Welcome Log On Text Message - Change

How to Change "Welcome" Text Message at Log On in Vista and Windows 7​

   Information

This will show you how to change the Welcome text message you get after a user logs in to Windows 7 and Vista to any text message that you want it to say instead.

You can only do this tutorial while logged on as an administrator.

   Note

If you run a sfc /scannow command, then you will lose all changes made to the system file in the tutorial below since it and all other system files will be restored back to default by the command.


For Windows 7 Only:

• This tutorial works with UAC turned on or off.
• This tutorial works in all 32-bit and 64-bit Windows 7 SP1 editions.
  • Download details: Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (KB976932)
• For Windows 7 without SP1, you will need to turn off a Windows Feature (ex: Windows Gadget Platform), and restart the computer before this tutorial will work. Afterwards, you can turn back on the Windows Feature again.

   Warning

Making a mistake while modifying system files can render your Windows 7 installation unusable. To be safe, you should create a restore point before doing this tutorial in case you need to do a system restore at boot using the restore point to undo any mistakes that may be made.

EXAMPLE: Default and Changed "Welcome" Text Message at Log On

OPTION ONE

Change "Welcome" Text Message at Log On

1. In Windows Explorer, navigate to C:\Windows\System32\en-US\winlogon.exe.mui. (see screenshot below)

   Note

The en-US folder is in English Windows 7 copies. If you have a non-English Windows 7 copy, then this folder will have a different name reflecting your language instead.The table below are a few of the most common ones.

Folder Name	Language
da-DK	Danish
en-GB	English-Great Britian
en-US	English-U.S.
fi-FI	Finnish
fr-FR	French
de-DE	German
el-GR	Greek
it-IT	Italian
no-NO	Norwegian
es-ES	Spanish
sv-SE	Swedish

2. Take ownership of the winlogon.exe.mui file with your user account, and set it's permissions to Allow your user account Full Control. Close Windows Explorer when finished.

3. Copy this winlogon.exe.mui file to your desktop.

4. If you have not already, download and install Resource Hacker.

5. Right click on the Resource Hacker shortcut in Start Menu - All Programs, then click on Run as administrator. (see screenshot below)

6. If prompted by UAC, then click on Yes (Windows 7) or Continue (Vista).

7. In Resource Hacker, click on File and Open. (see screenshot below)

8. In Resource Hacker, select All Files (*.*) in the Files of type drop down box, navigate to and select the copied winlogon.exe.mui file on your desktop, then click on the Open button. (see screenshot below)

9. In the left pane of Resource Hacker, expand String Table, and 63, to 1033. (see screenshot below)

10. In the right pane of 1033, replace the Welcome text in quotes at both 1002 and 1005 locations with the text you want instead (ex: Hello) within quotes, then click on the Compile Script button. (see screenshot above and below)

11. Click on File and Save, then close Resource Hacker. (see screenshot below)

12. Copy the modified winlogon.exe.mui file on your Desktop, and Paste it into the C:\Windows\System32\en-US folder from step 1. (see screenshot below step 1)
NOTE: The en-US folder is in English Windows 7 copies. If you have a non-English Windows 7 copy, then this folder will have a different name reflecting your language instead.

13. Click on Copy and Replace. (see screenshot below)


14. If prompted, click on Continue (UAC) and Yes to approve.

15. Open a elevated command prompt, type mcbuilder, press Enter, then close the command prompt. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: Thanks to Fimble for pointing this out.

16. Restart the computer.

17. Restart the computer and log in to see the changes made.
NOTE: If this does not work for you in Windows 7, then see the NOTE box at the top of the tutorial.

18. You can delete the winlogon.exe_original.mui that ResHacker created if you like since you can easily do OPTION TWO below to restore the default settings.

OPTION TWO

Restore Default "Welcome" Text Message at Log On

1. Repeat OPTION ONE above, but type Welcome in both locations at step 10 instead.

That's it,
Shawn Brink

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Display a Log on Screen Title and Text Message in Vista and Windows 7
• How to Display Information About Previous Logons During User Logon in Vista and Windows 7
• How to Change the Windows 7 Log On Screen Text Shadow
• How to Change the Windows 7 Log On Screen Background
• How to Change the Windows 7 Startup Sound
• How to Change the "Logging off..." Text Message at Shut Down in Windows 7 and Vista
• How to Change the "Shutting down..." Text Message at Shut Down in Windows 7 and Vista
• How to Change the Logon Screen Text Color in Vista and Windows 7

 

[curtranhome]

Dynamically Get Username?

Just out of curiosity, is there anyway to get the user's name once they logged in then display it as part of the message? Great tutorial btw!

Thanks,
~Curt

 

[Brink]

Hello Curt,

That would be nice, but I have no idea how to do that either if it's possible.

 

[anoel89]

Can not apply changes

Hello,
I am totally psyched that this is possible, however I have followed every step and I can not get the changes to apply. I am using Windows 7 Home Premium 64.

Please Help!

Here is my code in string table 63:


STRINGTABLE
LANGUAGE LANG_ENGLISH, SUBLANG_ENGLISH_US
{
1001, "ERROR"
1002, "ACCESSING USER DATA..."
1003, "LOGGING OFF..."
1004, "CHANGING PASSWORD..."
1005, "ACCESSING USER DATA..."
1006, "LOCKING COMPUTER..."
1007, "PREPARING SECURITY OPTIONS..."
}

 

[Brink]

Hello Anoel, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Are you getting any errors or issues when appyling this? If so, at what step?

Triple check that you didn't miss any details in any of the steps. One missed item, and it will not work.

 

[anoel89]

I received no error messages, I took control, edited& compiled script saved and overwritted original file, ran the build command in cmd, then restarted my system and no luck, just the same old text. Any thoughts?

P.S. Thanks for the quick reply!

 

[Brink]

As a test, try doing the tutorial from withing the built-in Administrator account in case this may be some sort of odd permission issue. Be sure that you make all the changes to the copy on the desktop first, then copy it back into System32 to replace the default one.

 

[anoel89]

It seems to work now! ??????????????

Hello,
I did give up on trying to do this, but I never reverted back to windows default script.
The other day Windows updated and now it is working! Whats up with that?
I tried updating a couple of things on the script today and did the whole 9 yards and the changes that I made will not take, should I do another Windows Update?
.
Thanks for the help!
P.S. The link that a user posted in response to an old inquiry of mine brought no results it is just what is on this site, thank anyway bro!

~Anoel89

 

[Brink]

Hello Anoel,

If it reset back to default after a Windows Update, then the update must have updated or restored the winlogon.exe.mui file. If that was the case, then repeating the tutorial should allow you to change it back to what you wanted again.

 

[muiacir]

hi...thanks for tutorial...but when i want to do the 13 step it says the eror below:???
"this action can't be completed because the folder or a file in it is open by an other program"

 

[Brink]

Hello Muiacir,

Do you still have the file opened in Resource Hacker? If so, then Resource Hacker will need to be closed first. Close any other window that is display the file as well other than the one used to do step 13 with.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[muiacir]

yes you right...it worked

 

[Brink]

Perfect. I'm happy to hear that it's working for you now.

 

[karanbawa]

Ooops, failed

The feature is not working after everything i have tried. I think it doesn't works on Windows ultimate.

 

[Brink]

Hello Karan, and welcome to Seven Forums.

It works for all editions and versions of Windows 7. Please double/triple check for any possible mistakes that may have been made while doing the steps exactly as is in the tutorial.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

Not authorized

Howdy, I did everything in the tutorial word-for-word but when i try to replace the old file with the new one, i get an error that says I am not authorized to copy to the en-US folder. Please Help!

***now its telling me that I can't copy the file because "the folder or file in it are in use by another program, please close the folder and try again" but nothing else is open. I have no clue what to do.

 

[Brink]

Hello Johnny, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Are you logged in an administrator account?

Were you able to do step 14 to allow you to copy the file into the en-US folder?

Restarting the computer should clear anything that may be using it for you to be able to try again.

Hope this helps for now,
Shawn

 

[JohnnyFootball]

WOW, thanks for the quick response!

I was able to save the modified file under a new name [.exe(2)]. I then removed the default file from the folder, which allowed me to rename [.exe(2)] to plain old [.exe.] I used the command prompt, and restarted, but it still says welcome. I re-opened the new file with resource hacker just to make sure the modified file is the one in the folder (which it was) but still nothing.

 

[Brink]

Sounds like a mistake may have been made somewhere, or some sort of permission issue. You might use the built-in Administrator account and start over from scratch to see if it may work afterwards.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

ok so it turns out i wasn't using the elevated command prompt. but after using it, i restarted the computer, but instead of welcome, or "Howdy" in my case, nothing appears. its blank.

 

[Brink]

Ok, one oopsy down. Double check again to see if you may have made any more. It's not hard to do.

In addition, double check the blue NOTE box at the top of the tutorial to see if it may apply.