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Change XP Boot Screen

Posted August 2002 by Steve Sinchak

If you would like to change your boot up screen follow the directions below. These instructions assume that you have a place to download the boot screen from the net. If you would like to download a boot screen, visit http://www.themexp.org

  1. Backup (copy) the file %windir%\system32\ntoskrnl.exe (most likely C:\windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe - the boot screen)
  2. Download the .zip to your computer (important: make sure to get the right version, XP or XP SP1)
  3. Extract ntoskrnl.exe to a directory other than %windir%\system32 (most likely C:\windows\system32)
  4. Reboot your computer into Safe Mode (hit F8 before the boot screen) or into true DOS (from a boot disk)
  5. Overwrite the file %windir%\system32\ntoskrnl.exe (which should have been backed up) with the extracted exe
  6. Reboot your computer as you normally would

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