where are the dll files located for changing the buttons in windows 11?

hello, im making my own custom version of windows11. i figuerd out how to change the boot animation. now im wanting to figuer out how to change the buttons with in windows to have a custom theme. i know photo shop. and visual studio is requierd to have this done. im wanting to know where are the dll files located to change the buttons in the file explorer and in the form boxes and for the windows 11 setup screen i have made my own backround already for the setup installer. i just need to know where the buttons for the installer are located.

The icon files you are used to, such as system32.dll, now silently redirect to corresponding system32.dll.mun files in C:\Windows\SystemResources which now contain the icons so it's the latter you need to work on.
- You'll need to rename system32.dll.mun back to system32.dll before many icon utilities can read the file correctly so you'll need to do your work in that state then add the .mun back before putting them back in place.

This change has been progressing since about Windows 10 version 1803.

And some "icons" are no longer icons but png files. The Calculator app provides an example and there is a discussion of this in How do I change the icon for the Windows 10 calculator app? - TenForums

Denis

So will this allow me to change the buttons in the windows installer then?

If Microsoft wasn't evil... they'd be in the.... Buttons folder.

thatwindowsuser said:

So will this allow me to change the buttons in the windows installer then?

Click to expand...

I know nothing about setting up an installer.
What I described is the new set of files involved in choosing icons since Windows 10 Version 1803 as each Version has moved more & more icons across to the .dll.mun files from the .dlls where they used to be held.

Denis

The buttons you're speaking of I'm currently changing myself. they are not in a dll file they are in the .msstyle theme files found at C:\windows\resources\themes (possibly just resources)
there are two that come with Windows 11 "aero.msstyle" and "aerolite.msstyle" they contain most of the UI images. one is for the light theme one is for the dark theme. I haven't found a way to open these these particular two files but you can download/acquire alternative versions that are in the same format as a dll. but you'll want to install the "Ultra UX Theme Patcher" to use the different formatted files once you've done that just swap them out. Once inside the file the image for the window or message dialog buttons along with most of the UI (I can't remember what number, but that's part of the fun right) are in the "image" of directory. the close, maximize and minimize buttons are one of the 3 image located in the "streams" directory.

All of the images are PNG format.

There's also a few UI images (but not a lot) located in the shellstyle.dll in around the same directories in resources.

Most of your system icons are going to be found split between (the big one) imageres.dll.mum and (the small one) shell32.dll.mun .
These are just dll files mun is a Microsoft stand-in extension it's used for a lot of things. They can be found at found at C:\Windows\systemresources .

These are all ICO format
a PNG can't be an icon file because all icons have 7 to 9 resolution layers for displaying at the multiple sizes in which they viewed in, and the PNG format can't be layered.

As for The Dll's in the previous System32 location... at first glance you'd think these are the real file but if you look at their file size "12KB" isn't enough to space to hold a single icon. these are system shortcuts that redirect the system's queries to the current location of the file.

I'm sure there's more dlls but I'm in the process of unlocking Microsoft's Secrets as well good luck.

The buttons you're speaking of I'm currently changing myself. they are not in a dll file they are in the .msstyle theme files found at C:\windows\resources\themes (possibly just resources)

There are two that come with Windows 11 "aero.msstyle" and "aerolite.msstyle" they contain most of the UI images. one is for the light theme one is for the dark theme. I haven't found a way to open these these particular two files but you can download/acquire alternative versions that are in the same format as a dll. but you'll want to install the "Ultra UX Theme Patcher" to use the different formatted files once you've done that just swap them out.

Once inside the file, the image for the window or message dialog buttons along with most of the UI (I can't remember what number, but that's part of the fun right) is in the "images" directory. The close, maximize and minimize buttons are one of the 3 image located in the streams directory.

There's also a few UI images (but not a lot) located in the shellstyle.dll in around the same directories in resources.

All the images here are PNG format.

Most of your system icons are going to be found split between (the big one) imageres.dll.mum and (the small one) shell32.dll.mun .

These are just renamed dll files mun is a Microsoft stand-in extension it's used for a lot of things. They can be found at found at C:\Windows\systemresources .

All the Icons are Ico format.

A PNG cannot be an icon because all icons have 7 to 9 resolution layers, for displaying at the multiple sizes they get viewed at.

As for the Dll's at the previous location "System 32" at first glance you think these are the files, but if you look at their size "12KB" isn't enough to space to hold a single icon. these are system shortcuts that redirect the system's queries to the real files current location.

And I'm sure there's more dlls but I'm in the process of unlocking Microsoft's Secrets as well good luck.

Tried to edit it and it created a whole new one funny

thatwindowsuser said:

hello, im making my own custom version of windows11. i figuerd out how to change the boot animation. now im wanting to figuer out how to change the buttons with in windows to have a custom theme. i know photo shop. and visual studio is requierd to have this done. im wanting to know where are the dll files located to change the buttons in the file explorer and in the form boxes and for the windows 11 setup screen i have made my own backround already for the setup installer. i just need to know where the buttons for the installer are located.

Click to expand...

Hi there

also @Zantetsuken

How about icofx which is a great program which can create icons of the relevant size -- current version is not free but there are archives of the last free version

e.g from here -- download the correct program though sometimes these sites obfuscate the download file with other spurious links !!!!



Then when you've created your .ico file you can then use the properties of the application you want to change the icon of and use your custom one. Not sure on how it works for "Modern UI apps" though although this is a start as it works on "standard type apps" . Seems easier than hunting for and trying to replace .dll files.

Cheers
jimbo

Hi folks

Doing some more work on this one some of the "Store" type apps can get icons accessed

You need to open up hidden files

then properties icons etc and then point to your icon file

I´ll replicate this screenshot on an ENG version of Windows later but I think this is on the right track .





cheers
jimbo

Yes @jimbo45, it is a good fun little application. I got it with Deskscapes as a package.
Sadly, it does not work for metro Apps; those are self-contained & secured, and any update would overwrite the icons you may have created.
It works well for standard executables and shell content though.

OAT said:

Yes @jimbo45, it is a good fun little application. I got it with Deskscapes as a package.
Sadly, it does not work for metro Apps; those are self-contained & secured, and any update would overwrite the icons you may have created.
It works well for standard executables and shell content though.

Click to expand...

Hi there
Thanks for the info
On my system I don´t run any AFAIK metro apps I use firefox as browser, Office 2021 and other programs that are "standard apps and executables" but I'm sure metro apps must be hackable some where for those minded to do it.

Cheers
jimbo

I've currently been been using a few useful program to tear windows down. theirs "Resource Hacker" for extracting and replacing resources from dll and exe files. If the file is being stubborn or I just want to dump the entire content I use "Universal Extractor 2" for editing/creating resource images and icon files nothing beats full featured imaging software I use "Gimp". and two must have programs windows 11 should never be without are "Startallback" and "WinaeroTweaker". and if you find your being blocked to much by windows or I should say by the Trusted Installer try "CTIEXE", it launches programs as The Trusted Installer extremely useful for programs like the Task Scheduler and the Registry Editor (fun tip shut down Explorer and relaunch it as Trust Installer). But you throw all this together and its pretty good little windows 11 editing outfit.

Zantetsuken said:

I've currently been been using a few useful program to tear windows down. theirs "Resource Hacker" for extracting and replacing resources from dll and exe files. If the file is being stubborn or I just want to dump the entire content I use "Universal Extractor 2" for editing/creating resource images and icon files nothing beats full featured imaging software I use "Gimp". and two must have programs windows 11 should never be without are "Startallback" and "WinaeroTweaker". and if you find your being blocked to much by windows or I should say by the Trusted Installer try "CTIEXE", it launches programs as The Trusted Installer extremely useful for programs like the Task Scheduler and the Registry Editor (fun tip shut down Explorer and relaunch it as Trust Installer). But you throw all this together and its pretty good little windows 11 editing outfit.

Click to expand...

where can i find the "CTIEXE" program?

I suspect Zantetsuken meant ExecTI from Winaero.

Yeah it works quite well. Because the developer said its the windows equivalent to God mode in a first person shooter. I changed the icon in it to the original God mode Doom-guy face sprite with the yellow eyes. And yeah, every time I mention it I accidentally reverse the spelling. Curse this dyslexia!!. I feel like It should have more flashy name anyway like "NT service Commander" or something

This sounds like the place I need to be to alter my folder and live folder icons to the custom ones I just lost to the Win11 upgrade. Would I be correct in thinking I can use Resource Hacker to alter imageres.dll / imageres.dll.mun in order to get my system back to the look I want just like I did back in Win10?

To have it replaced at the next sfc or patch/update.
If you want to do that, then explore away.

PirateAndy said:

This sounds like the place I need to be to alter my folder and live folder icons to the ones I just lost to the Win11 upgrade. Would I be correct in thinking I can use Resource Hacker to alter imageres.dll / imageres.dll.mun in order to get my system back to the look I want just like I did back in Win10?

Click to expand...

"Imagesres.dll" the one founded c:\windows\system32 leave that alone it's just a system redirect that's why everything in the registry and system still points to that as the file when it's not.
But "imageres.dll.mun" in C:\wimdows\systemresources that's your target, it's the one that's the one that contains most of the system icons.
If you feel like it the other files within system resources are kind of worth checking out too they contain some of the other icons found within the system.
Yeah Resources Hacker is good for viewing and replacing the icons. If you want to view all of the icons at once a good program for that would be Green fish icon editor it's free. Now for the ability to dump all of the contents to a folder your best bet is Universal Extractor 2. This is a powerful tool that can dump the content of not only Dll and EXE, but just about any other type of file or archive containing multiple items. it can even dump individual layers of .ICO and .GIF files. But remember when replacing the icons within the dlls it's always a good practice to match the original icons resolution layer Count and Order.

As for an update replacing them. Unless your completely changing your windows version (like from 10 to 11) or Microsoft randomly finds the need to change something about the icon archives in an update, your safe.
I've had plenty of updates since I started doing this and I've never had my icons over written.

Also when replacing dll/mun or other files of this nature that are in constant use by the system, apart from needing to take ownership of the files the Explorer shell must be terminated as well. because it is holding on to those files and you cannot replace them with this happening.
Here's the easiest way I found to do it. (step by step overly detailed instructions)


First take your new "imagesres.dll.mun" remove the last letter in its name by renaming it to "imagesres.dll.mu" and place it in the "systemresource" directory (C:\windows\systemresources) with the original. It's always a good idea to make a backup of the original as well.


Then open task manager go to the processes section find "Windows Explorer" right click on it and select end task.
Everything will disappear at that point leaving you only for the most part with task manager left (but don't freak out it's supposed to happen).


At the top of task manager you'll see the "run new task" option click it when the "Create new task" window pops up click browse (we are not looking to run a program with it, we're going to use this window as a temporary file Explorer).


At the bottom change the file type option from Programs to All files.


Navigate to to the system resource directory (C:\windows\systemresources) scroll to the to "imagesres" files they should both be right next to each other.


Right click on the original and delete it ( again backups good idea)
right click on your new replacement and click rename and replace that last letter that you removed before making it once again "imagesres.dll.mun"


Close the window by clicking "X" at the top. And with the "Create new task" box that still should be opened type in the word... Explorer. to Restart the system UI and resume normal operation.


This process can be used when replacing other files the Explorer won't let go of.


I have seen in some instances where the original file becomes once again held on to by the task manager itself if this happens you're going to want to do all of the steps above but when it comes to deleting the original you'll need a program that can explore files that has an independent UI like "WINRAR" just have it running before you terminate Explorer and close the task manager before deleting the file. then use ctrl+alt+delete to reopen task manager afterwards to restore the UI.