How to have XP-style icons in Windows Explorer?

[Adrian Theodorescu]

Hi All,

I have two PC-based cash registers (two different models). I started from a
base XPE configuration and I added the hardware-specific macro component for
each hardware in order to create the XPE builds for each of the two. I was
surprised to notice that I did not get the same result. On one of the PCs
the icons in Control Panel (for example) are XP-style icons. On the other
build these icons are Windows 2000-style icons. For example, the volume
manager icon is the dark-gray speaker, whereas on the other it is the
well-known yellow speaker. The same thing happens with all Windows Explorer
icons (folder icons, HDD and FDD icons etc.). I suspect that there may be
also some other side-effects because of this behaviour. Does anybody know
why this is happenning?

Many thanks,
Adrian

 

[Heidi Linda eMVP]

Different VGA controllers I would have thought. If one supports a higher
resolution it'll be able to render the icons better... and that could have
caused additional things - such as the luna style - to be pulled in.

 

[Ben Harris]

Hi All,

I have two PC-based cash registers (two different models). I started from a
base XPE configuration and I added the hardware-specific macro component for
each hardware in order to create the XPE builds for each of the two. I was
surprised to notice that I did not get the same result. On one of the PCs
the icons in Control Panel (for example) are XP-style icons. On the other
build these icons are Windows 2000-style icons. For example, the volume
manager icon is the dark-gray speaker, whereas on the other it is the
well-known yellow speaker. The same thing happens with all Windows Explorer
icons (folder icons, HDD and FDD icons etc.). I suspect that there may be
also some other side-effects because of this behaviour. Does anybody know
why this is happenning?

Many thanks,
Adrian

I've had exactly the same problem with two different model board. If both
graphics cards and display drivers are able to display 16-bit colours, then
you probably need to perform the following registry tweek to enable the
16-bit colour icons (XP-style) on the machine which is displaying the 8-bit
colour icons (Win2000-style):

- Run Regedit, and go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control
Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics
- Change the value of 'Shell Icon BPP' to 16
- Close Regedit and restart your computer. The icons will now be hi-colour

I've created a component which contains this registry entry, to make sure I
always get 16-bit icons, and that works fine for me.

Ben.