Many times we edit system files like Shell32.dll, Explorer.exe, msgina.dll, ntoskrnl.exe, logonui.exe, etc to change the look-n-feel of Windows. But sometimes we want to include our edited files in Windows Setup, so that whenever we make a fresh installation of Windows, we don't loose our changed files and we don't need to make those changes again.
Here is a step-by-step tutorial on how to include your own edited files in Windows Setup:
1. Download following .Zip file and extract it:
2. You'll get "modifype.exe" file after extracting the .zip file.
3. Now copy this "modifype.exe" file to the same folder where you have your edited files which you want to include in Windows setup. Lets suppose you have copied all edited files in "D:\Setup" folder, so copy "modifype.exe" file to "D:\Setup" folder.
4. Open Command Prompt and navigate to the same folder where your files are stored, which is "D:\Setup" in our example.
5. Now provide following command:
modifype file_name.extension -c
Replace "file_name.extension" with the name of the file which you want to include in setup. e.g.
modifype shell32.dll -c
modifype explorer.exe -c
modifype msgina.dll -c
6. It'll fix the checksum of the file and Windows will accept the file without any problem at installation time.
7. Now the last step. We have to compress the file using "makecab" command. As you can see all files in Windows Setup folder "I386" are in compressed format like shell32.dl_, explorer.ex_, msgina.dl_, etc. So provide following command to compress the file:
makecab file_name.extension
Replace "file_name.extension" with the name of the file which you want to include in setup. e.g.
makecab shell32.dll
makecab explorer.exe
makecab msgina.dll
8. That's it. You'll get a compressed file, which you can safely copy to "I386" folder of your Windows setup.
NOTE: If you want to extract any existing file from the Setup, you can use "expand" command.
expand -r file_name.extension
Replace "file_name.extension" with the name of the file which you want to extract. e.g.
expand -r shell32.dl_
expand -r explorer.ex_
expand -r msgina.dl_
This article was posted by VG in following section: Windows XP.
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XtC
How do I include the file xpsp1res.dll in the i386 folder, it does not appear the compressed version (.DL_), I wonder if I can put it in there, or copy it using the $OEM$ folder?
VG
^^ Its stored in a compressed ZIP file, I think. But $OEM$ folder trick should work.
Sam
Hi Vishal Gupta,
I want to used this method to add some Setup files to my XP CD,
Something like what nLite does with the addons silently installs.
But i don't want to use nLite, i would like to fallow your tutorial.
Now this is my question...
can i use your method to add some tools like CCleaner in my XP CD?
I would like to add tools like the one i mentioned and few others using
this method, i wonder if this is possible or i read wrong about it.
Thanks in advance.
Sam
Hello again Vishal,
Sorry to ask you this again,
But your tutorial is base on what?
And for what can this be useful for?
Cus to be honest i used to like nLite, but not anymore,
I don't like the thing with the AddOns .cab files since i
have to look for them or make my owns in order to add
them in the installation folder, and since not all setup.exe
have the same sintax, the AddOns maker always need the
help of Google to search for the silent script and so on, etc.
Thanks
VG
^^ This tutorial does what nLite doesn't do. If you have modified some system files to change look of Windows using Resource Hacker, you can include them in Windows Setup using this tutorial. :)
Aamir Abbas Naqvi
Hi Vishal,
Will you please tell me how to include the file desktop.ini in windows setup so that after installing the windows i will get my background beside every folder and explorer
will you please tell me how to change the My computer's background picture(white) to any other
Thanking you,
Aamir Abbas Naqvi
VG
^^ Sorry but I have no idea about it.
Sumeet Kukreja
Hello VG, Can you tell me how to add a file that is not in System32
VG
^^ Then create a folder in the root of CD "$OEM$". Under this folder create another folder "$$". Now under this folder create the folder with name which you want to contain your file. For example if you want to include your file in "INF" folder, create the folder with name INF and the file which you paste into this folder, will be automatically copied to "Windows\INF" folder while installing Windows. Its a typical one and I never tried it.
Er.Aamir Abbas Naqvi
Hello vishal there is one problem ,Acctually I succeded in making edited system files as told by you,But,when i added them to the window xp cd then at the time of installation ""****Setup is starting windows******""" the computer restarted automatically.I tried it many times but it didn't succeed