LogOn - "Log On to Windows" - Change position of the classic Logonprompt?

[Etal]

(I use a password but don't need 'Fast User Switching' and also
deselect "Use the Welcome screen".)

Then, sometimes, i elect to display a picture behind the classic
Logon prompt "Log On to Windows" window.
( example: [HKey_Users\.Default\Control Panel\Desktop]
"Wallpaper"="Volume:\\Path\\FileName.bmp" )

The default, and safe, position of the this window is center of
the screen.

Not that i loiter to long at this prompt, but it has started to
occur to me (-aka- bug me) the it would be neater if i could
position the 'Logon prompt' window over some free/sky/sea/desert
area while fully seeing some interesting person/sunset area.

Anything to add to [HKey_Users\.Default\Control Panel\Desktop] or
elsewhere to manage this window's position?

 

[St]

Not that i loiter to long at this prompt, but it has started to occur to
me (-aka- bug me) the it would be neater if i could position the 'Logon
prompt' window over some free/sky/sea/desert area while fully seeing some
interesting person/sunset area.

Anything to add to [HKey_Users\.Default\Control Panel\Desktop] or
elsewhere to manage this window's position?

You could change this dialog template in msgina.dll (@1500), setting the
coordinates and "Absolute align" style, but I doubt it will help, as dialog
is probably positioned programmatically at center of the screen.

 

[Etal]

"Etal" Ñообщил(а) в новоÑÑ‚ÑÑ…:

Not that i loiter to long at this prompt, but it has started
to occur to me (-aka- bug me) the it would be neater if i
could position the 'Logon prompt' window over some
free/sky/sea/desert area while fully seeing some interesting
person/sunset area.

Anything to add to [HKey_Users\.Default\Control
Panel\Desktop] or elsewhere to manage this window's
position?

You could change this dialog template in msgina.dll (@1500),
setting the coordinates and "Absolute align" style, but I
doubt it will help, as dialog is probably positioned
programmatically at center of the screen.

Thanks for the suggestion. One would have to use a different
msGINA.dll for each position or keep modifying it, but it looked
interesting to try.

After checking the 'DialogEx Resource' page at msDN,
<http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa381002(VS.85).aspx>,
i started my system with a modified msGINA.dll at
%WinDir%\System32\ where i had changed the values of 6 and 18 in
the "1500 DIALOGEX 6,18,274,175"-line to various values
(1,1,274,175 for example), but the 'logon prompt'-window still
came up at the same centered location.

So, so far, your assumption that it wouldn't help seems correct.

But maybe i missed setting the "Absolute align" style, if that
isn't set? Didn't see where i should change that using 'Resource
Hacker'.

 

[Tim Meddick]

Check that the modifications you made to your "msgina.dll" file, were not
undone by Windows File Protection (WFP) overwriting any attempts to alter
or delete certain o.s. files with the backup copy from the :
[C:\WINDOWS\system32\dllcache] folder!

If you're not going to turn of WFP (and I think that would be unwise - just
so you can get the logon dialog to appear in a different place), then you
would have to modify your copy of "msgina.dll" both in the "system32" AND
the "dllcache" directories.

The best way to do this is do the modifications on a copy in a separate
location, then copy that file *simultaneously* to both the other two
locations.

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London.

"Etal" Ñообщил(а) в новоÑÑ‚ÑÑ…:

Not that i loiter to long at this prompt, but it has started
to occur to me (-aka- bug me) the it would be neater if i
could position the 'Logon prompt' window over some
free/sky/sea/desert area while fully seeing some interesting
person/sunset area.

Anything to add to [HKey_Users\.Default\Control
Panel\Desktop] or elsewhere to manage this window's
position?

You could change this dialog template in msgina.dll (@1500),
setting the coordinates and "Absolute align" style, but I
doubt it will help, as dialog is probably positioned
programmatically at center of the screen.

Thanks for the suggestion. One would have to use a different msGINA.dll
for each position or keep modifying it, but it looked interesting to try.

After checking the 'DialogEx Resource' page at msDN,
<http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa381002(VS.85).aspx>,
i started my system with a modified msGINA.dll at %WinDir%\System32\
where i had changed the values of 6 and 18 in the "1500 DIALOGEX
6,18,274,175"-line to various values (1,1,274,175 for example), but the
'logon prompt'-window still came up at the same centered location.

So, so far, your assumption that it wouldn't help seems correct.

But maybe i missed setting the "Absolute align" style, if that isn't set?
Didn't see where i should change that using 'Resource Hacker'.

 

[Etal]

"Etal" Ñообщил(а) в новоÑÑ‚ÑÑ…:

Make sure the DS_ABSALIGN bit (1) set, and DS_CENTER (0x800)
is not set. There should be a field to editing dialog style in
your resource editor.

Ok, thanks for this info.
Neither of them are present in this dialog-script unmodded. I
added DS_ABSALIGN to the style line, included the 1,1
/coordinate/ changes, put the modded file in System32\ and
rebooted ... dialog-window still comes up centered.

So, in my hands at least, it seems the scripts settings are
ignored - overtaken programmatically as you speculated. Thanks
anyway for helping me test it out.

 

[Etal]

Check that the modifications you made to your "msgina.dll"
file, were not undone by Windows File Protection (WFP)
overwriting any attempts to alter or delete certain o.s. files
with the backup copy from the : [C:\WINDOWS\system32\dllcache]
folder!

If you're not going to turn of WFP (and I think that would be
unwise - just so you can get the logon dialog to appear in a
different place), then you would have to modify your copy of
"msgina.dll" both in the "system32" AND the "dllcache"
directories.

The best way to do this is do the modifications on a copy in a
separate location, then copy that file *simultaneously* to
both the other two locations.

Yes, i work on a copy located in a different directory. I
usually replace the DLLCache\ version before the System32\
version to get wanted changes to stick. In this case, testing on
an old_slow machine, while i wasn't allowed to outright delete
the current msGINA.dll i could rename it and [quickly] replace
with a modded version, surprisingly without a backup-copy getting
created in DLLCache\. (Just tested on this slightly faster
machine, and a backup-copy got created here.)
And yes, i checked the contents of the file in System32\
after the reboot and verified that it indeed was the modded copy
i intended to be there that was.