Changing Your Start Button on Windows XP
Changing Your Start Button on Windows XP
ghost | 5645 Reads | Changing Your Start Button on Windows XP By BlackAce227
I am not responsible if you screw up your explorer.exe by doing this!!
This Article will help you change the boring start button on the bottom left corner of your screen to something more interesting like whatever you want. Interested? I thought so.
Ok. Here we go. First off, you need to modify your explorer.exe file. I strongly recommend making a backup so that if you screw up you�re not totally screwed. Your Current Start Button:
Because explorer.exe is a binary file, it cannot be edited the normal way. You will need a program called Resource Hacker which can be downloaded for free at http://www.users.on.net/johnson/resourcehacker/.
Once you have downloaded the Resource Hacker, you need to edit the explorer.exe which is found in the C:\Windows\explorer.exe pathway. Once you open it, go to string table and then click on the folder labeled �37�. Open it and you will find a file that says �1033�. Click on it. There you will see some info that is not really important except one five letter word. You guessed it, �start�. You can change the start button to whatever you wish such as �finish� or �BlackAce227� or anything you want to. I chose to replace it with �BlackAce227�.
My Start Button:
Now to put the explorer.exe all back together again. Do not push SAVE! Go to file -> Save As… and then make a name that is different from explorer.exe. In this case I saved it as explorer1.exe. Save it in the C:\Windows file. Delete the old explorer.exe file or place it in a different folder for safe keeping.
You have successfully altered the Start Button, but your not finished yet! In order for it to work, you need to alter the registry so that the shell can be read. To do this, go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows NT\ CurrentVersion\ Winlogon. Open the Shell Entry and change the value data from explorer.exe to the name of the new explorer you made. In my case, I would change it to explorer1.exe. Press Ok and exit all programs. Now reset your computer and admire your new Start Button! Hope you liked it. ENJOY!
Submitted by BlackAce227 on December 10 2004 - 21:13:51
ghost 18 years ago
I tried this exactly as it is written, and now my Windows Explorer won't work right. I can not see my desktop icons and there is no toolbar. How can I reset things back to normal? :(
ghost 18 years ago
if you did it exactly as said, you have a backup copy named "explorer.exe" so just put it back and fix the hkey_local_machine and ur set. for future reference, always have a system restore disk when you f*ck wit ur registry.
ghost 18 years ago
Hi,
In the registry editor i get to Winlogon, BUT there is no file named shell with explorer.exe, so i went to WOW, then to Boot which is underneath winlogon and found a shell with progman.exe, is this the file i need to change to my new one (explorer2.exe)
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks Mals