Modify Windows Vista System Properties logo

Not many people know how to change System Properties logo and support information on Windows computers.

This little trick is useful to

* customize and tweak the system properties screen
* insert your own business contact information in the system properties screen
* insert a customized picture in the system properties screen
* in other words, "brand" your computer with your own information

In a previous post regarding modifying the xp-system-properties-logo article we explained how you can manually change the graphic and support information in the Windows system properties screen. However, the techniques described in that article were specific for Windows XP.

Since Windows Vista has been released, we have gotten some questions from readers wanting to change system properties logo and information on a Vista computer.

So here's how to do it:

* Create your customized image in a .bmp graphic file with maximum dimensions of 120 by 120 pixels
* Save the .bmp file somewhere so that you can find it in a next step
* fire up your text editor (notepad or any text editor) and enter the following information:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\OEMInformation]
"Logo"="C:\\logo\\oemlogo.bmp"
"Manufacturer"="windows-help-central"
"Model"="just to show branding"
"SupportPhone"="123456789"
"SupportUrl"="www.windows-help-central.com"
"SupportHours"="8am to 7pm"

Remarks:

* Please make sure that the first line (the one starting with "Windows Registry Editor..." appears in the text file
* The path and filename should point to where you saved your 120 by 120 pixel .bmp logo file - use the double backslashes in the path
* The support url will result in a clickable "Online support" link in your system properties window that takes the user to whatever url you put there
* Of course you can change the Manufacturer, Model and support information to whatever you want

Now save this text file somewhere and make sure to give it a .reg extension.

In this next screenshot you can see how we saved it on the desktop:

















You can now enter the information contained in the file into the Windows Registry by double-clicking the file. That's an easier way to change system properties logo than entering the information in the registry manually.

When you double-click the file, Windows will issue a warning about entering information into the registry, but it's ok to continue.

Afterwards you will see a confirmation that everything is entered into the registry and now it's time to reboot your computer.

This little trick to change system properties logo only takes effect after the computer is rebooted.

So after a reboot, right-click "Computer" in the Start menu, select "Properties" and take a look at your customized System Properties screen: