Customizing the Windows XP Boot Screen

In this article I will teach you how to customize the Windows XP boot screen by using a popular software tool called BootSkin by Win Customize. I will show you how to use some boot screen designs that have been created by others, and also I will show you how you can create your very own designs. Every time you start your computer, Windows XP shows that same boring loading screen with the blue bar moving from left to right. I must admit, I got very bored with this, as I am sure you have as well. So I am going to show just how to get rid of this boring loading screen with something more cool and unique.

Changing the boot screen

The Windows XP Load screen is actually stored on the hard drive in a hidden system file called ntoskrnl.exe. When you start to boot your computer, Windows loads this file from the hard drive and that’s how it displays the Windows XP Image and loading animation. When people first started to create their own boot screens, they would hack the file, and replace the original image file for XP, with one that they have made. The majority of users would rather download one that someone has made, and then create their own. This method of distributing boot screens had worded for some people, but had sometimes caused serious problems for the majority of them.

The problems of changing the boot screen

If you were to download someone’s hacked system file and replace it with your original one and then try to restart your computer, chances are you may get error messages along the lines of “C:WindowsSystem32 toskrnl.exe is missing or corrupt.” This is the most common thing that people will experience while swapping there file with someone else’s hacked version. What was causing these error messages to pop up was simply because there were given files for a totally different version of Windows XP then the one that they have.

How to safely change the boot screen

There are some programs that are available that will change your boot screen safely. Keep in mind that some of the programs you may notice aren’t all free. Some are but there are also some that are shareware and you will need to pay money to use them. The best program to use is a free program called BootSkin by Stardock. I recommend this program because it’s free, extremely easy to use and most importantly its safe. Instead of replacing the file on your computer which was causing problems for people, what it does is it will install a special driver that will skin the boot.

Using the BootSkin program to change your boot screen

The first thing to do is to download the program and install it on to your computer. You may find BootSkin at this website http://www.stardock.com/products/bootskin/. There will be a download link there that you click on then you just download the file, open it up and fallow the onscreen instructions for installing it.

1. Once you have the program installed and running, changing the boot screen is very easy to do. Just navigate through the list of boot screens by using the scrollbar arrows at the side of the window. 2. Once you find the one that you would like to use from the list, click on it, and then you click on the preview button to see it in full-screen animated previews. From there you will see how it would appear if it was loading. 3. Click the mouse to exit out of full-screen preview. If you like that boot screen, then click the apply button, and that’s all there is to it.

Where to go to get more boot screens for BootSkin

So now that you have everything setup, you want more boot screens. There are two sites here where you can go to and get some.

· Win Customize: http://www.wincustomize.com/explore/bootskins · Skinbase: http://www.skinbase.org/Skins/BootSkin/488


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