This tutorial has been created mainly for customization lovers. Many times you change Windows login screen background to your favorite wallpaper but the "Windows branding logo" which shows the installed Windows edition name, hides the bottom area of the wallpaper and annoys you like hell.
Today in this tutorial, we'll learn how to remove the "Windows branding logo" as well as "Ease of Access" button from login screen in Windows Vista and 7.
So here we start the tutorial:
1. We'll need to edit "%windir%\System32\authui.dll" file. First copy authui.dll file from "System32" folder to some other location for example Desktop.
Note: here %windir% represents "Windows" directory which can be found in the system drive where Windows is installed. In most of the cases its C:\Windows.
2. Now open the new file in Resource Hacker.
3. Now press "Ctrl+F" keys or select "Find Text" option from "View" menu.
4. To remove "Windows Branding Logo", type following string in the Find what text box:
element id="atom(Branding)"
Click on "Find Next" button and it'll go to following line as shown in the screenshot:
5. Replace the existing <element id="atom(Branding)"/> line with following one:
<element id="atom(Branding)" layoutpos="none"/>
6. Now to remove "Ease of Access" button, search for button id="atom(Accessibility)" string similar to Step 3. It'll show you following line:
<button id="atom(Accessibility)" tooltip="true" layoutpos="left"/>
Simply change layoutpos="left" to layoutpos="none" so that it'll look like following:
<button id="atom(Accessibility)" tooltip="true" layoutpos="none"/>
7. That's it, click on "Compile Script" button and save the file.
8. Now we'll need to replace original authui.dll file present in "C:\Windows\System32\" folder with our new authui.dll file which we saved at Desktop or some other location.
8 a. First take ownership of "C:\Windows\System32\authui.dll" file using following tutorial:
Add Take Ownership Option in File / Folder Context Menu in Windows Vista and 7
8 b. Now rename it to "authui_backup.dll" or any other name.
8 c. Now copy your new modified "authui.dll" file from Desktop to "System32" folder.
PS: If you are using 64-bit Windows edition, you'll also need to replace authui.dll file present in "C:\Windows\sysWOW64\" folder.
9. Restart your system and after restart Windows will start using your new modified file and you'll not see the "Windows branding logo" and "Ease of Access" button on login screen.
PS: Windows Vista "authui.dll" file contains only a single instance of (Branding) and (Accessibility) strings, so you'll need to replace them only once using Step 4 and 5 but Windows 7 contains 3 instances of these strings, so you'll need to change all the 3 instances in the file.
NOTE: If you want to use a free tool to customize Windows 7 login screen, check following list:
Ultimate Collection of the Best Free Tools to Customize Windows 7 Login Screen
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Posted in: Resource Hacker, Windows 7, Windows Vista
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ThatRussianGuy
And if somebody cares, you can remove branding by following this quick guide:)
1 Go to the C:\Windows\Branding\Basebrd folder (System disk letter may diifer :) )
1.1 NOTE: You must have ResHacker already installed
2 If branding is written in English go to the en-US folder.
2.1 NOTE: If branding is written in different language than English you should choose folder that contains mui for your language (For me it's Russian, so I need to modify mui located in ru-RU folder)
3 Open basebrd.dll.mui with ResHacker and delete all bitmaps in bitmap folder (120, 121, 1120, 1121, 2120, 2121). Don't forget to make a backup just in case;) Save results. (be sure you are saving changes into basebrd.dll.mui !)
4 Step back to C:\Windows\Branding\Basebrd and make a backup for basebrd.dll. Open the ORIGINAL basebrd.dll with ResHacker and delete everything in bitmap folder again:)
4.1 I'm not sure if you should do STEPS 2,3 if your on English Windows 7, but those who have different language from English should do it.
5 Save all, reboot and PROFIT! :)
Ssory for my poor English, i'm from Russia:)
You can ask me a question here, in comments, i'll be notified.
Good luck mates!
Himanshu Rao
Great tutorial man, hats off to you.
rei
"Windows 7 contains 3 instances of these strings, so you'll need to change all the 3 instances in the file"
i didn't understand what 3 instances of the strings, i do all the procedures on my windows 7 64 bit with both system32 and syswow64,but they still on my windows logon after i restart my pc please help :(
VG
^^ The code mentioned in step 4 and 6 appears in 3 places in authui.dll file. So press F3 again and again and replace the code as mentioned in the above tutorial in all places.
manicbomber
This guide doesn't seem to work anymore.
VG
^^ It works absolutely fine in all versions of Windows Vista and 7. What problem are you facing?
roy haliva
error on edit the file authui.dll
after i edit the file like the tutorial to hide the ease of acces
i get black screen
Peter
Hi, Do you know how to do this in windows 8? The above entries no longer exist in windows 8.
Going Bats
How do I bring back the Branding?
Ericc
After replacing the .DLL file . My logon screen turns black and I can't do anything. Is there any way to recover it?
VG
^^ It seems you didnt edit the file properly which is causing this issue. You'll need to restore default file to fix the problem. If you have another Windows installed, boot into that Windows and then restore default DLL file. If you dont have any other OS installed, you can boot using Windows setup disc and perform a repair installation. You can also open Recovery Console using setup disc and then restore default DLL file using Command Prompt.
Some One
Great tutorial, altough it's a little bit confusing sometimes. Let me fill the gaps.
I did it on Windows Server 2k8 R2 with SP1, x64 platform. The steps on Windows 7 with SP1 x64 should be exactly the same.
1. Steps 1-3 as above.
2. Steps 4-7 in 12400 as shown above. Hint: Accessibility is just 3 lines below the Branding.
3. On Windows 7/Server 2008 R2: repeat steps 4-7 for 12401 and 12402!
4. Replace the original file.
4.1 Gather "Full control" permissions by becoming owner as in step 8a.
4.2 Backup the original authui.dll as in step 8b.
4.3 Copy/move the modified authui.dll to "system32" directory as in step 8c.
4.4 Can't believe, that this step is missing o.O See the security considerations below.
5. On x64 platform repeat all this but with the authui.dll from "SysWOW64" directory. Note: DO NOT USE THE FILE FROM SYSTEM32 -- THESE ARE DIFFERENT FILES! It won't work!
6. Test by rebooting the machine.
6.1 Reboot.
6.2 If you get a blank black screen with the cursor: you've done something wrong. Perhaps a typo, you used the x86 files in the x64 folder, you missed one passage which should have been edited, ... you might try again after recovering the system.
6.3 If you have to recover: do it as VG said in the comment above, or use a any Linux LiveSystem coming with NTFS drivers, preferrably from a fast USB stick. I'd prefer this version, as it seems faster to me than the recovery with the Windows setup disk.
7. If everything happens to be OK, you should totally this security considerations: There's a reason, the files are initially owned by the TrustedInstaller user. So after the successful manipulation you SHOULD restore the original permissions, which are:
- The groups "Users" and "Administrators" as well as the "SYSTEM" user are allowed to "Read" and "Read & execute" -- nothing more.
- The user "NT SERVICES\TrustedInstaller" has "Full control" AND IS THE OWNER!
- Everything else should be removed, especially if you restored things with a Linux system, the permissions might be set to "Full control" for the "Everyone" group.
As said above, I can't belive that there's nothing mentioned about that.
Some One
Sorry, it's "NT SERVICE\TrustedInstaller", the plural form above is wrong.
FrancisB.
followed all your steps up to compile script then system doesn't let me save changes! :(
I have already taken ownership????
FrancisB.
My UIFI File Numbers are
1100 & 1400...
not
12400, 12401,12402 &1400
like yours, does that make a difference???
VG
^^ Which Windows are you using?
krfljbdjhgksbdfjlkvbgs
Actually you don't need to take ownership of file. Several free utilities exist to replace system files without needed to mess with permission.
I successfully edited dll and then used replacer tool to replace dll without even touching permissions or needing to reboot!
Kristian
Is it correct that this method is not working on Windows 8?
When i open the .dll file, it dosent look at all as the Windows 7 .dll file i just did it to (which worked perfectly!)
Arp
Hi. I did anythink in the tutorial and it works fine, but when i go to Control Panel / System and Security / System menu and there are no more logo about mine windows version.. so my question is... is this (layoutpos="none") is wrong i think this string says "Layout Position = 0"
Andre Christian
@FrancisB.
Which Windows version that are you using? Windows 7 Professional or not?
Evan
So I went through all of these steps. double-checked my work and made backups of the files. Restarted and got past all the standard startup screens, but the log on screen is pulling up blank. Nothing works. None of the safemodes can get me into the computer either. I'm stuck and can't even get to my reg files to switch them back. Someone please help as I don't need another bricked laptop. Running windows 7 Home Ultimate(64bit).
VG
^^ It might be happening due to following problem:
http://www.askvg.com/why-64-bit-windows-users-face-login-or-other-problems-after-modifying-system-files-using-resource-hacker/
You'll need to boot using Windows setup disc and repair Windows. If you have another Windows installed in your system, you can boot into that Windows and restore default system file.
evan
^^
I've read through that article and tried multiple times to repair windows using system recovery. Every time I do it pops up with a memory error. I can't do anything now with this computer. I just want to get to the files and revert them back to normal.
VG
^^ If you have another Windows installed, you can boot into that OS and rep;ace files. You can also try "Boot into Safe Mode with Command Prompt" option and then use DOS commands to restore default files.
If you have Windows setup disc, you can start your PC with it and repair Windows.
Zogler
I've done it step by step but nothing work, the brand and the access button both exist, it almost drive me mad! T^T Help...
Profess0r1011000
Hi Vishal,
i have somewhat of an issue i was wondering if you might have the answer to. it related to the authui.dll file and maybe all dll files.
i have a batch procedure where my install.wim gets mounted and all sorts of tweaks gets added to the image. to save space (and to be able to release my software) i have a' for /f loop' that extracts uifile 12400, 12401 and 12402 resources then runs a javascript regular expression search and replace of several strings in all three resources, lastly replacing them in the dll files of the mounted image. the dll files gets edited, but windows doesn't seem to register the changes :\ this only happens when i use resource hacker to '-addoverwrite' the resources. if i change every line manually, everything works just fine!! do you have any idea what and/or where the issue could be?
Regards, T.R Syntax
VG
^^ Sorry but cant help much in this issue. There might be many reasons but I cant help much unless I do the whole process myself. Sorry.
Profess0r1011000
okay :) it was worth a shot. reproducing the example issue would be easy though. but i'm not gonna put you through my own headaches ;) i'm slowly getting it to work! seems the problem lies in the way resource editor (fx in my case) replaces the xml data in the uifile key. i'll figure it out somehow.
Regards, T.R Syntax
deyamag
How to name Start botton with any name in windows 7 using resource hacker or regedit.exe?
Milo
After I edited dll from System32 directory and restarted, a screen went black and I had to do full Windows (Home Premium SP1 64) re-install along with about 100 apps. And since Samsung doesn't provide the drivers on recovery disc I spent 2 days looking for them on the net by hit and miss. I might have screw something up while editing a file but the penalty for that was definitely too severe.
Benyamin
Seems like thatrussianguy turitorial much better and making no error or blank screen login after all...
Phil
woow thanks!