Page 1 of 1 1
Topic Options
#119387 - 2004-05-11 07:26 PM Resource Editing MSSTYLES files ...
Shawn Administrator Offline
Administrator
*****

Registered: 1999-08-13
Posts: 8611
Has anyone been able to successfully edit (hack) windows xp msstyles files ... to change things like default caption font, etc. If so, what resource editor did you use ? Does MS have one ?

-Shawn

Top
#119388 - 2004-05-11 07:41 PM Re: Resource Editing MSSTYLES files ...
Les Offline
KiX Master
*****

Registered: 2001-06-11
Posts: 12734
Loc: fortfrances.on.ca
Is it safe to assume that if someone had an answer they would know what you are talking about?
Guess I don't have an answer cuz I don't understand the question.
_________________________
Give a man a fish and he will be back for more. Slap him with a fish and he will go away forever.

Top
#119389 - 2004-05-11 11:54 PM Re: Resource Editing MSSTYLES files ...
NTDOC Administrator Offline
Administrator
*****

Registered: 2000-07-28
Posts: 11629
Loc: CA
Do you mean something more then THEMES Shawn?

If you really want to hack into the actual resources then here is a little tool that works quite well.

Resource Hacker

Top
#119390 - 2004-05-12 02:44 AM Re: Resource Editing MSSTYLES files ...
Shawn Administrator Offline
Administrator
*****

Registered: 1999-08-13
Posts: 8611
ja, thats exactly it Ron. I tried that one, and another one called TP Editor or something, and one called Style XP ...

Basically I wasted all of last week trying to figure-out why my roaming users were not getting the XP style applied at login ... local accounts and non-roaming domain accounts get it - roamies no get it.

After much hacking (with GPO) then later with wkstn default ntuser.dat hacks, i got it so that roamies got XP style, then our users wanted to "customize" the xp look, with a bigger font ! So another few days of hacking at un-documented Theme Manager settings yielded big fonts - now they want some fonts big and some fonts small ... this were I hit the brick wall.

Finally placed a premier support call to Microsoft and they confirmed this "roamies get no XP thing" ... i said there was no documentation on this anywhere and they informed me that it is documented in their private knowledge base

Anyway, I explained the situation of wanted to customize roamie XP themes, and after much poking and prodding by MS the reponse was "this is going to be tough or next to impossible" .... eek !

With the editor, I was going to hack at the luna.msstyles file (which is the only thing roamies can point to, an msstyles file (not a .theme file), but this file is SIGNED by MS and if you hack it, it barfs all over the place ... apparently to get arounf this, one can get a patched (hacked) version of themes.dll that basically bypasses this sig check ... it just get worse ...

So right now MS is working on a solution ...

-Shawn


Top
#119391 - 2004-05-12 02:52 AM Re: Resource Editing MSSTYLES files ...
Shawn Administrator Offline
Administrator
*****

Registered: 1999-08-13
Posts: 8611
Just to add, we're trying to set a standard look and feel for our roaming users for a 10,000+ workstation deployment ... and just as an FYI, the "look" that romaing users get on Windows XP is actually Windows Classic with a few twists, it looks like crap (and I'm a windows 2k look and feel fan!) ...
Top
#119392 - 2004-05-12 04:48 AM Re: Resource Editing MSSTYLES files ...
ShaneEP Moderator Offline
MM club member
*****

Registered: 2002-11-29
Posts: 2127
Loc: Tulsa, OK
You talking about something like this?

UXTheme Patch For Microsoft XP SP2 RC1 Build 2120

Top
#119393 - 2004-05-12 02:39 PM Re: Resource Editing MSSTYLES files ...
Shawn Administrator Offline
Administrator
*****

Registered: 1999-08-13
Posts: 8611
Shane, yeah thats it. It doesn't sit too well with me because one needs a repatched uxtheme.dll for every SP going forward ... right now I'm looking for a command-line util (maybe called settheme.exe) that takes a .theme as a parameter and dynamically flips the theme, just like as if you did it from the desktop appearance tab ... but having no luck stfw so far ... if there was an API for this could write my own settheme but having no luck there either.

-Shawn

Top
#119394 - 2004-05-12 02:47 PM Re: Resource Editing MSSTYLES files ...
Kdyer Offline
KiX Supporter
*****

Registered: 2001-01-03
Posts: 6241
Loc: Tigard, OR
If memory serves me right, you can do some interesting things like this with Samurize.

Oh.. That is right you can do some other cool things with LiteStep too..

http://www.litestep.net/

Litestep under win2k/XP

And to get a "skin" - http://www.wincustomize.com/

Kent
_________________________
Utilize these resources:
UDFs (Full List)
KiXtart FAQ & How to's

Top
#119395 - 2004-05-12 03:50 PM Re: Resource Editing MSSTYLES files ...
krabourn Offline
Hey THIS is FUN
*****

Registered: 2000-12-11
Posts: 244
Loc: San Antonio, Texas, USA
LiteStep is cool. I used to be really involved. But LiteStep takes time to learn if you want to really customize it and we don't want to sidetrack Shawn from working on KiXforms.
_________________________
Kelly

Top
Page 1 of 1 1


Moderator:  Arend_, Allen, Jochen, Radimus, Glenn Barnas, ShaneEP, Ruud van Velsen, Mart 
Hop to:
Shout Box

Who's Online
0 registered and 820 anonymous users online.
Newest Members
batdk82, StuTheCoder, M_Moore, BeeEm, min_seow
17885 Registered Users

Generated in 0.058 seconds in which 0.025 seconds were spent on a total of 12 queries. Zlib compression enabled.

Search the board with:
superb Board Search
or try with google:
Google
Web kixtart.org