Remove branding from basic (Vista style) boot screen

[Yardley]

Anyone know how I can remove the "(C) Microsoft Corporation" branding from the Vista style boot screen in Windows 7? See image for reference.

 

[samuria]

How to Change Windows Boot Screen - YouTube

 

[Yardley]

How to Change Windows Boot Screen - YouTube

Sorry but that is completely unrelated

 

[MourningStar]

Sorry but that is completely unrelated

Did you even take the time to view the entire presentation? At about the 3 minute mark it clearly shows the modification of the branding you refer to in addition to the 'Starting Windows' text which also can be modified! you owe someone an apology, don't you.

 

[Yardley]

Did you even take the time to view the entire presentation? At about the 3 minute mark it clearly shows the modification of the branding you refer to in addition to the 'Starting Windows' text which also can be modified! you owe someone an apology, don't you.

I am very familiar with the Windows 7 Boot Updater program. I am trying to edit the Vista style boot screen (in Windows 7) as shown in my original post not the Windows 7 boot screen.

 

[MourningStar]

okee-dokee, what about ...


Personalize your boot screen for Windows Vista | AVG Styler

 

[Yardley]

okee-dokee, what about ...


Personalize your boot screen for Windows Vista | AVG Styler

Nah, I was looking more for a manual way to do it similar to others that have been posted for Windows 7. Thanks for the link though.

 

[MourningStar]

There is a tutorial here for removing the branding on the W7 screen which involves delete of bitmap directory in a sys file. Could this be done for the Vista screen? It too should be in the Windows directory somewhere, yes?

 

[Yardley]

There is a tutorial here for removing the branding on the W7 screen which involves delete of bitmap directory in a sys file. Could this be done for the Vista screen? It too should be in the Windows directory somewhere, yes?

I’m sure it is but it’s not the same files as the Win 7 ones.

 

[MourningStar]

I’m sure it is but it’s not the same files as the Win 7 ones.

ok - well, hang in there buddy. Hopefully someone comes along with your solution, take care.

 

[DownhillDruid67]

The vista bootscreen is located in ntoskrnl.exe, bitmap 1, however, the colour palette is completely black (a leftover from XP which uses the same bootscreen code, in XP they made the colours all black due to a limitation I believe), so you will need to open it in Photoshop, go to Image, Mode, Color Table, and select "System (Windows)". Click OK and you'll see a vista boot screen with odd colours. Just replace the text with black, and there you go. I'm not sure if you have to change the palette back to all black though, but if I recall correctly, the bootloader should ignore the colour pallette and just use the one hardcoded into the bootloader itself.

 

[Yardley]

The vista bootscreen is located in ntoskrnl.exe, bitmap 1, however, the colour palette is completely black (a leftover from XP which uses the same bootscreen code, in XP they made the colours all black due to a limitation I believe), so you will need to open it in Photoshop, go to Image, Mode, Color Table, and select "System (Windows)". Click OK and you'll see a vista boot screen with odd colours. Just replace the text with black, and there you go. I'm not sure if you have to change the palette back to all black though, but if I recall correctly, the bootloader should ignore the colour pallette and just use the one hardcoded into the bootloader itself.

Thanks for detailed explanation! I was able to follow your instructions but the boot screen remained the same. I tried saving the bitmap file with both the system (windows) palette as well as black but no dice. I'm opening ntoskrnl.exe with Resource Hacker and right clicking on bitmap 1 --> replace bitmap then choosing the edited bitmap. Initially I couldn't save the new file until I messed with the permissions and gave myself write access. I also tried deleting ntoskrnl.exe completely and the boot screen still appears which doesn't make sense to me. I am editing it in the System 32 directory.

 

[DownhillDruid67]

Thanks for detailed explanation! I was able to follow your instructions but the boot screen remained the same. I tried saving the bitmap file with both the system (windows) palette as well as black but no dice. I'm opening ntoskrnl.exe with Resource Hacker and right clicking on bitmap 1 --> replace bitmap then choosing the edited bitmap. Initially I couldn't save the new file until I messed with the permissions and gave myself write access. I also tried deleting ntoskrnl.exe completely and the boot screen still appears which doesn't make sense to me. I am editing it in the System 32 directory.

Something is replacing your replaced ntoskrnl.exe with the original, or your system is using another ntoskrnl file other than the one you're finding.


DO NOT DELETE NTOSKRNL! ntoskrnl is the actual Windows NT Kernal itself. That file is pretty much most of Windows itself. It's really lucky that something is causing your system to either use another ntoskrnl file or something has put it back. Otherwise, your computer would have been toast.


I also recommending doing a backup before trying any of what I said (I should have mentioned that in my original post, sorry )

 

[Yardley]

Something is replacing your replaced ntoskrnl.exe with the original, or your system is using another ntoskrnl file other than the one you're finding.


DO NOT DELETE NTOSKRNL! ntoskrnl is the actual Windows NT Kernal itself. That file is pretty much most of Windows itself. It's really lucky that something is causing your system to either use another ntoskrnl file or something has put it back. Otherwise, your computer would have been toast.


I also recommending doing a backup before trying any of what I said (I should have mentioned that in my original post, sorry )

I'm using a virtual machine for testing, not worried if I mess anything up. Those were exactly my thoughts but I have no idea where this other ntoskrnl could be.

 

[DownhillDruid67]

I'm using a virtual machine for testing, not worried if I mess anything up. Those were exactly my thoughts but I have no idea where this other ntoskrnl could be.

Try looking in SysWOW64. (if your VM has this folder)