How to Change the "Welcome" Text Message at Log On in Windows 7 and Vista

 

    Information

This will show you how to change the Welcome text message you get after a user logs in to Windows 7 and Vista to any text message that you want it to say instead.

You can only do this tutorial while logged on as an administrator.

   Note

If you run a sfc /scannow command, then you will lose all changes made to the system file in the tutorial below since it and all other system files will be restored back to default by the command.

For Windows 7 Only:

• This tutorial works with UAC turned on or off.

• This tutorial works in all 32-bit and 64-bit Windows 7 SP1 editions.

  • Download details: Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (KB976932)

• For Windows 7 without SP1, you will need to turn off a Windows Feature (ex: Windows Gadget Platform), and restart the computer before this tutorial will work. Afterwards, you can turn back on the Windows Feature again.

     Warning

  Making a mistake while modifying system files can render your Windows 7 installation unusable. To be safe, you should create a restore point before doing this tutorial in case you need to do a system restore at boot using the restore point to undo any mistakes that may be made.

  EXAMPLE: Default and Changed "Welcome" Text Message at Log On

OPTION ONE

Change "Welcome" Text Message at Log On

1. In Windows Explorer, navigate to C:\Windows\System32\en-US\winlogon.exe.mui. (see screenshot below)

   Note

The en-US folder is in English Windows 7 copies. If you have a non-English Windows 7 copy, then this folder will have a different name reflecting your language instead.The table below are a few of the most common ones.

Folder Name

Language

da-DK

Danish

en-GB

English-Great Britian

en-US

English-U.S.

fi-FI

Finnish

fr-FR

French

de-DE

German

el-GR

Greek

it-IT

Italian

no-NO

Norwegian

es-ES

Spanish

sv-SE

Swedish

2. Take ownership of the winlogon.exe.mui file with your user account, and set it's permissions to Allow your user account Full Control. Close Windows Explorer when finished.

3. Copy this winlogon.exe.mui file to your desktop.

4. If you have not already, download and install Resource Hacker 3.5.2.84 Beta (or newer version if available).

5. Right click on the Resource Hacker shortcut in Start Menu - All Programs, then click on Run as administrator. (see screenshot below)

6. If prompted by UAC, then click on Yes (Windows 7) or Continue (Vista).

7. In Resource Hacker, click on File and Open. (see screenshot below)

8. In Resource Hacker, select All Files (*.*) in the Files of type drop down box, navigate to and select the copied winlogon.exe.mui file on your desktop, then click on the Open button. (see screenshot below)

9. In the left pane of Resource Hacker, expand String Table, and 63, to 1033. (see screenshot below)

10. In the right pane of 1033, replace the Welcome text in quotes at both 1002 and 1005 locations with the text you want instead (ex: Hello) within quotes, then click on the Compile Script button. (see screenshot above and below)

11. Click on File and Save, then close Resource Hacker. (see screenshot below)

12. Copy the modified winlogon.exe.mui file on your Desktop, and Paste it into the C:\Windows\System32\en-US folder from step 1. (see screenshot below step 1)

NOTE: The en-US folder is in English Windows 7 copies. If you have a non-English Windows 7 copy, then this folder will have a different name reflecting your language instead.

13. Click on Copy and Replace. (see screenshot below)

14. Restart the computer and log in to see the changes made.

NOTE: If this does not work for you in Windows 7, then see the NOTE box at the top of the tutorial.

15. You can delete the winlogon.exe_original.mui that ResHacker created if you like since you can easily do OPTION TWO below to restore the default settings.