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Renaming Win XP Start Menu Button

Submitted by on Thursday, 22 November 200737 Comments

This guide will show you how to edit/rename the Windows XP start menu button. Are you bored of having the name “start”? If so now you can rename your start menu button to give the name of your choice.

STEP 1: BYPASSING WINDOWS FILE PROTECTION

1. Launch My Computer, click tools, folder options, then view

2. Select show all hidden files and folders option and uncheck the option hide protected operating system files, unckeck hide extention for known file types

3. Goto C:\windows\system32\restore, select the file filelist.xml, right click it go to properties and uncheck the option read-only

4. Open it (filelist.xml) with notepad

5. Add the line <rec>%systemroot%\explorer.exe</rec> as shown below

<exclude>
<rec>%systemroot%\explorer.exe</rec>
<rec> %windir%\system.ini</rec>
<rec> %windir%\tasks\desktop.ini</rec>
<rec> %windir%\win.ini</rec>
<rec> *:\AUTOEXEC.BAT </rec>
<rec>*:\CONFIG.MSI</rec>
<rec> *:\CONFIG.SYS </rec>

6. Save the file

7. Goto C:\windows\system32\dllcache, you will find a backup copy of explorer.exe. Rename it to explorer.bak.

STEP 2: CHANGING THE NAME OF START BUTTON

1. Using Resource Hacker, open the file explorer.exe located at C:\windows.

2. Expand string, expand 37, click on 1033

3. On right side raname “start” to anything you want. For ex. “yourname” and press “compile script”

4. Repeat the same procedure for string 38, 1033

5. Save changes in file menu (if error occurs close explorer.exe and repeat sub-step 3 and 4)

6. Restart your computer. After restart you can see the changes. Enjoy!



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37 Comments »

  • pramod said:

    iam using xp-service pack2
    i cant find “filelist.xml” there. can u plz tel me what is the problem??????????????

    - 26 December 2008 at 9:10 PM
  • Srikanth (author) said:

    @ pramod

    You have to unhide even the protect operating system files to find “filelist.xml”.In the Menu->Tools->Folder options->View tab

    Uncheck the option Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)

    Now you’ll see the filelist.xml

    - 26 December 2008 at 10:18 PM
  • Manjot singh said:

    hello srikanth.
    i ws trying to rename the start button. ws almost done, but got stuck on a step
    Open Resource Hacker,open C:\windows\explorer.exe
    Wat do u mean by resource hacker here?
    kindly do reply

    - 30 December 2008 at 5:10 PM
  • Srikanth (author) said:

    @ Manjot singh

    Resource hacker is a simple tool to edit Win32 files

    It’s available at

    http://angusj.com/resourcehacker/

    - 30 December 2008 at 7:43 PM
  • manjot singh said:

    thanx dear…..one more question.

    wenever i use netstat -n or netstat -a i get the foriegn ip address of yahoo server. basically i am an MCSE nd Cisco certified person. u may use technical terms to make it clear to me. kindly tell, how can i get the ip address of the victim?

    thank u.

    - 31 December 2008 at 9:59 AM
  • Srikanth (author) said:

    @ manjot singh

    You can get the IP of remote person by by establishing direct connection with him.If the remote person has a static IP it’s fine because once u know it you can operate at any time.

    But if the victim has a dynamic IP then it’s difficult to know it.But I have one way.You can run your own chat server and ask the victim to connect to your server for chatting.At that time you can identify the victim’s IP.

    For details on running your own char server refer my post

    http://www.gohacking.com/2008/10/chat-without-yahoo-messenger.html

    - 31 December 2008 at 12:08 PM
  • harpreet singh said:

    i m not finding a backup copy of explorer.exe

    - 26 January 2009 at 9:08 PM
  • Srikanth (author) said:

    @ harpreet singh

    Follow the steps 3-5 correctly.Even if it doesn’t work then

    Search for explorer.bak in dllcache folder.If the explorer.bak already exists then you can directly proceed to

    STEP 2:CHANGING THE NAME OF START BUTTON

    - 26 January 2009 at 10:20 PM
  • sahasra said:

    Thanks.this is very useful site for my project.It is creation of a virus and removing it using c.would u please tell how to remove virus which restarts computer at every startup using c?

    - 27 January 2009 at 10:04 AM
  • Srikanth (author) said:

    @ sahasra

    I have given the procedure to remove the virus in the same post as

    Testing and removing the virus
    Go through the post once again and you’ll get it :)

    - 27 January 2009 at 3:52 PM
  • Gaurav said:

    Hi Bro.. I m facing problem yar. when i compile stringe37 , & 38 showing msg that can not find explorer.exe in windows.

    Please help me where i did mistake?

    - 11 March 2009 at 5:54 PM
  • Srikanth (author) said:

    @ Gaurav

    Try once again by deleting all the backup files if any..

    - 13 March 2009 at 2:37 PM
  • prem singh said:

    thanx gohack.. i got how to rename.. my xp’s start button..
    thanx dear..

    - 13 March 2009 at 6:20 PM
  • Srikanth (author) said:

    @ prem singh

    Thanks for your feedback..

    - 13 March 2009 at 9:27 PM
  • omi said:

    i use win xp service pack 3.
    For last 2 months, whenever i open control panel. It looks lik i’m using win 2000 instead of usual xp view.
    Is there any way to repair xp without formatting xp?
    Plz mail me on : [email protected] or find me on orkut.

    - 30 March 2009 at 12:08 AM
  • Srikanth (author) said:

    @ omi

    Are you facing this problem right from the time you installed the OS, or is it a recent problem. If it is a recent problem, you can use the option System Restore to restore your PC to a previous date.

    - 31 March 2009 at 12:24 PM
  • AATMIK MUCHHAL said:

    HATS OFF 2 U BOSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!U R GENIUS>>>

    - 7 April 2009 at 12:08 AM
  • Subrata said:

    I did try your tips to change “Start” word to something else. There are few problems. I am using winXP SP2. In Step2, after editing the expolrer.exe through ResHaker as i compile the script it makes another copy of explorer.exe and name it explorer_original.exe. I can not stop it, even though the entire step1 is done by editing .xml and so on. finally i have deleted it in safe mode but the problem is when i try to start a new task through task manager it says it is not a valid win32 app. Any solution?

    - 13 April 2009 at 5:46 AM
  • arun said:

    hey yaar please enable copying this site for easy learning

    - 23 April 2009 at 4:39 PM
  • casey said:

    i did this and now my whole computer is messed up.

    the start buttons gone.. heck, the whole bar is gone. my desktop has nothing on the back, its all screwed up.

    please help

    - 1 May 2009 at 3:21 AM
  • jon said:

    i did all the steps, everything was fine.

    start button still says.. “start”

    - 1 May 2009 at 3:39 AM
  • Srikanth (author) said:

    @ jon

    Did you restart the process exporer.exe?

    - 1 May 2009 at 10:00 AM
  • Srikanth (author) said:

    @ casey

    Restart your computer. Make sure that the “explorer.exe” file exists inside the Windows folder.

    - 1 May 2009 at 10:03 AM
  • Kalpak said:

    hi……
    i have sucessfully changed the name of start menu to ‘BEGIN’
    but now i again have to change to something else
    now i tried this procedure again but it is not changing
    a new file has appeared in windows folder explorer_original.exe
    so what should i do next??
    i tried this in explorer_original.exe a nuw file appeared explorer_original_original.exe.

    - 2 May 2009 at 9:02 PM
  • Srikanth (author) said:

    @ kalpak

    Move the file “explorer_original.exe” to someother location (or delete it). Once you do ths follow the procedure and you can once again edit your start menu.

    - 5 May 2009 at 12:35 AM
  • Hamidi said:

    Dear,

    I tried to rename “start” button but nothing explorer.exe and other procedure didn’t work well. How can rename Button on win Vista?

    - 7 July 2009 at 4:47 PM
  • rakesh sahoo said:

    hi sir i can not find the backup copy of explorer.exe after addind ur line in notepad.pls help me.

    - 24 September 2009 at 4:25 AM
  • TEJRAJ said:

    hi srikant…thanks for ur tips…:) actually i was trying this from long back… now i got it,working perfectly..
    thanks buddy..

    - 28 September 2009 at 11:33 AM
  • apdk said:

    okkk i got it !!lol

    - 1 October 2009 at 3:34 PM
  • phulchand said:

    It really gud…!!!

    - 1 October 2009 at 4:06 PM
  • Sushil said:

    Hi….. I change the name of Start button but i can’t. all process are successfully done but dont change name of start button.
    plz also tell me how to change the name of Recycle bin.

    - 5 October 2009 at 12:52 AM
  • Kunal said:

    Hey brother,
    You r great, i m your big fan, u r the best

    - 6 December 2009 at 4:25 PM
  • raja said:

    Brother u r great
    but plz tell me how can hack the administrative password

    - 31 December 2009 at 3:54 PM
  • amit said:

    man u r gr8…gr8 yaar..but from whre u got all these..?

    - 7 January 2010 at 7:03 PM
  • Sarfraaz Ahmad said:

    Hiiiiiiiii,

    tell me please how can we change the name of Start button without using any software such as resourse hacker through windows registries???

    - 4 February 2010 at 3:59 PM
  • Srikanth (author) said:

    @ Sarfraaz Ahmad

    No it is not possible without using Resource Hacker.

    - 5 February 2010 at 2:31 PM
  • Arun jha said:

    sir…
    really thanX a billion from the deep of my heart..
    i wanna b an ethical hacker ..your article helped me alot..
    plZ guide me ..what steps should i take…?
    regards
    Arun jha

    - 19 March 2010 at 11:23 AM