Customising Windows 7 logon screen.
Fri 2009/10/16 12:05 JST
Ever wonder what to do with the tons of pictures taken of your daughters other than setting them as wallpapers? =)
With Windows 7 you can set custom images as your logon background. Now you have the option to have your daughters greet you every time you login to your machine! =)
Replace the old boring logon screen...
With a refreshing one of your own choosing =)
For the not so technically inclined, graphical instructions are available at my journal.
Else, here’s a really quick 10minutes run through.
- start the group policy editor (gpedit.msc) using your favourite method.
- go to the following branch: Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Logon
- set “Always use custom logon background” to enabled.
- select the image you want to use as your background. it must be of the same dimensions as your primary monitor’s desktop resolution. the filesize must be less than 256kb, must be of jpg format, and must be saved as “backgroundDefault.jpg”. take note of the case!
- browse to “c:\windows\system32\oobe\info\backgrounds”. if the directories are not available, create them.
- paste the image we have selected in step 4 into the directory in step 5.
- Done!
Enjoy your new logon screen =)
Horo! <3
Neat feature. If I get around to switching to 7 I'll have to do this.
Not exactly a feature since they didn't exactly expose the functionality as a nice and easy option in the control panel, but still much easier than previous OS versions =) Do let me see your logon screen if you ever get around customising it! =)
My laptop screen has a 1920x1080 native resolution, so most images of that resolution is higher than 256kb. =/
I understand your pain =\
Actually, the most important thing is to maintain the image aspect ratio, so for your monitor, it's 16:9, which means a 1280x720 image will do too. Windows 7 will just stretch it to fit the desktop. But the stretching tends not to go well, which is why i did not mention it.
maybe try playing with the PS "save for web" feature?
you can try to play with the color maps. it'll help reducing your size greatly. but that will make the image to produce less color. SO you might want to do some photoshopping to make the reduced color range looks artistic instead.and use some level of compression in JPEG but dont make it too bad. a 1080p with 256kb size should be possible :)
I played only with compression and was able to make this
http://img240.imageshack.us/img240/9970/44063382.jpg
trick in JPEG is, the more color you use, the higher it size will be. so leaving some white spaces help a lot :) good luck.
! thanks for the tip! =)
That's really cool. Used to always mod my comps boot screens and login screens a few years back but got tired of it. Sadly I had to cancel my order for windows 7, too many figures and video games coming out this month and next. Will definitely play with this when I finally upgrade.
yeah. i still remember those days when i had to use a resource editor to get the mods for the windows xp boot screens to work. screw it up and it's bye bye windows.
at least if you screw this one up, it just does not show your choosen background =))
-lol- yeah... money is always a problem with a figure hobby. =) good luck!
Yah was heavy modding my OS too. But since the switch to 7 I'm quite fine with it.
But thx for the tip. Wondering if there is a possibility to stretch a logon pic over both monitors^^
Hmmms, I have a dual monitor setup too, but it only works on the primary monitor. T_T
Windows seems to put the secondary monitor to blank/sleep when in login screens so...
but dont quote me in that =)
Yah its just blank of course, haven't seen a OS that manages to show you a nice pic over both monitors on the start up. The OS manufactures seem to ignore the fact that one monitor isn't enough. (ToT)
256kB is too limited no? also i'm sure these hacks were there in xp too...
yeah, 256kb is limited, as encountered by Jackass-san, but well, that's the limitation posed by the OS, nothing much one can do about that.
The logon hacks in XP and Vista always involves modifying your OS core files, or tweaked uxthemes. For windows 7 it's buildin. You just need to dig a little deeper to enable it.
Kool, I just installed a copy of Windows 7 Professional 64bit today. It is so much better than Vista. I'm glad I've made an upgrade to this wonderful OS. There's no way I'm switching back to previous Windows. I'll have to try that logon screen. Looks pretty neat!
Welcome to the club! =)
Interesting, will definitely put my daughters' image in the login screen when my copy of 7 arrive.
I wonder what would you do? -jealous of Wolf's DD harem- ;P do show us when that happens! =)
Oh cool. As soon as I get 7 I'll be changing mine.
gogogo! =)
Two questions.
1: Is this only for Vista?
2: What if I don't have any daughters, but only figures?
1> Nope. The instructions above is only for Windows 7. Sorry about that.
2> -lol- it doesn't have to be "daughters", be it literally or figuratively. anything goes! =)
I might want to do this, sweet, thanks!
welcome! =)
A easier way instead of going into the registry is to use this program from Tweaks.com
http://tweaks.com/articles/39468/customizing-logon-screen-background-in-windows-7/
"To simplify the process I created a free utility called the Tweaks.com Logon Changer that will allow you change the logon screen background with just a few clicks."
Just get the wallpaper for your resolution and Tweaks.com Logon Changer will modify it to make it compatible for your Login Screen in 1 click!
Works great for me, so see how you think about it!
For people using Windows XP and Vista, StarDock's Free Logon Changer will do the same thing!
http://www.stardock.com/products/logonstudio/
LogonStudio is a free program that allows users to change their Windows Vista and XP logon screens. It comes with several logon screens to choose from, along with thousands that are available online from Web sites, such as WinCustomize.com.
LogonStudio for XP also includes an editor for creating your own logon screen. You can build or modify logon screens by tweaking parameters on a list of elements. This allows you to customize everything from background to letterings to buttons.
Vista users can create logon screens using images on your PC.
if you happen to read you'd notice i did not ask people to use a registry tweak even though that method exists.
it's using a group policy editor, which is a safer option.
and personally, i try not to ask people to install some dubious third party software. it's just not good policy.
Not good policy, I would agree but it was based on people would wouldn't dare touch the internals of Windows that more reputable sites (such as LifeHacker.com) would show other users on how to change logon screens without going through all that.
I am not flaming you, but I am just wanting to help users who would not have Windows 7.
Sorry if I ruined your post.
This is for Windows 7 Logon Changer review from Lifehacker.
http://lifehacker.com/5182061/logon-changer-customizes-the-windows-7-login-screen
Sweet, it works.
congrats! enjoy =)
Oh god, that is so awesome!
thank you! =) tho i cant claim credit for discovering this tweak =x
Already have a custom login screen on Vista...guess windows 7 can be changes as well....
How do you take a screenshot of your logon screen? I'm trying to find a template so I can change my user icon to be part of the image the icon is covering.
-lol- it's actually screenshots of a virtual machine, so no, you can't normally take the screenshot of a logon screen.
Well, let me know what dimensions you need it at? I see if I can get a template for you.
Actually turns out the idea is harder than that. Icon's are at a 100x100 but in the login it gets blown up to fit the new dimensions. So its about scaling the image you're trying to fill in down and then getting the right section so that it fits when it gets blown up. I decided to work around this and go with an image without any center detail.
Thanks for the tips /bookmark
Now if only I can squeeze saber into a 1440 x 900 within the size limit, just the way i want her =/
Hey..Nice post..i did this..but now i wanna take a screen shot of my login screen..but i donno how to..please help me out guys..thankyow...
I have the sajme thing!