Make Your Win Xp Look-Like Win Vista
Disclaimer: USE IT AT YOUR OWN RISK
Original Post by, Vishal Gupta
http://www.askvg.com/transform-your-windows-xp-in-windows-vista-without-any-customization-pack
We all know that Windows Vista has been released but its too costly to purchase anxd the requirements are also very high. The most interesting thing in Vista is its look. So I’m posting this tutorial to make our existing Windows XP to look-a-like Windows Vista.
There are lots of Vista Transformation packs available on net but I never use them bcoz they slow down the windows and also install a few 3rd party utilities . So I suggest its better to do all the things manual.
To make Win xp to look-a-like Vista, Following Are The Things Needed To Do That:-
Visual style (or theme)
Mouse Cursors
Windows Icons all in shell32.dll (replaced as in vista)
Boot screen
Login screen
Vista wallapapers
SoundsWindows
ExplorerProgress dialog box
Shutdown/log off dialog box
About Windows box
System Properties dialog box
Taskbar Icons
Vista drive status bar etc…
1. Vista Style:-First thing which u should change in ur windows is theme.
Download The skin from Here(
http://www.esnips.com/doc/d17e6a3a-d40e-4137-977e-819c83c075f8/Vista_styler_skin)
You may aslo want to use trensparent themes . There are many of them avaliable on the net. AND It requires Windowsblinds 5.5 Full Version!
2.Vista Mouse Cursors:-Vista Cursors are really lovely…there are many ’Vista Cursors’ avaliable on the net, but the one i liked is Here(
http://www.esnips.com/doc/b1657929-35f3-42f0-b78d-9c143976ac44/aero_cursors)
Here is How to Install It:-
a. Extract the archive to a temporary folder.
b. Right click the “Install.inf” file and click on “Install”
c. Choose the cursorset in the control panel mouse appletd. It appears as “Aero Cursors (Alphablended)”
3.Bootscreen:-
In Vista, Microsoft has removed the graphical boot screen and there is a minimal boot screen with just a progress bar.It Too Looks Nice
If u like it download it from here(http://www.esnips.com/doc/0f748bb4-8c32-4001-87dc-c57c3046d833/boot)
and also download Stardock Boot skin from Here http://www.esnips.com/doc/540205ff-0fbe-45a4-b0ff-e9070745fa69/bootskin_free).
You can also make your own boot screen using Tuneup Utilities. Its the Easiest Way to do it .
4.Login Screen:-
just download the logonui.exe file file from Here(http://www.esnips.com/doc/cc9dc360-a8a3-4282-9220-c1cb3299f5b6/logonui(2))
And replace it using replacer!!!! You may also require Vista User images(optional) Which u can download from from Here (http://www.esnips.com/doc/0c2068be-9426-4238-bbd7-b14ce2ef792f/Vista_User_Images)
5. Vista Sounds-:Vista sounds are really Cool.Download the whole pack from here(http://www.esnips.com/doc/8ef6186a-53b2-44fd-92b4-64cc22616b14/VistaSounds)
6. Vista Explorer:-
Vista Explorer is Really Cool. It Contains Back & Forward Buttons along with the Address bar & Searchbar and under it there is another toolbar containing useful links, like Tile icons, details, and many more things. But there is a 3rd party utility available called “Styler”, which can add the same toolbars in XP explorer tooDownload Styler from Here(http://www.crystalxp.net/galerie/en.id.551.html)
And now download the skin for styler from Here (http://www.esnips.com/doc/99ded214-dd73-4ab5-bc94-91427610c336/skin)
Now extract it and copy this skin to “%ProgramFiles%\Styler\TB\skins\Styler’s” directory and then apply it from the styler.
7. Vista Wallpapers:-
Vista Wallpapers are lovely …..download them from Here(http://www.esnips.com/doc/738ad48a-1a58-4955-a8cc-2b677378a284/vISTA_WALLPapERS)
8.Progress Dialog , Shutdown Dialog ,Run dialog ,System Icons and many more:-
1. Progress Dialog:-Vista progress dialog box is different from XP. But we can make our XP dialog box to look-a-like Vista one by using my favorite Resource Hacker.
Heres a look at it :-
For this:- Just open “%windir%\System32\Shell32.dll” file in Resource Hacker and then goto:
Dialog -> 1020 -> 1033
Now replace the existing code in right-side pane with the following code:
============================================================
1020 DIALOGEX 20, 20, 266, 108STYLE DS_FIXEDSYS DS_MODALFRAME DS_NOIDLEMSG WS_POPUP WS_CAPTION WS_SYSMENUCAPTION ""LANGUAGE LANG_ENGLISH, SUBLANG_ENGLISH_USFONT 8, "MS SHELL DLG"{CONTROL "", 106, "SysAnimate32", ACS_AUTOPLAY ACS_TIMER WS_CHILD WS_VISIBLE, 0, 0, 267, 25CONTROL "", 103, STATIC, SS_LEFTNOWORDWRAP SS_NOPREFIX WS_CHILD WS_VISIBLE, 7, 34, 250, 10CONTROL "", 102, STATIC, SS_LEFTNOWORDWRAP SS_NOPREFIX WS_CHILD WS_VISIBLE, 52, 88, 132, 10CONTROL "", 104, "msctls_progress32", WS_CHILD WS_VISIBLE, 7, 58, 250, 14CONTROL "", 105, STATIC, SS_LEFT SS_NOPREFIX WS_CHILD WS_VISIBLE, 7, 44, 250, 10CONTROL "", 106, STATIC, SS_GRAYFRAME WS_CHILD WS_VISIBLE, 0, 76, 266, 1CONTROL "Stop", 2, BUTTON, BS_DEFPUSHBUTTON WS_CHILD WS_VISIBLE, 200, 85, 56, 16CONTROL "Current file:", 2, STATIC, SS_LEFT WS_CHILD WS_VISIBLE, 7, 88, 40, 10}
============================================================
Click on Compile Script button.
U’ll also have to replace existing AVIs in the file with new Vista ones.
Just download the Vista AVI from http://www.esnips.com/doc/39a17466-c779-42f6-b9b5-c660ec203c9f/a.b and after extracting the AVI from it, replace following AVIs in the Shell32.dll file with this one:
AVI -> 160 ->1033
AVI -> 161 ->1033
AVI -> 162 ->1033
AVI -> 163 ->1033
AVI -> 164 ->1033
Now save the file .
8.2. Shutdown/log off dialog box:-
Windows Vista doesnt hv any shutdown/logoff dialog box just like XP hv but XP default dialog box doesnt look good. So here I’ll tell u how to change it in XP ?with my Own customized dialog box.
Download required BMP files from Here (http://www.esnips.com/doc/a03b2f52-9e18-4d05-ac3a-6372c9f5f2d8/shutdown). Extract the file and u’ll get 4 BMPs with the name: a.bmp b.bmp c.bmp d.bmp
Now open “%windir%\System32\Shell32.dll” file in Resource Hacker and then replace following BITMAPs with the mentioned BMP files:
Now save the file and open %windir%\System32\msgina.dll file in Resource Hacker and then replace following BITMAPs with the mentioned BMP files:
Bitmap -> 20140 -> 1033 with a.bmp
Bitmap -> 20141 -> 1033 with b.bmp
Bitmap -> 20142 -> 1033 with a.bmp
Bitmap -> 20143 -> 1033 with b.bmp
Bitmap -> 20150 -> 1033 with d.bmp
Now save the file.
And if u want to change the text of the shutdown dialog (ie make it same as shown in the image)
Open %windir%\System32\msgina.dll file in Resource Hackerand go to:-
Dialog -> 20100 -> 1033 and in the right hand side repalce the default code with the following one :-
========================================================
20100 DIALOGEX 0, 0, 208, 122STYLE DS_SYSMODAL DS_SETFOREGROUND WS_POPUP WS_BORDERCAPTION ""LANGUAGE LANG_ENGLISH, SUBLANG_ENGLISH_USFONT 8, "MS Shell Dlg"{CONTROL "Cancel", 2, BUTTON, BS_PUSHBUTTON WS_CHILD WS_VISIBLE WS_TABSTOP, 155, 104, 42, 18CONTROL "Flag", 20101, STATIC, SS_OWNERDRAW WS_CHILD WS_VISIBLE, 171, 3, 32, 26CONTROL "Bye Bye.", 20102, STATIC, SS_OWNERDRAW WS_CHILD WS_VISIBLE, 7, 3, 149, 26CONTROL "&Wil B Back", 20104, BUTTON, BS_OWNERDRAW BS_NOTIFY WS_CHILD WS_VISIBLE WS_TABSTOP, 36, 51, 22, 19CONTROL "T&ake Care", 20103, BUTTON, BS_OWNERDRAW BS_NOTIFY WS_CHILD WS_VISIBLE WS_TABSTOP, 93, 51, 22, 19CONTROL "&Just Coming", 20105, BUTTON, BS_OWNERDRAW BS_NOTIFY WS_CHILD WS_VISIBLE WS_TABSTOP, 150, 51, 22, 19CONTROL "&Hibernate", 20106, BUTTON, BS_PUSHBUTTON BS_NOTIFY WS_CHILD WS_VISIBLE, 13, 104, 42, 18CONTROL "", 20108, STATIC, SS_OWNERDRAW WS_CHILD WS_VISIBLE WS_DISABLED, 22, 73, 50, 8CONTROL "", 20107, STATIC, SS_OWNERDRAW WS_CHILD WS_VISIBLE WS_DISABLED, 79, 73, 50, 8CONTROL "", 20109, STATIC, SS_OWNERDRAW WS_CHILD WS_VISIBLE WS_DISABLED, 136, 73, 50, 8
========================================================
Compile it and save it …
8.3.Run Dialog:-
open shell32.dll in resource Hacker n go to
Dialog->1003->1003
In the right hand plane replace the default code with the following one;-
=========================================================
1003 DIALOGEX 0, 0, 256, 102STYLE DS_FIXEDSYS DS_MODALFRAME DS_NOIDLEMSG DS_CONTEXTHELP WS_POPUP WS_CAPTION WS_SYSMENUCAPTION "Run"LANGUAGE LANG_ENGLISH, SUBLANG_ENGLISH_USFONT 8, "MS Shell Dlg"{CONTROL "", 12298, COMBOBOX, CBS_DROPDOWN CBS_AUTOHSCROLL CBS_DISABLENOSCROLL WS_CHILD WS_VISIBLE WS_VSCROLL WS_TABSTOP, 33, 7, 183, 199CONTROL "OK", 1, BUTTON, BS_DEFPUSHBUTTON WS_CHILD WS_VISIBLE WS_TABSTOP, 23, 80, 50, 14CONTROL "&Browse.", 12288, BUTTON, BS_PUSHBUTTON WS_CHILD WS_VISIBLE WS_TABSTOP, 182, 80, 50, 14CONTROL 9890, 0, STATIC, SS_BITMAP WS_CHILD WS_VISIBLE WS_CLIPSIBLINGS WS_GROUP, 65533, 65535, 260, 105}
========================================================
Click on compile.And also download a BMP file from (http://www.esnips.com/doc/9e687e1c-0549-4509-ab28-addda6125736/1) and after extracting the BMP file from it,then . Just click on Action -> Add a new resource and then click on Open file with new resource button. Select the downloaded BMP file and click on Open. Now in Resource Name enter 9890 and in Resource Language enter 1033 and click on Add Resource button. Thats it.
8.4.About Windows Dialog
Download the required BITMAP files from \
http://www.esnips.com/doc/e0d1a98e-face-4e3a-9a88-d117b3dde9a9/about and then open “%windir%\System32\Shell32.dll” file in Resource Hacker and then replace following BITMAPs with the downloaded BMP file:
Bitmap -> 131 -> 1033 (For XP Professional)Bitmap -> 147 -> 1033 (For XP Home)
Now open %windir%\System32\msgina.dll file in Resource Hacker and then replace following BITMAPs with the downloaded BMP file:
Bitmap -> 101 -> 1033 (For XP Professional)Bitmap -> 107 -> 1033 (For XP Professional)Bitmap -> 128 -> 1033 (For XP Home)Bitmap -> 129 -> 1033 (For XP Home)
Now to change the text of dialog box, open “%windir%\System32\xpsp1res.dll” file in Resource Hacker and then goto:
Dialog -> 14352 -> 1033
Now replace the existing code in right-side pane with the following code:
========================================================
14352 DIALOGEX 20, 20, 275, 198STYLE DS_FIXEDSYS DS_MODALFRAME WS_POPUP WS_CAPTION WS_SYSMENUCAPTION "About %s"LANGUAGE LANG_ENGLISH, SUBLANG_ENGLISH_USFONT 8, "MS Shell Dlg"{CONTROL 0, 12297, STATIC, SS_ICON WS_CHILD WS_VISIBLE, 7, 55, 21, 20CONTROL "Microsoft ® %s", 13568, STATIC, SS_LEFTNOWORDWRAP SS_NOPREFIX WS_CHILD WS_VISIBLE, 35, 55, 200, 10CONTROL "", 13579, STATIC, SS_LEFTNOWORDWRAP SS_NOPREFIX WS_CHILD WS_VISIBLE, 35, 65, 235, 10CONTROL "Copyright © %s Microsoft Corporation", 13578, STATIC, SS_LEFT SS_NOPREFIX WS_CHILD WS_VISIBLE, 35, 75, 210, 10CONTROL "", 13581, STATIC, SS_LEFT SS_NOPREFIX WS_CHILD WS_VISIBLE, 35, 85, 180, 20CONTROL "This product is licensed under the terms of the End-User License Agreement to:", 13586, "SysLink", 0x50000000, 35, 105, 180, 20CONTROL "user name", 13575, STATIC, SS_LEFT SS_NOPREFIX WS_CHILD WS_VISIBLE, 45, 125, 180, 10CONTROL "org name", 13576, STATIC, SS_LEFT SS_NOPREFIX WS_CHILD WS_VISIBLE, 45, 135, 180, 10CONTROL "", 13095, STATIC, SS_ETCHEDHORZ WS_CHILD WS_VISIBLE, 35, 147, 235, 1CONTROL "Physical memory available to Windows:", 13570, STATIC, SS_LEFT SS_NOPREFIX WS_CHILD WS_VISIBLE, 35, 152, 130, 10CONTROL "", 13571, STATIC, SS_LEFT SS_NOPREFIX WS_CHILD WS_VISIBLE, 167, 152, 88, 10CONTROL "OK", 1, BUTTON, BS_DEFPUSHBUTTON WS_CHILD WS_VISIBLE WS_TABSTOP, 220, 178, 50, 14}========================================================
Fianally Click On Compile Button And Save the File .
9.Vista Icons:-
There r lots of icon packs available on net, which can be used to change default XP icons with the Vista ones automatically. I’m posting a link to a iconpack which is the best :
http://www.joejoe.biz/joejoe/Download/VIP3_IP.ip
Just download it and then u can use Stardock Icon (http://www.esnips.com/doc/4b052842-f18f-49d8-a34d-16088a7a178e/iconpackager_public) to use it .
10.Taskbar Icons:-
Guys I Hv also modified My netshell File (which is reponsible for the taskbar icons) I hv made it Look Like Vista. Download the file from (http://www.esnips.com/doc/d6f51148-403e-42c4-b065-de71b34fa596/netshell) And Then Replace It With Replacer .
11.Vista Drive Status Bar:-
In Windows Vista there is a small horizontal progress bar is displayed under each drive icon showing the filled/remaining space in the drive. U can also do the same in XP by using a 3rd party utility uploaded . Just run the file and it’ll add the progress bar in each drive. Download it from http://rapidshare.com/files/32747874/aaaaaaaa.zip.html
12.Sidebar:-
Windows Vista also contains a Sidebar, which is displayed on right-side on desktop (by default and can be changed to be displayed at left-side). U can also use a sidebar in XP. Just download it fromhttp://www.thoosje.com/
P.s:-If u get error while saving the system files, then its happening bcoz of the WFP (Windows File Protection) service, which can be disabled using WFP Patcher or u can use Replacer to replace system files with my hacked ones.
You may Also Require Replacer To Replace the files Which U can download from http://www3.telus.net/_/replacer/Replacer.zip
Thats all for now guys. If u hv more suggestions then pls post them. I m waiting for ur comments.There r lots of other 3rd party utilities, like LClock, etc. but I’m not mentioning them here.
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