Hey, I just bought a computer with windows xp home edition installed on it. And I went on to the net the other day and checked out some new boot screens, and themes etc on www.themexp.org... when I downloaded the one I liked the download went fine and it was put into a temp file... but when I read the instructions on how to change it... that's where the problems began. I followed them word for word... and everything seemed to be going good, but when I finished up and rebooted my computer expecting to see my new boot screen it was just the plain old screen... nothing new :o. So I tried again, following the same instructions word for word, and again... nothing. >:(.. I really want to change my computer around to something that I like so if you have any suggestions or anything please write me a email at [email protected] or [email protected] id greatly appreciate it. ;DThanks

Hey, I just bought a computer with windows xp home edition installed on it. And I went on to the net the other day and checked out some new boot screens, and themes etc on www.themexp.org... when I downloaded the one I liked the download went fine and it was put into a temp file... but when I read the instructions on how to change it... that's where the problems began. I followed them word for word... and everything seemed to be going good, but when I finished up and rebooted my computer expecting to see my new boot screen it was just the plain old screen... nothing new :o. So I tried again, following the same instructions word for word, and again... nothing. >:(.. I really want to change my computer around to something that I like so if you have any suggestions or anything please write me a email at [email protected] or [email protected] id greatly appreciate it. ;DThanks



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1. Backup (copy) the file %windir%\system32\ntoskrnl.exe (most likely C:\windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe - the boot screen)
2. Download the .zip to your computer
3. Extract ntoskrnl.exe to a directory other than %windir%\system32 (most likely C:\windows\system32)
4. Reboot your computer into Safe Mode (hit F8 before the boot screen) or into true DOS (from a boot disk)
5. Overwrite the file %windir%\system32\ntoskrnl.exe (which should have been backed up) with the extracted exe
6. Reboot your computer as you normally would


Whoa... and I was told windows was so easy...
You have to overwrite your kernel to change the boot screen? Okay...

Can you go through what steps exactly you did and how you did them?

OK I followed everything from that list, but I don't really understand on how you make a backup file... I tried a different method as well but it did not work either... I did get it so you can select which boot screen you want to boot when you first turn on your computer but they are both the same screen... I opened notepad in one of them and changed stuff in there... to everything I was told on the net but still won't work... what do I do once I'm in safe mode... log in to my account? Then what do I do... I'm running windows xp home edition so from there I'm not sure what I'm even doing??

here is what my boot says in notepad at the moment...

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Window s
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Windows="Windows XP" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Windows="Windows XP Bootlogo" /fastdetect /KERNEL=winForce.bootskin

I'm not familiar with ntldr so I can only guess. Hope someone else will show up and explain everything.


]/KERNEL=winForce.bootskin
Not sure what is going on here... is that a kernel or just a special "bootskin" file. If it is not a kernel, maybe the bootloader just gives up and defaults to the normal one.


Try just the regular instructions. By backup it just means copying the file to another secure place, so in case things get screwed up, you can easily fix it.

Then reboot into safe mode and put the new kernel in its place...

~psi42

Okay you sent this to me


]OK here's what I did starting from the beginning... first I went to www.themexp.org and found a boot screen that I liked, I clicked on download, and download was successful, it automatically put it into a folder, I'm assuming it was a temp file, then I unzipped the file to "My Documents" once there I tried clicking on one of the icons and my speakers made a clicking noise and the screen turned black for a couple seconds then returned to the screen that I was working on. Nothing happened. Then I clicked on start then control panel then performance and maintenance, then system, the system properties then pop up and I clicked on advanced and clicked on the settings in the startup and recovery menu then it pops up with "to edit the startup options manually, click edit, so I click on edit and notepad opens up with a bunch of code that I sent in my previous reply... I changed the code according to what I was told to do on the computer. Then I clicked on save and exited. From there I was told that it should work properly now so I rebooted my computer and it didn't work... it did change in some way because when I first started my computer up it was on a screen where I could select what boot screen I wanted to startup... but I really don't know what to do now...

By the way, please keep responses in this thread, in case someone else has the same problem they know what happened...


Okay what happened was that ntldr, whose config file you modified, does not know where the downloaded thing is. Here is what you need to do.

1) Create a new folder on your desktop
2) Open it
3) Click Start-->Run, enter %windir%\system32\ in the box, and press enter.
4) In the new window that pops up, find the file that says ntoskrnl.exe and copy it into your new folder.
5) Reboot into safe mode (press F8 during startup)
6) Open up the folder with the downloaded file
7) Repeat step 3
8) Copy the downloaded ntoskrnl.exe (must be that exact name) that you just downloaded from themexp, into %windir%\system32\. Say it's okay to overwrite. Note that you are kind of taking a risk here, but what the heck
9) reboot, it should work.

Ok I followed the instructions above... did every step but when I went to copy the ntoskrnl file to the %windir%\system32\ it popped an error message reading that it cannot perform this task because it cannot run in win32 mode... how do I change this? Ive tried figuring it out on my own.?

Ok I followed the instructions above... did every step but when I went to copy the ntoskrnl file to the %windir%\system32\ it popped an error message reading that it cannot perform this task because it cannot run in win32 mode... how do I change this? Ive tried figuring it out on my own.?

Are you running in safe mode?

Have you visited this page : http://www.belchfire.net/~userxp/

Download the "LogonUIBootRandomizer". It's a program that will help you change your logon and boot up screens without having to edit your boot.ini file manually.

Thanks... but that doesn't seem to work either... I downloaded the required stuff... and the boot manager... and for all 3 that I have downloaded an error message pops up that says "The compressed (zipped) Folder is invalid or corrupted" :( I'm not sure what to do now... so my question is what the heck is wrong with my computer... its new... and I can't change anything... does anyone know what these problems can be from?

Yes... I restarted my computer in safe mode.. and that's the message that keeps coming up... that it cannot run in win32 mode. And I'm not even sure what a win32 is I'm guessing its safe mode but am not positive. Im not sure what else I can do. Everyone else that I've talked to, like friends and family, say that there's changed with no problems, and my computer is only a year old... and is windows xp home edition, so there should be no problems with it... other than these recent error messages basically stating that I can't change anything on it... my computer runs perfect. :-/

thanks... but that doesn't seem to work either... I downloaded the required stuff... and the boot manager... and for all 3 that I have downloaded an error message pops up that says "The compressed (zipped) Folder is invalid or corrupted" :( I'm not sure what to do now... so my question is what the heck is wrong with my computer... its new... and I can't change anything... does anyone know what these problems can be from?

You probably just got a corrupt download... Try downloading the offending zipfile again.



Yes... I restarted my computer in safe mode.. and that's the message that keeps coming up... that it cannot run in win32 mode. And I'm not even sure what a win32 is I'm guessing its safe mode but am not positive. Im not sure what else I can do. Everyone else that I've talked to, like friends and family, say that there's changed with no problems, and my computer is only a year old... and is windows xp home edition, so there should be no problems with it... other than these recent error messages basically stating that I can't change anything on it... my computer runs perfect.

Okay, let me kind of try and figure out what's going on here...

You are trying to copy the file, and then a message box appears saying "This program cannot be run in win32 mode" or something like that? I have no idea why it would choose to display that message. Can you please post the exact error message and when exactly it chooses to appear?

Give LTheobald's suggestion another try. That should be a quick easy fix.


If not... well, what I would do is to boot the system with a DOS boot disk and copy the file from there. You wouldn't happen to be familiar with DOS, would you? :)


~psi42

Ive never used dos before so I don't know what it is. But the error message appears when I'm trying to copy the downloaded file into my system32 in safe mode it appears just after I complete step 7

7) Repeat step 3
8) Copy the downloaded ntoskrnl.exe (must be that exact name) that you just downloaded from themexp, into %windir%\system32\. Say it's okay to overwrite. Note that you are kind of taking a risk here,

How about we start from scratch. That way we can take you through this step by step.

Firstly - What is the boot screen you are trying to install? If you tell me what one it is, I can download it off ThemeXP and give it shot myself.

Secondly - Download a new version of the script yourself. It sounds like your last one was dodgy (as psi42 said). Make sure the new version is OK by opening in WinZip, or the Windows version for compressed folders. If you can't open it after downloading it for a second time, then you know that link is messed up, and it's time to move to a new screen.

Finally. Restart your computer in Safe Mode. Replace the new ntoskrnl.exe with the one you backed up (please tell me you did this!). Plus anything else that you changed (your boot.ini file maybe) - try to change that back to what it was.

When you get to this stage, give us another bell and we'll talk you through it step by step.

Hi,
Unless you are an "expert", you are going to create problems for yourself!!

Changing all these settings just to get a new boot up screen (I assume it's one that doesn't show the WinXP logon logos, right after you re-start your computer), can result in possibly your computer not booting into windows.
Best of luck,
fredg

Hi,
Unless you are an "expert", you are going to create problems for yourself!!

Changing all these settings just to get a new boot up screen (I assume it's one that doesn't show the WinXP logon logos, right after you re-start your computer), can result in possibly your computer not booting into windows.
Best of luck,
Fredg

Fredg is absolutely right. I should have brought this up, but I didn't...

Understand you are taking a big risk here, because of the difficulty involved in making this change. You could potentially render your windows installation unusable, and have to reinstall it.

Just so you know :)... ;D :) :)

~psi42

Here is the manual configuration for changing your boot screen manually instead of using a third party application.
 The simplest and safest way to change a boot screen is to also use a quality third-party application such as Style XP 2.0 from TGTSoft or LogonUIBootRadomizer by UserXP. If you feel comfortable doing it manually though, here are the complete instructions for doing so.

1. In Explorer, browse to C:\Windows\System32 and find the file named "ntoskrnl.exe".

2. Copy "ntoskrnl.exe" to "ntoskrnl.exe.bak", (COPY not RENAME). This way if anything goes wrong... you will have a backup.

3. Extract the files inside the .zip file you downloaded to a temporary location of your hard drive, but NOT to C:\Windows\System32.

4. Reboot your computer into Safe Mode (hit F8 before the boot screen appears) or into true DOS mode (from a boot disk)

5. Browse to where you extracted the files for your new boot screen in Explorer and select the correct file to copy to C:\Windows\System32. If you have SP1 for Windows XP installed use ntoskrnlsp.exe, otherwise use ntoskrnl.exe. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO USE THE CORRECT FILE, OR YOUR SYSTEM WILL LOCK UP ON BOOT.

6. If using ntoskrnl.exe, copy the file to C:\Windows\System32 overwriting the existing ntoskrnl.exe, (which should have been backed up).

7. If you are going to use ntoskrnlsp.exe, delete ntoskrnl.exe in the temporary folder and rename ntoskrnlsp.exe to ntoskrnl.exe. Then copy the file to C:\Windows\System32 overwriting the existing ntoskrnl.exe, (which should have been backed up).

8. All done! Reboot your computer as you normally would and enjoy your new boot screen.

Alternately, you may try www.screenbooty.com to change your boot screen. It is simple and easy to use. They also have a very large list of cool boot screens to choose from if you don't want to edit or create your own. The site looks pretty cheesy but the product is very good.