Change the Start Button Text

[fattwam]

Windows Registry Tutorial

 

Change the Start Button Text

 

 

Would you like to change the Start button to say something else, perhaps your name,

company or any other 5 or less letter word? This article explains the procedure to manually

modify the text of the Windows Start button.

 

 

Manually changing the Start button requires the use of a binary file editor (Hex editor) to

alter a critical Windows system file, it is therefore not recommended for inexperienced

users. This method has been successfully tested on Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000 and XP

and therefore should be quite safe, although we do not accept any responsibility for system

problems or data loss.

 

As mentioned before you will need to have a hex editor installed, there are many different

products available and if you don't have one already a quick search of a shareware site

should provide many choices, for this tweak we only require basic features.

 

 

1. The file that needs to be changed is Windows Explorer, and it is essential to make a backup

before you modify anything. "Explorer.exe" can be found in the Windows directory, usually

C:WINDOWS for Windows 95, 98, Me & XP and C:WINNT for Windows NT/2000. Make a copy

of "Explorer.exe" and place it into another directory, C:BACKUP might be a good choice.

 

2. Make another copy of the original "Explorer.exe" and name it "Explorer1.exe", then open

"Explorer1.exe" in your hex editor.

 

3. You now need to find the word "Start", although there are many entries for "Start" in the

file only one is used for to label the Start button. Use the search function in the hex editor to

find all the strings equal to "S t a r t" which is represented as "53 00 74 00 61 00 72 00 74" in

hex values. As there are many different "Start" strings keep searching until you find one located

just before this text "There was an internal error and one of the windows you were using has

been closed.". Below is a list of offsets to help you locate the correct text.

 

* Windows 98

Offset: 0x00028D6E - 0x00028D76

* Windows NT4

Offset: 0x00028BEE - 0x00028BF6

* Windows ME

Offset: 0x00033DDE - 0x00033DE6

* Windows 2000

Offset: 0x0003860E - 0x00038616

* Windows XP

Offset: 0x000412B6 - 0x000412BE

 

The result should look depending on the display from your hex editor.

 

4. Once you have located the string, you can then replace the letters in "Start" with five

other characters. You must use exactly five characters, if the word you want to use is less,

replace the remaining characters with the space key. In this example we have replaced

"Start" with "Guide", alternatively a three-letter word would look like "A B C" (note the spaces).

 

5. Now save the modified "Explorer1.exe" in the Windows directory, and confirm that you

now have the two Explorer files in the Windows directory, they both should be the same

file size but have different modified dates.

 

6. The next step is different depending on your operating system. Only do the step required

for your version.

 

* Windows 95, 98 & ME

Exit to DOS (or use a boot disk for Windows ME) and at the command prompt change to the

Windows directory and rename "explorer.exe" to "explorer.old". Then copy the newly modified

Explorer "explorer1.exe" to "explorer.exe". Do a directory listing and confirm that "explorer.exe"

has the most recent modified date and time. Restart the computer and Windows should reload

along with the new Start button text.

 

* Windows NT

First close any open applications and open a new Command Prompt window, then switch back

to the GUI and open the Task Manager. Find the "explorer.exe" process and end it, you should

now be left with only the command prompt and task manager. Switch back to the command

prompt and change to the Windows directory, rename "explorer.exe" to "explorer.old", and copy

the newly modified Explorer "explorer1.exe" to "explorer.exe". Do a directory listing and confirm

that "explorer.exe" has the most recent modified date and time. Switch back to Task Manager

and launch a "New Task" called "explorer.exe" this should reload the shell along with your

modified "Start" button.

 

* Windows 2000 and XP

Open your registry editor and find the key [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionWinlogon]. Find the value named "Shell" and change it to equal the filename

of the new explorer "explorer1.exe". Exit your registry editor and restart Windows for the change

to take effect. The reverse the change, modify the value of "Shell" and set it back to "explorer.exe".

 

7. If everything has gone successfully you will now have a new Start button, and also hopefully

learnt something about the Explorer file structure. If you do have problems replace the faulty

Explorer with the backup made during the first step.

 

 

Disclaimer: Modifying the registry can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall

your operating system. We cannot guarantee that problems resulting from modifications to the

registry can be solved. Use the information provided at your own risk.

[mangriff32]

Still doesnt work for me....

[.Eli]

Very confusing unless you read the whole thing. But thanks, It worked fine for me. Was work though

[iKhaosmaster]

wow this actually works my start button looks kool now

[Guest ashking08]

nice tutorial but heres an easier way.

just download this app and put in wat you want, its a lot easier.

http://www.ibotmodz.net/forum/uploads/remoteimages/30152-73.jpg

 

download: http://www.geocities.com/startbtn/ProgFull.zip

 

p.s give me +rep if i helped