bootskin xp

from WinCustomize Forums

i just got bootskin xp and when i click on download to dowload a skin the program opens but the skin is not in it to apply ...did i miss a setting or something  .. why does the program look so out of date  .?

beginners
4,458 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top

why does the program look so out of date .?
End of quote

It's for XP.

There's been 'one or two' MS Operating System versions since XP ....;)

Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top

BootskinXP was made for XP. Hence its out of date look. When you download the skin instead of letting it install automatically click save. It will go to your download folder and have a .bootskin or similar file file extension. Double click on it and it should install. If it doesn't, uninstall bootskin and run CCleaner or similar app to clean up any left over traces of the program. Then download and reinstall bootskin. Hopefully it will correct the problem. I say hopefully because I haven't used XP in a long time.

And just in case. If all else fails send an email to [email protected]. Send only one as any more will kick your request to the end of the line.

Start11 - Customize the Start Menu and Taskbar in Windows 10/11.
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting Uvah, reply 2
If all else fails send an email to [email protected].
End of Uvah's quote
Bootskin is not supported any longer. Community help is what there is.  Thankfully, we're part of the community so will do what we can do in the forums.

Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Issues with BootSkin XP are also very machine/BIOS specific; sometimes there is nothing that can be done to make it work.

Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I think what happened is that your web browser opened on a 404 error page instead of a list of skins.  That's because the web site was reorganized but BootSkin was not updated to use the new URL for that list.  Fortunately there is a simple workaround to fix that.

The old URL is built into BootSkin.exe but fortunately the new URL is exactly the same length and changing it doesn't break the program.

  1. Find a hex editor and install it,
  2. Make a copy of BootSkin.exe
  3. Open the copy with the editor.
  4. Find "https://www.wincustomize.com/skins.asp?library=32" at these points:
    version 1.05: 81028 [HEX 1C384] - 1.02: 76224 [HEX 129C0] - 1.03: 76248 [HEX 129D8]
  5. Replace it with "https://www.wincustomize.com/explore/bootskins_xp"
  6. Save your change and close the editor.
  7. Make sure it is still exactly the right length. [1.05: 270,336 bytes - 1.03 and 1.02: 262,144 bytes]
  8. Run and test your copy to make sure you didn't break it.
  9. Check that your skin is in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\BootScreen\Parameters; REG_SZ INIPath.
    [e.g. C:\Program Files\Stardock\WinCustomize\BootSkin\Skins\TestEdition\BootSkin.ini]
  10. Move your original BootSkin.exe to the "skins" or "url" folder [if you want to keep a backup].
  11. Put your updated copy in place [or rename it if you copied it as "Copy of BootSkin.exe" in the same folder].

Of course, you could just let BootSkin take you to the error page and go to "BootSkins XP" in the site's "Explore" menu. This would just save you that step and should be pretty safe because it puts the skin location into the registry using Windows' own system call, so there's no way it can corrupt your registry.

Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top

One year between comments would probably indicate the issue was resolved.  ;)