List of Windows 7 System Files to be Hacked Using Resource Hacker

Here is another interesting topic for Resource Hacker lovers. In this topic, we are going to mention a few system files in Windows 7 which can be modified to change look of various Windows components like login screen, dialog boxes, menus, etc. You'll need Resource Hacker to modify these files.
So here is a list of various system files in Windows 7 which can be easily hacked using Resource Hacker:

Approx. all Windows 7 system icons -> %windir%\System32\imageres.dll
Login Screen Background -> %windir%\System32\imageres.dll
Login Screen image resources -> %windir%\System32\authui.dll
Startup Sound -> %windir%\System32\imageres.dll
Start ORB images -> %windir%\Explorer.exe -> Bitmap -> 6801 - 6812
Windows Version Image in "About Windows" dialog box -> %windir%\Branding\Basebrd\basebrd.dll
Windows Version Image in bottom of Login Screen -> %windir%\Branding\Basebrd\basebrd.dll
Control Panel Left Sidebar Image -> %windir%\System32\Shell32.dll -> Bitmap -> 632 & 633
Getting Started (aka Welcome Center) Images -> %windir%\System32\oobefldr.dll
Laptop Battery Meter image resources -> %windir%\System32\batmeter.dll
Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) Resources -> %windir%\System32\ieframe.dll
Windows Media Player 12 (WMP12) Resources -> %windir%\System32\wmploc.dll

Above mentioned system files/locations are new to Windows 7 and were not present in earlier Windows versions, like XP. If you want to change look of other menus, dialog boxes like RUN, Progress, System Properties, Start menu, Taskbar Properties, etc, you'll have to edit some other system files which you needed to edit in Windows XP. But there is a little difference, now those files don't contain the resources but their .MUI files do.
For example in Windows XP, RUN dialog box resources were present in "%windir%\System32\Shell32.dll" file but in Windows 7, the resources are present in "%windir%\System32\en-US\Shell32.dll.mui" file.
All these .MUI files are present in any of following 2 locations:

%windir%\en-US\
%windir%\System32\en-US\

To know about other system files which are same for all Windows versions and contain resources of various dialog boxes, menus, etc, you'll need to visit following links:
List of Files to be hacked using Resource Hacker
List of Resource Locations to be Hacked Using Resource Hacker
All these file names and resource locations are same in XP, Vista and 7.

Posted in: win 7