DLL Hacking - Modifying your shell32.dll

[NetRyder]

Thread moved and pinned
Rep points added.

 

[indyjones]

I am just about to put an umicons shellpack for SP2 together, I just wish there were a quicker way than replacer as I am changing bitmaps, avis and Icons and will take forever

 

[muzikool]

Wow, I forgot about this, too! Rep points definitely added!

 

[Grandmaster]

I am just about to put an umicons shellpack for SP2 together, I just wish there were a quicker way than replacer as I am changing bitmaps, avis and Icons and will take forever

There just isn't...you are going to have to do it the hard way

Oh and, holy rep points batman!

 

[the_music_man]

couldn't you just get the uxtheme patcher.....?

 

[muzikool]

The UXTheme Patcher doesn't patch your shell32.dll. You either have to find complete shell packs to replace all of your icons, use a program like IconPackager, or have advanced control over everything using the method Omar describes here.

 

[Grandmaster]

wee, yay for rep points

That means I'll have to update this sucker. Don't hold your breath just yet though

 

[_ronin]

Thanks 0_87, this really made hacking it easy, where in the past I just gave up after reading the first few sentences of other tutorials.

Go Flames

 

[Asperix]

Hey hey,

First post here, I know this thread is a bit old, but it poped up on a Google.
Anyways, I went about downloading this shellstyle http://stevofc.com/longhorn/ its located on that page.

I then skipped to step three and did all of that, rebooted and here is where I got my errors.

It told me there was no entry point and that a key part of the UI wasn't loading msgina.dll. Then it made me restart. I was thinking it might of done this because I use the classical login, but I need to wait till the reformating finishes (I ended up doing this because it was the easiest way out for me). Anyways, I was thinking maybe it has with the shellstyle, but I havn't got a chance to try it on another computer.

Anyone got any ideas as to what could be causing this little bugger?

 

[Grandmaster]

_ronin: thanks

Asperix: hmm, I honestly have no idea.

 

[Chaddy]

An alternative to Safe Mode with Command Prompt

Images and Links FIXED!
Modifying your shell32.dll


Hay there Grandmaster
Well, I was really pleased to find your aritcle on how to modify the shell32.dll file. However, after carefully following all the steps and getting to the safe mode with command prompt and finding that unsucessful I decided to try something else and it worked brilliantly . After I made the changes and saved the file as shell32_modified.dll I rebooted onto normal safe mode and removed the shell32.dll and the shell32_original.dll from the windows/system32 and put them into another folder just incase I wanted to return them to their original place. Then I renamed the shell32_modified.dll to just shell32.dll and following another reboot found it had the required effects. Maybe this could be included on your page as an alternative as I found this a much easier way to make the changes and for them to stay as I wanted.
Many thanks for your article.
Chaddy

 

[Chaddy]

I've posted a quote re: an alternative to the Safe Mode with Command Prompt, take a look, it's much easier the way I found.
Chaddy

 

[Grandmaster]

Chaddy: Thanks for your input. I'm planning on re-doing the entire guide in the near future...and I'll add that.

 

[apu95]

Awesome guide

Hey, I downloaded the Longhorn High PX icon set, but the icons come in png format (they're up to 256x256, directly from the Vista Beta 1).

Can I still use ResHacker or would I have to use another method?

 

[Grandmaster]

I haven't done this in a long time, and I haven't opened up ResHacker in ages!

You'll probably have to convert the pngs into icos. You should just to be safe. Use something like Icon Sushi (freeware) to convert the pngs.

http://www.towofu.net/soft/e-aicon.php

Let me know how it goes!

 

[brocher]

Ok i have just made a mess of this? I must of typo'ed the new dll file when messing around in the command prompt and now can't my machine to boot up with the new .dll file. I cannot get as far as the safemode logon as the shell32.dll file is missing. Any ideas how i can get it running again. I am at work for the next 10 days and have no access to my windows cd , nor can i download any programmes as i cannot install them on work pc (no admin priveliges). Can some one tell me where to find the files that i can put on a USB memory stick and boot from that to allow me to access dos to direct it to the original shell32.dll file. Any prompt answers would be handy as i have to work from this laptop as well.

 

[LeeJend]

Download a dos boot disk and replace the file with the back up of the original .dll (hopefully you made one). If you don't have one get aafriend with the same version windows to make a copy for you.

http://www.bootdisk.com/

 

[brocher]

I have made one but when i use the boot disk i can't access the c drive, and there is no commands on the floppy to allow me to do anything.Can someone give me a step by step instruction on how to do this?

 

[American Zombie]

You can't see NTFS drives in DOS with a normal bootdisk. Go here and there are two methods discussed to see a NTFS drive in DOS. The Active NTFS Reader utility (method two) looks pretty easy.

Good Luck

 

[brocher]

All,
I have managed to do this by method 1 on the above post. Although you really do need to know what you are looking for and what you need to change.

Thanx everyone for your help.