PE Tool for creating patches

[WildBill]

I think I finally have it

I'm going to take a few days to test MS11-012, but I think I have all the visual issues with 32-bit icon support licked. As you can see, if your screen depth is 32bpp, Explorer and IE will automatically use larger 24x24 32-bit toolbar images if you have it set to use large icons. I tried to find ones that were appropriate, and I found these -- sort of Vista-meets-2k images. The old images are still there and will be used if you're running at lower than 32-bit screen depth. This also includes a similar Explorer system tray patch so 32-bit icons can appear on the system tray.

Since it includes an Explorer.exe patch I'm tempted to update all those images as well, but I figure there's no rush, so I'm leaving all the other images alone.

As for the new toolbar images, I'm going to tweak them just a little bit from what you see here (like tweaking the contrast on a few images), but this is essentially what they'll look like.

Edit...updated the screenshot after fixing several images.

Edited April 13, 2011 by WildBill

[tomasz86]

WildBill,

I have a question concerning the "[strings]" entry in update.inf file.

Does all these strings really matter? Apart from the first ones about service pack number, name of the hotfix etc. the rest of them seem to be pretty useless.

Still, they differ from hotfix to hotfix. I wonder if they make any real difference. For example, there is something like this:

BITS_DISPLAY_NAME       = "Background Intelligent Transfer Service"
BITS_DESCRIPTION        = "Transfers files in the background using idle network bandwidth. If the service is disabled, then any functions that depend on BITS, such as Windows Update or MSN Explorer will be unable to automatically download programs and other information."

It's from the Update Rollup 1 for Win2k. Deleting it doesn't seem to cause any problem when installing the rollup.

I wonder what's the purpose of such strings?

    napagent_displayname="Network Access Protection Agent"
    napagent_description="Allows windows clients to participate in Network Access Protection"
    hkmsvc_displayname= "Health Key and Certificate Management Service"
    hkmsvc_description="Manages health certificates and keys (used by NAP)"
    eaphost_displayname="Extensible Authentication Protocol Service"
    eaphost_description="Provides windows clients Extensible Authentication Protocol Service"
    eapqec_displayname="EAP Quarantine Enforcement Client"
    eapqec_description="Provides EAP based enforcement for NAP"
    dot3svc_displayname="Wired AutoConfig"
    dot3svc_description="This service performs IEEE 802.1X authentication on Ethernet interfaces"

This one is from one of your unofficial updates.

Edited April 13, 2011 by tomasz86

[WildBill]

I don't think most of them are used, either. My impression is that the MS folks simply have a standard set that they put in every hotfix. The only strings I actually change are the service pack number and a few that say "XP" instead of "2000". I generally ignore all the others.

[tomasz86]

I also think so but I wasn't sure because they are different from hotfix to hotfix. Sometimes it's just a very short set of strings and sometimes it's a long one containing all the information about different languages, times zones, etc.

I'm working on a project to make an Update Rollup 2 containing all the hotfixes from 2005 till today. I need to make a single update.inf file but these strings are very confusing

I think I'll leave only a very basic set of strings containing information about service pack, hotfix title and so on.

[WildBill]

The way things are going, I'm looking at a MS11-012 release this weekend. I'm not seeing any problems, but I want to give it a couple more days before I post it.

[WildBill]

I've finally posted my MS11-012 patch. In addition to the security fixes, it includes the following features:

- Adds support for GetLayeredWindowAttributes()

- Adds 32-bit icon support to comctl32.dll

- Patches Windows Explorer so 32-bit icons can appear on the system tray

- Adds new Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer toolbar images to be used when the screen depth is 32bpp

- Adds some support for the larger IMAGELISTDRAWPARAMS in XP and above (size = 0x44 bytes). The original 2k structure will still work, too.

You'll no longer need Daedalus with this release, though you'll probably have to rebuild your icon cache with TweakUI once you shut Daedalus off. One caveat about the new toolbar images: if you replace them with your own, keep in mind that the images have to be "alpha-premultiplied". I wrote a small utility that can convert 32-bit TGA files to 32-bit BMP files and has an option to alpha-premultiply the colors. I've posted it here:

TGA2BMP.exe

Enjoy

[PROBLEMCHYLD]

Do you think you can patch Explorer.exe 5.0.3900.6930 from a reliable source?

http://www.mdgx.com/w2ktoy.htm#2K0

Thank you so much for your hard work.

Edited April 16, 2011 by PROBLEMCHYLD

[tomasz86]

WildBill,

I have a few questions:

1. MS11-012 - is it possible to keep the old toolbar images while still applying all the other changes introduced with this patch?

2. MS10-071 was superseded by MS10-090. Why do you still keep the first one available to download?

Thank you for your hard work anyway

[WildBill]

WildBill,

I have a few questions:

1. MS11-012 - is it possible to keep the old toolbar images while still applying all the other changes introduced with this patch?

2. MS10-071 was superseded by MS10-090. Why do you still keep the first one available to download?

Thank you for your hard work anyway

The old images are still in browseui.dll, it's just that the code loads different ones when the screen depth is 32bpp. You can switch back to the originals by overwriting the new ones with Reshacker, though you'll have to use 24x24 images instead of 20x20 ones.

[WildBill]

Do you think you can patch Explorer.exe 5.0.3900.6930 from a reliable source?

http://www.mdgx.com/w2ktoy.htm#2K0

Thank you so much for your hard work.

Someone else also pointed out that my explorer.exe wasn't based on 5.0.3900.6920, the newest one from MS. I'll be reissuing the patch based on that one soon.

[PROBLEMCHYLD]

Do you think you can patch Explorer.exe 5.0.3900.6930 from a reliable source?

http://www.mdgx.com/w2ktoy.htm#2K0

Thank you so much for your hard work.

Someone else also pointed out that my explorer.exe wasn't based on 5.0.3900.6920, the newest one from MS. I'll be reissuing the patch based on that one soon.

Thanks you are awesome

[tomasz86]

The old images are still in browseui.dll, it's just that the code loads different ones when the screen depth is 32bpp. You can switch back to the originals by overwriting the new ones with Reshacker, though you'll have to use 24x24 images instead of 20x20 ones.

I've already figured it out and replaced the new ones I prefer the classic look but also there is one big advantage of those images - they are gray until you put mouse cursor over them. Too many (unnecessary) colours on screen distract me

How about the Internet Explorer cumulative update?

Edited April 17, 2011 by tomasz86

[WildBill]

I prefer not to remove any hotfixes, but you're right that you can ignore MS10-071 since MS10-090 was a complete update and not an incremental one.

[tomasz86]

WildBill,

I have one more question

You said it is necessary to remove references to the .cat file in the update.inf file as it would not be signed anyway. What is going to happen if we just leave these references as they are?

I checked some hotfixes made by BlackWingCat from his Windows Legacy Update page and as far as I see, he just leaves them together with the appropriate .cat file inside the .cab archive.

Edited April 17, 2011 by tomasz86

[WildBill]

The last time I tried it, the update refused to install since the signature didn't match.