Show Your Desired Text on Desktop by Customizing Windows Vista Build Number

[Posted in Resource Hacker, Windows Vista]

Each Windows OS has its own build number which is shown in its Beta builds but not shown in RTM versions. Like Windows Vista SP1 has its build number as “Build 6001“.

In this tutorial, we’ll change this build number to our custom string and will show that custom string on Desktop. You can put your name, your website URL or anything which you want to show.

It might also become very useful to customization pack creators who can show their customized text like any beta build number or their pack version/name on Desktop.

So here we start our tutorial:

1. First thing is to enable “Build Number” on Desktop. There is a simple registry trick to show it.

Type regedit in RUN or Startmenu Search box and press Enter. It’ll open Registry Editor. Now go to following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

In right-side pane, change value of “PaintDesktopVersion” DWORD to 1 (Create the DWORD value if its not present).

Now log off or restart your system and you’ll see the Build number on Desktop:

2. We have completed first step. Now we have to customize this Build number. For this task we’ll need to edit a system file “user32.dll.mui” in Resource Hacker.

If you don’t know about Resource Hacker, you can read following tutorial:

All About Resource Hacker in a brief Tutorial

To edit the file, we’ll need to take ownership of this file otherwise we’ll not be able to save our changes. Taking ownership is very easy. First follow the instructions given in following topic:

Add Take Ownership Option in File / Folder Context Menu in Windows Vista

Now open My Computer and go to following folder:

%windir%\System32\en-US

You can paste the above string in addressbar and press Enter. It’ll open the folder. Now look for the “user32.dll.mui” file. When you find it, right-click on it and select “Take Ownership“:

NOTE: If your Windows language is different, then replace en-US in the above path with your language code.

3. Now open “user32.dll.mui” file in Resource Hacker. You can simply drag-n-drop the file in Resource Hacker window.

Once you open the file, go to “String Table -> 45“. In right-side pane, look at the 715 and 716 entries. The 715 entry contains the first line of Build number i.e. “Windows Vista (TM)” and the 716 entry contains the second line i.e. “Build 6001“.

We need to change their text so that we can show our own desired text. That’s very simple. Simply delete the text within double-quotes “” and type your own desired text in both entries as shown in following screenshot:

After changing the text, click on “Compile Script” button and at last save the file.

4. That’s it. Now restart your system and your desired text will be displayed on Desktop:

PS: Please be very careful while editing any file in Resource Hacker. Changing Build number is completely safe and it’ll not cause any problem.

17 Replies:

Kishan Bagaria said:

Dear Vishal,

Is there any trick for Windows-XP.
VG said:

^^ In Windows XP the build number is stored in “%windir%\System32\win32k.sys” file but its very risky to edit the file.
Sora said:

Hello Vishal,

it appears that windows vista starter has that text stating “windows vista starter” on the bottom right of the desktop. This one seems to be on top of everything so i was wondering if there is a way to get rid of it.
Ron said:

Very nice, as i remember you offered a way for us to display the build already. I can now offer a warning, or disclaimer, or even remind customers of where they can go when they have problems again. It is a very nice thing you have shown us. very simple and elegant solution . It is like a watermark for the desktop.
http://s411.photobucket.com/albums/pp197/superduperusername/?action=view&current=49a8f330.jpg
this is my personal laptop, and for some reason, whenever my sister uses it, the stinking wallpaper gets changed to hello kitty or a tiger picture.
now if i can somehow make it possible for a password to be required in order to change the desktops appearance while on my account with out using the group policy editor, hint hint, since i have home premium.
Kishan Bagaria said:

Dear Vishal,

Thanks very much for your reply.
Riza said:

Thanks too, VG.
I planned to try it in XP.
Daniel said:

Is it possible to change position of the text? I wanna have it in the left bottom corner!
VG said:

^^ afaik its not possible.
abc said:

good night to all
Mike said:

Hi Vishal, I’m using XP and I’m unable to write changes to the Win32k.sys file. I went through the steps to take ownership, amended with Resource Hacker at line “Version Info -> 1033″, compiled and then saved. When I open this same file even before a restart it has reverted straight back….. any ideas why? I also read changing the [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Build Lab] key gives you the same options, but the changes don’t update on the desktop…. does the Win32k.sys change the Build Lab value?
VG said:

^^ Make sure you have patched WFP service using WFP patcher. You can find it in our Downloads section.

PS: Edit “Win32k.sys” file in XP at your own risk. Take a backup before editing it.
Mike said:

Thanks Vishal, do you mean WFP Switcher, or UX Theme Patcher?
Once you confirm I’ll try again tonight!
VG said:

^^ WFP Switcher.
Mike said:

Even when using WFP Switcher, I’m not able to change this file… there seems to be some restrictions which still apply. Do you have any steps on how to do this with XP? Also, do you know if the Build Lab reg key influences the version on the desktop?
VG said:

^^ Make sure there is no backup file of “win32k.sys” in system32 folder. If you find, delete it. Now try to save the file.

You can also save the edited file at some other location and then use “Replacer” to replace original file with the hacked one.
Nathaneal said:

I noticed that the 718 entry’s text says “For testing purposes only,” is there a way to enable that and change the text so there are three lines of text?
VG said:

^^ Nope.