Custom Image for Windows Borders, Taskbar, and Start Menu? 7 Ult. x64

ultranothing · 30 Oct 2011

Hey good lookin'!

What I'm trying to do is set up my girlfriend's new laptop with a custom Super Mario Theme. I've got all new icons, wallpapers, start menu, custom sounds, cursors, etc.

Now in the Personalize menu, under "Window color and appearance," I can change only the color.

Which is rather sub-par. What I'd like to do is...well, let me just show you:

Right now, my taskbar is just a semi-transparent red color. What I'd like is for it to look like this:

And have the start-menu and the icons overlay it.

For the Windows borders, I'd like to do something along the lines of the red with white polka-dots (think "Mario Mushroom,") and for the Start Menu, well...If I can figure out how to actually DO this, I can worry about the aesthetics later.

I'm working with a program right now called "resourcer," by Anolis, which allows me to open the aero.msstyles.mui file, export the .png files for editing, and then import them back into the MUI. Unfortunately, I'm not sure which specific .png files within the MUI I need to work with (there are many). It's also been noted on this and other forums that the specific .png files differ based upon which build of Win 7 is installed (mine, for the record, is version 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 Build 7601.)

Previous to that, I tried a program called Taskbar Color Effects by Lee Whittington, which seems like it would have met my needs, but for the fact that selecting a color or image from within the software produced no change to the environment (read: it didn't work.)

If I can avoid it, I'd like to make these alterations stand-alone (IE, without a process running in the background to maintain the appearance - like WindowBlinds, etc.)

So is this thing do-able? Let's DO IT!

Bongo · 30 Oct 2011

You need to edit the aero.msstyles not the aero.msstyles.mui
1st use a copy of the Aero theme to make a custom theme look at post #38 here Start menu color change ?? it will show how to start a new theme.

The taskbar # are
Aero
Bottom #845 #1028
Right #847 #1031
Top #848 #1029
Left #846 #1030

Basic
Bottom #841 #1010
Right #843 #1013
Top #844 #1011
Left #842 #1012

Show Desktop Button
#1107
Vertical #1108

You will need to do 1 of these 2 ways of Enabling custom themes for it to work.
Enabling Custom Themes - Windows 7
Or
Theme - How to Apply Custom Themes

Jerry

ultranothing · 30 Oct 2011

Hey, thanks Bongo. I'll get right on it, and let everyone know how it turned out!

Bongo · 30 Oct 2011

Hint: you can make the images bigger if needed.
Jerry

ultranothing · 30 Oct 2011

Hey...Strange thing happened here...

It seems that after performing the steps from post #38 in that thread, I no longer have Aero?

It's stuck on Windows classic, and I've tried everything to get Aero back. Do you know how this may have happened?

Bongo · 30 Oct 2011

Did you use copy's or did you change the default aero?
Jerry

ultranothing · 31 Oct 2011

Yeah...I'd forgotten to copy the files first. Now we're all set, and I'm ready to edit the images (via Resourcer.)

Here's the thing, though. You said I could make the images bigger; did you mean because some of the files you've pointed to are so small?

Aero:

Bottom #845 #1028

Right #847 #1031

Top #848 #1029

Left #846 #1030

Basic:

Bottom #841 #1010

Right #843 #1013

Top #844 #1011

Left #842 #1012

Show Desktop Button

#1107

Vertical #1108

Whew, that took a while. Anyway, I don't know how to actually edit these images.

I've been doing some experimentation in Resourcer, but I must be doing something wrong. I can export the images to .png files (as evidenced above), but whenever I've tried to "replace" the images (such as with the Mario grass image), it doesn't seem to actually replace the image within the aero.msstyles cabinet (or archive, or whatever it is.)

I've even tried running Resourcer as an administrator, but it just won't replace the images.

So, three questions arise:

1. What is the method by which I edit these files so that I can achieve the look I'm aiming for?

2. How do I get Resourcer to replace the stock images with my custom images?

3. Should I even be using Resourcer? Is there a better option?

I'll keep messing around with it in the meantime. Hope I don't screw anything up!

Edit: It seems I've found the .png image for the taskbar, #900-1033:

Of course, I can't edit or replace it. HELP!

ultranothing · 31 Oct 2011

Yeah...no...I've tried Resourcer, Restorator, and ResHack, and neither of these programs will allow me to replace any current image with a .png image...

ACK!

Bongo · 31 Oct 2011

Here's the thing, though. You said I could make the images bigger; did you mean because some of the files you've pointed to are so small?

Yes
As an example the bottom image #845 is 1x3 pixels and I oversized it to 48x25 pixels now you can use that one image for the whole taskbar you just need to rotated for the right, left, top

Custom Image for Windows Borders, Taskbar, and Start Menu? 7 Ult. x64-bottom.png

Custom Image for Windows Borders, Taskbar, and Start Menu? 7 Ult. x64-right.png

Custom Image for Windows Borders, Taskbar, and Start Menu? 7 Ult. x64-top.png

Custom Image for Windows Borders, Taskbar, and Start Menu? 7 Ult. x64-left.png

Aero can have some transparency basic needs to be solid colored.

Whew, that took a while. Anyway, I don't know how to actually edit these images.

Any kind of image editor like Paint, Gimp, Photoshop.

I've been doing some experimentation in Resourcer, but I must be doing something wrong

I have never got that to work for me either.

Should I even be using Resourcer? Is there a better option?

Yes I use http://vistastylebuilder.com/windows7.htmlonly about $22.50 US it's a very good program once you start using it you will love it.

It seems I've found the .png image for the taskbar, #900-1033:

That image has nothing to do with the taskbar that is an overlay for Windows Explorer libraries is an example.

Custom Image for Windows Borders, Taskbar, and Start Menu? 7 Ult. x64-libraries.png

The striped image on the taskbar is the steam image 971 with Windows Style Builder editing it is very easy.
Jerry

ultranothing · 31 Oct 2011

Okay...heheh...I'm not trying to be led by the hand here, but within Windows Style Builder (WSB), could you tell me what the best way to find the particular image I'm looking for is?

Like, say I'm looking for Steam image 971...where is it located within the menu tree? I've tried the search function for both "Steam" and "971" and nothing showed.

It seems there are many more folders and files within WSB than found in Resourcer, et al.

EDIT: I clicked the arrow to the right of the search bar and selected "Values," and then searched for "IMAGE" and a list of what appears to be all of the IMAGE#'s (in order, no less!) have appeared before me!

Good god, man...could we be getting close to victory? I want to click that "solved" button so bad! :)

EDIT AGAIN!: A search for Image#971 turns up ZERO results. I thought I was just searching incorrectly, but a search of IMAGE#'s that I'd already seen did in fact produce search results.

The crazy thing is, that I have IMAGE#970 and IMAGE#972, but not #971. Lucky me?

And also, the list isn't actually in order. I thought it was when I fast-scrolled down the list, but it jumps around a bit and is only generally in order.

I'm going to try and edit another image you'd listed earlier and see what happens. I'd cross my fingers if I didn't need to type! :)