your XP setup CD to some where.
Step_2.extract sp2.cab by winrar (or any cab extractor) to a folder for example
foder xxx.
Step_3.Change boot screens files that you have made before (I will tell you how to make
them in step_5),with those are inside xxx.
Step_4.Use iexpress (by going start,then run and typing iexpress,and pressing enter),and
make new sp2.cab ,then replace this sp2.cab by the one inside I386 directory of XP
setup CD.If you do not know how to use this program,searck in web or Email me to
get help.
Step_5.Making boot screen files:
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A).There are several ways to make your own boot screen,but most of the times your
boot screen will differ less or more by the BMP file that you have made.I have
tested several programs to make boot screen by my BMP picture,and i have found
Tuneup utilities and BootLogo to work more perfect most of the times.So i
recommand you to use one of them,but any it is up to you which way to select.
Any way that you want to use is not very important,just pay attention to
paragraph below.
.When you have a system that uses single kernel,all of the programs will makentoskrnl.exe
and if you have a system that uses Multi Processors kernel,all of the programs
will make ntkrnlmp.exe,but will rename that to ntoskrnl.exe.
So we do as below:
for example our system is multi proccessor, Know we make a boot screen by a
program and then we change the name of file made by that program to ntkrnlmp.exe
( because in this example i sayed that we are using multi kernel),and keep it
some where.
if you want to do every thing your self,you should copy your ntoskrnl.exe from
system32 directory,change its BMP picture by resource haker or any other program
and then rename it to ntkrnlmp.exe and keep it some where.
Know we should make single type boot screen,it is better we use other computer that
is single kernel,and do as i told you above,and this time keep it by the name of
ntoskrnl.exe some where.if you do not find other computer you can use virtualPC or
vMWare because even you have multi kernel,these virtual programs will make as single.
Step_6.When you have made your files (Most of the times changing two files ntoskrnl.exe and
ntkrnlmp.exe are enough for most computers),you should use file Modifype.exe and modify
your files by that (Modifype.exe is acommand type file,is about 9KB,you can download it
from MSFN links and must put it inside your windows system32 directory)
any way after placing Modifype.exe in your system32 directory go to command prompt and
type:
modifyPE.exe ntoskrnl.exe -c and hit enter and again type
modifyPE.exe ntkrnlmp.exe -c and hit enter
Now your files are modified and you use them as i toled in steps 3 and 4
Thats all,if you had any trouble or need help I will be glad to help you.
MCS group
Shirin
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. a month late but promise is a promise.
