* Desktop display of Windows build * (XP all)

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In XP, the key

HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktopPaintWindowsVersion

enables the display of your Windows build if set to the value of ‘1‘ or not at all if set to ‘‘.

From source does this key glean the build number?

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TweakUI also has a setting “Show Windows version on desktop” (under ‘General’)

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Hi, Hans ~

We are seeking the source of this data so it may be modified. It appears in many DLLs and EXEs, but need to determine which file, if any, that is drawn upon for this to be displayed in the desktop.

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I’ll leave that to the Windows gurus …

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Bruce–
_______________________________________________________________________________
“We are seeking the source of this data so it may be modified. It appears in many DLLs and EXEs, but need to determine which file, if any, that is drawn upon for this to be displayed in the desktop.”
_______________________________________________________________________________

I would really like to help find what you’re looking for, but would you mind spelling out what you are trying to accomplish and why so I can. I’m just being slow here. You have some kind of Windows XP on a machine. You know you can find the version more than one way. You want to modify the version to what and [/b]why?[/b] Do you mean you want to call it Bruce something or other for cosmetics and fun? You want to give it a different name than the real version as a tweak manuever because you can? You want to install a program and fool the installer into thinking you have another version so that you can get the software in? Are you looking for XP-specific version keys in connection with getting software in?

I think you know the following, and I want to find what you want but I don’t understand what you’re trying to do:

1) “winver” or “winver.exe” will display the version.
2) Early versions of Windows used to show the version on the desktop, and you can do this easily here:

Registry Settings
User Key: [HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktop]
Value Name: PaintDesktopVersion
Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)

Create a new DWORD (or String on Windows 98 and Me) value, or modify the existing value called ‘PaintDesktopVersion’ set the value to equal ‘1’ to display the version. The Windows version may be hidden behind the taskbar when you have Active Desktop enabled. If this is the case disable Active Desktop to view the label.
Value Data: (0 = disable, 1 = enable)

3) Another way to put the version on your desktop at the same key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktop. Make a string value printdesktopversion. Put 1 as its value. Restart the computer.

4) The only KB on version I found is not going to tell you anything you need here:

310104: How to Determine the Version of Windows XP in Use

SMBP

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Hi, SMBP ~

I thought you may have unwittingly been on to something there, but picking apart ‘winver.exe’ produced nothing.

Currently, the mobile units in question are enabled to appear as indicated by the SS below, but we would like them to display below ‘Windows XP Professional’ the company name or the company name -slash- the user to which the unit is assigned.

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Bruce–

“winver” or “winver.exe” are simple run box commands that don’t lend themselves to “to being picked apart”, and if I now (because I would have had to be clairvoyant before) understand correctly, you want to 1) display the version 2) you want to brand a client company or some company’s name to machine versions that correspond to particular machines.

Two things come to mind:

There may be a tweaker that does this–we both should look around for this. The other is that before the XP Launch, I went to a few Microsoft meetings for resellers–one where they did a number of talks on installs where you the OEMs and resellers could set up machines during their installation of XP to name them/brand them with the seller’s imprimatur[/i] (a word I knew you’d love because it has that 19th Century Dickensesque shop out of Nicholos Nickleby Hawthornesque Clifford Pyncheon sybaritic feel) in order to advertise/remind the buyer who had put his machine together and sometimes custom installed the machine.

We were given a thick book with the steps to dufferebt installs , and screen-shot instructions for all kinds of custom installs and unattended installs, and I am going to dig it out and see what I can find. I remember the slides and I might even be able to find the Power Point of this or a similar MS presentation and link it for you, but what I don’t know is if there is a way to brand or if this is not the most articulate way to say it–lable the version display on the desktop. I really bet there is, and I bet people on the lounge who are much more adept at shaping registry values to do what they want then I am can help you out here. I’m almost certain there would be–and now I think what you were saying is that you wanted to find the regedit that would let you brand this version display with a particular name.[/i]

If I’m wrong, spell it out for me so that when I try to look for the means, I will be going after the right thing.

SMBP

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Hi, SMBP ~

Sure ‘winver’ can be picked apart – easily with ResourceHacker or the likes.

Tweaking programs will be out of the question. The preference here is to accomplish this via modifying the registry or the file for upon which it calls.

(sybaritic – now that is a great word!)

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Hi Bruce,
I know you said you did not want a ‘tweaking’ program but have you looked at Bginfo from sysinternals. You may be able to pick it apart and figure out a what you need.

Joe

--Joe

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This looks very good for what Bruce wants to do without the more time consuming use of the OEM tools and CD.

“Appearance Buttons
Fields: Selects what information appears on the desktop, and the order in which it is displayed. For networking fields (NIC, IP, MAC, etc.) a separate entry is created for each network card on the system. Use the Custom button to add special information you define yourself.”

SMBP

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@SMBP ~

Mobile units are notebooks and/or PDAs – not building/assembling anything, The branding tools would not suit nor accomplish the ends in this case.

@Joe ~

That looks interesting – downloaded and attempting a peek under the hood. The program itself presents itself as a possibility. The idea here is to have just the OS appear as it does currently (see above screenshot post 283096) and the company name & respective employee/user on the next line in place of the build for a series of exact or similar notebooks for which case modding/marring is discouraged and an arcane reg setting referring to such a modified file is easier to lock out the user.

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This is a current issue around the customized bitmap logo at the System Properties Dialogue box where the version is always displayed–that’s why it’s called oemlogo.bmp.[/i] This is one of many locations where “company name & respective employee/user on the next line in place of the build for a series of exact or similar notebooks can be customized by the OPK kit to deliver specified branding information. Besides the System Properties Box and the Windows Version Box, among and not limited to other customizable company name and data locations are Internet Explorer, Favorites, the Control Panel, Windows Media Player, and the Windows Spash screen.

Installing Windows 2000
“User Identification Settings
Your choices for Regional Language settings, User Name, Company are stored in the Registry. These settings are overidden for machine “C1” by this entry in the .udf Differences file: [UserData]
Fullname= “Your User Name”
Orgname=org
Computername= “COMPUTER_NAME1”
Productid=
[Identification]
JoinWorkgroup
JoinDomain=home
DomainAdmin
DomainAdminPassword
[RegionalSettings]
Locale
Licensing Mode”

320306: PRB: Oemlogo.bmp Partially Truncated in System Properties Dialog Box

SMBP

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Hey guys,

Flaming each other doesn’t help. If you are irritated, take a deep breath, poor a cold brew, and shrug.

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I would agree; my mission is just to find the answer, learn while I’m looking, and read the lounge for the rich tips and downloads I get as time allows. There is enough talent here to solve most problems. It is hardly fun to spend considerable time trying to find someone an answer when time is often money for a lot of us, and get a “neither________nor________” when you see that box modified with OPK every day on tablets and notebooks of all stripes.

We have found two excellent applications that should be able to do it as well, and I continue to search for a surgical-solution registry key. I’m sure there is one to do this, and if I had the tools and the information, I would volunteer time to MS to try to make a user friendly registry index much better than the resources I have now and the search mechanism available including third party registry improvers and registry searchers.

SMBP

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Bruce–

How did you make out in your quest to brand, modify, or otherwise custom design to your liking the Desktop Display of the Windows Build using the trialware programs Joe and I found for you? Bginfo and Visual Style Manifest–one or the other may well work. I appreciate Joe turning me onto Bginfo. Sysinternals is a very helpful site.

I’ve seen a number of computers where the box you want to modify were modified by the OEM OPK tools kit in the hands of large and small OEM custom builders. It can be tweaked to modify WMP, IE, Favorites, Start Menu, System Properties, Desktop Build Box, Windows Start Up or Splash Screen, and a long list of gui stops in Windows XP and has been since the program was initiated in 1994 for Windows 95. You can even customize your own propitiarily named shortcuts to advertise and offer Tech Support without constructing special icons with this kit. There are a number of “Clive” moderated webcasts on this customization that go into the array of extra stops you can customize if you search the OEM webcast archives on the site.

Quick Guide to Pre-Installing Windows XP Using the OEM Pre-Installation Kit
314472: Quick Guide to Pre-Installing Windows

You’re not limited to customizing the stops listed in these two references; if you phone your OEM Kit Support they’ll help you target your System Build box, and their are directions for further modifications in the MSDN Library and TechNet resource materials. You have rather extensive Microsoft support with your OEM kit, and I’m sure one of the support professionals could guide you to the registry key and subkeys where you could quickly modify this box surgically if you phone them up.

hth,

SMBP

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