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Slate custom AVI's for shell32

Custom AVI's based on Marvilla's Slate-iconset to replace the boring windows animations.

A download AVI (shdocvw.dll) is also included. The digits are drawn by ChaNinja.

Use a resource hacker to edit the systemfiles and enjoy 'em !

Screenshot :

Slate_custom_avi.png

Download : Grab 'em here !

Iconset : Iconica

Released with permission of Marvilla and ChaNinja.

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What's the easiest way to do this without using safe mode, is it better to edit the avis found in

%systemroot%\system32\dllcache or %systemroot%\ServicePackFiles (SP-1) first and then

the shell32.dll etc? Or do I kill the explorer process BEFORE editing shell32.dll?

Sorry Im a n00b at hacking.

Here's a set of tutorials. I'd go with the first technique: http://www.jonmega.com/~iceman/stuff/tutor...acing_sysfiles/

Also, if you have just installed SP1 (not slipstreamed) then check this out for info: http://www.jonmega.com/~iceman/stuff/tutor...es/sp1_info.php

This is the way I edit system files :

1. I Make a backup copy in another folder of the target file, keep the original name. Let's say C:\Custom\shell32.dll

2. Open this copy in Restorator or ResHacker and replace the AVI's (or icons, or bitmaps, depends on what you're editing): navigate through the tree structure of the file and drag & drop the new resource on top of the old one

3. When I'm done, I save the file under its original filename in C:\Custom

4. I start the filemanager and kill the explorer.exe process, then I choose "File/New task"

5. I navigate to c:\custom and choose "All files (*.*)" in the file mask; shell32.dll shows up now

6. I right-click the file and choose "copy"

7. Then I navigate to c:\windows\servicepackfiles (in XP SP-1), rename the existing shell32.dll to shell32.sp1 or whatever and paste the modded shell32.dll into that directory.

For operating systems other than XP SP-1, the backup directory is system32\dllcache

8. repeat step 7 for c:\windows\system32

9. Steps 4-8 were done while the explorer.exe task was killed and I was browsing to start a new task, so now I first press "cancel" to end the browse dialog box, and type "explorer" as new task.

10. A new explorer process starts and you can cantinue where you left

Note that when replacing shell32.dll, the system needs a restart for changes to take effect, for most other dll and exe files a reboot is not needed.

It's also possible to replace only the copy in \system32: a WFP dialog box will immediately pop up ; just answer "no" or "cancel" there.

If you're new at this, I strongly suggest to try something with calc.exe or another harmless file (eg change the application icon) before editing systemfiles, it will only take 10 minutes to figure out how to do this.

Good luck,

n-ctrl

I am having problems replacing the shell32.dll. After I kill the explorer.exe process in task manager and when I try to replace the shell32.dll in the system32 folder, I get an error pop up that says it cannot be replaced, the process is in use. Why is that even though I killed the explorer.exe?

Can someone help me please?

Edited by MookoTheKing
As far as I can tell, these don't have a transperant background, right?  ie, unless you're using that theme it's gonna look pretty terrible? :\

should be transparant, like ChaNinja's and Snow.E2 which also have a grey background

@mallinanga^tm : these are only the AVI's in a zip file; edit your copy of shell32.dll regardless the version; they should even work in a non-xp OS like 9x or W2K

@MookoTheKing : this usually happens if you overwrite the old shell32.dll; try to rename the old one first and then paste the new shell32 in the system32 folder. Renaming can be done by right clicking the file. You should read Iceman's tutorial carefully and you will succeed, especially the first technique : the link is in Panorama's post

@kenshin : awesome of course

;)

I've seen the demand for custom avi's based on the gnome iconset, but I doubt that these digits will match the style of the icons. Maybe I'll start with them later when I have some more time.

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