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Theme extraction from xp cd

Aylen

By Aylen
in Customizing Windows

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Aylen

Aylen

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Hey everyone,

I've been looking into my own question and looks like some of the theme files on the custom cd I was given are being copied to the hdd using the txtsetup.sif file (attached to post). Now, I am not sure exactly how I can do this however I am thinking that I only need to copy and paste the lines that mention the themes into a new txtsetup.sif file ( http://ca.geocities.com/kwauthier@rogers.com/TXTSETUP.txt )under the appropriate category.

Am I correct in this assumption or are there other files I need to copy as well? Such as dll files (patched uxtheme.dll)?

The themes are located in x:\I386\NLVST folder, already compressed.

What I have done in the past was just copied the folder into a new install folder to use with nlite, however when I created the iso and ran it with virtualbox, it said it was missing files or the theme just couldn't be applied and looked like the windows 98 classic theme.

I appologise for the long post, but this is just one step to making my own custom Disk.

I appreciate any help that is given in advance,

Aylen

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Kelsenellenelvian

Kelsenellenelvian

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Not only do you need the proper txtsetup entries you need dosnet.inf entries and a sysoc.inf entry also.

There will be an inf buried somewhere that tells the theme cab where to extract and what names to name the files and such.(Prolly the same name as the cab file)

It would be much better if you can upload the theme cab to a temp server and let one of us (I can do it) make a switchless installer for you to add to your cmdlines.txt (so much simpler that trying to find the proper inf and everthing.

What is the themes name or is it a collection? (Chances are I might have made the theme addon.)

Glad to see someone going legit and learning to do things for themeselves.

Edited by Kelsenellenelvian
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Aylen

Aylen

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Thanks for the response Kelsenellenelvian,

The themes arn't in any cab files, they're in the .dl_ , .ms_ and .th_ formats that looks like the txtsetup.sif file is controlling. Here is a photo of the directory for the themes: http://ca.geocities.com/kwauthier@rogers.com/dir1.JPG

Then inside each folder, there is a .ms_ file and the associated shell folder, as shown in the following photo:

http://ca.geocities.com/kwauthier@rogers.com/dir2.JPG

Thanks again for any help given!

Aylen

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Kelsenellenelvian

Kelsenellenelvian

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WOW thats funny. I have never Seen it like that. Maybe nlite does it that way.

Ok here is what I would do. Install it on vmware or a test machine and goto your Windows\Resources\Themes and grab all thats in there EXCEPT for the standard Luna theme files.

Put them all in a folder and select all of them, then add to archive in winrar and make a SFX archive with the following comments:

;The comment below contains SFX script commands

Path=%Systemroot%\Resources\Themes
SavePath
Silent=1
Overwrite=1

Then simply name it "Themes" or similar and add it and an entry for it into cmdlines.txt just like so = "themes.exe"

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Aylen

Aylen

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Hey guys,

Just an update...

I went into the txtsetup.sif file from the custom cd and copied all the lines from the file into the xp installation txtsetup.sif I want to use, then copied the folder with the files needed into the i386 folder and added the patched uxtheme.dll to the install folder and created the iso and ran it using virtualbox and...

*drum roll please*

The themes were installed and working!

Now I just have to figure out how to set the default theme! Any ideas or suggestions are appreciated!

Thanks again,

Aylen

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Aylen

Aylen

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O_o well yeah you could do it like that too. :P

It was my original idea and just wanted confirmation that it would work! :P Now I know ;)

Now I just have to make one of the themes the default theme instead of the Luna theme...

I'll have to look in the WINNT.sif file and see if I can change the default theme in there, I think thats where it is located, if I'm right.

And do you know off hand if there was a way to make a certain wallpaper the default wallpaper when Windows loads up? is it a reg entry or can I do it durring the setup?

I'm going top peak around first to see if I can figure it out...

Thanks again!

Aylen

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Kelsenellenelvian

Kelsenellenelvian

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OK my way is the most brute direct way:

#1 Rename desired wallpaper to bliss.jpg

#2 Makecab the new bliss.jpg

#3 Copy bliss.jp_ to your I386 folder and forever forget what the original looked like.

I do the same for the theme.

#1 Save a fully set theme (Wallpaper, sounds and cursors) as luna.theme

#2 Rename to luna.the

#3 Makecab

#4 Replace the old luna.th_ with the new luna.th_

I'll have to look in the WINNT.sif file and see if I can change the default theme in there, I think thats where it is located, if I'm right.

Yes winnt.sif is the proper place to set it but I donot remember the syntax.

Edited by Kelsenellenelvian
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Aylen

Aylen

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Thanks for your continued support, Kelsenellenelvian.

Just curious, would it be possible to expand the .th_ file, edit it using notepad and change the default wallpaper in the .theme file then recompress the file and place it back into the proper folder for the installation, would that work?

and if so, how would I recompress the file? does the makecab command place the file as a .cab? or as a .th_ file?

Thanks again for the help,

Aylen

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Aylen

Aylen

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Sorry everyone,

I answered my own question! Just takes a little testing! :thumbup

Now another question, say I have 50 wallpapers I want installed to choose from in automatic, I already know the folder they gotta go into... my question is in compressing them as well...

could I use the makecab feature to do multiple compressions in one shot, example: makecab *.jpg or would it be better to create a batch command?

Thanks again,

Aylen

@Kelsenellenelvian answered my question. Sorry, just didn't read the last post fully :)

Edited by Aylen
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Aylen

Aylen

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Just an update everyone,

I got the theme to work the way I want. The wallpaper gets set (using reg editor) and its easier to expand the .theme file and set the theme inside that file then use makecab to compress it back.

Now only problem I have is I get a Rundll error; Error loading x:\Execbat.dll specified module could not be found, once the gui setup screen appears. I hit ok and the installation continues without anyother problems.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Aylen

P.S. If this should be posted in another topic, I will PM a mod to have it moved!

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