There is no security risk involved with enabling windows themes and branding. I respectfully disagree with enabling personalization on Windows Server being a security risk. However your call to make and not mine .
I am starting to learn a little French now. Thanks to talking with a new member here about the project.
I have been helping a member here from France use this project. In so doing, I am learning to pick up on the language a little bit. Another satisfied member.
Hello! Thank you all for the great project and keep it up I have a request for this project.... Is there a way to set themes for all new users? It works for 1st time but when you create another user default windows theme is showing up. I would like to set oem themes for all users. Is there any chance to update the script or is there any other solution?
oobe is ran before current user part of registry is created. You could add a setupcomplete.cmd with some registry tweaks but all users must be setup first thus why I don't support this. Plus some registry tweaks work in 32 bit and some don't work in 64 bit. Also a known M$ update made it harder for some that I am reading about. It's hit and miss depending on the OS and what arch. type. Good luck.
Updated first post. Change log: Spoiler Change log 02-04-2015: -Changed ASUS wallpaper per requests. -Updated MultiMonitorTool to version 1.82. -Added Surface and TTL to "OEM's Used For Forced Theme.txt" file. -Minor changes and improvements. I am taking a break from this for the next couple of months because of personal reasons that require my full attention. Thank you for understanding.
The guardian. I have a list of registry tweaks and to my knowledge registry tweaks are architecture neutral. I'm not meaning to be dismissive I'm just letting you know. There is no hit or miss when you put a registry change into a Windows OS. I've been busy playing around with the multiple architectures of late. There are two ways to implement registry changes the first is using reg add for cmd or reg import. The first is for fine tuned changes in registry keys and the later is for a group of keys that need to be added or changed. The powershell method is a bit different but almost the same. If need be I can offer a list of tweaks that are for Windows which have been tested and verified not to interfere with other programs. I also wanted to PM you regarding the layout for the universal powershell pack to seek your advise on what the layout should look like. I want a collective thought on it before I nail it down. The purpose is to create a framework which can be used with bringing modules into a pack that will work regardless of what Windows OS is installed. By the way I very much approve of breaks for such long projects . I am also willing to help at any time
Actually with this request it is hard to implement. Its different for the os and platform. I have been on M$ tech site getting insight to how to possibly go about adding theme for all users. This is more of a customization which I don't want to really touch (takes place after user accts are setup, after the oobe). End user can add setupcomplete.cmd to add any needed personal tweaks they want. Thus the reasoning I don't supply a setupcomplete.cmd, everyone customizes differently. I would rather let the end users handle that if they wish to add any tweaks. M$ put out an update for vista/win7 x64 bit that makes adding themes to all users very difficult which some have yet to figure out on M$ site. I will give you an example of what M$ said about it... There must be user accts setup already in order to customized the theme for all users thus having access to the user profile is needed which in oobe isn't setup yet. Plus how can I know what the user names are in order to edit it properly? Not everyone uses the same user name like Bob. lol Then registry tweaks must be set, some in local machine and others in current user, depending on the OS and arch. See the problem? Only end users would know all the user names in which they need to edit, not me. Also you must set local group policy in order to enable themes for all users. I could do it possibly by adding input from user during setupcomplete.cmd but I hate being prompted all the time for a OS install. I like to let it do its thing and come back and it is done. If I have to baby sit the installation, I wont use it. I don't have the time nor do I want to interact with the install except really where needed to complete the OS installation. Plus what if some users don't want to be prompted to input user names to customize? Some will want it and others will not thus why I call this customization and leave that for the end user to do. Either way, I don't have the time for the next couple of months.
Well the problem was that you can't easily implement a theme with the setupcomplete.cmd. However this is a work around. Basically you put a bat into the startup folder to tell it to add the themes to windows. This can be done by simply running the theme. This changes the theme for the currently signed on user who creates the first account. Now the user name issue is really unsolvable as you would have to put on the desktop the entire setup so that the user can decide whether to run them for each user. I personally agree that having a prompted install during the setupcomplete is annoying that's why I run a post install that takes care of everything I couldn't nail down for the setupcomplete. I would provide the coding but alas it is in powershell which doesn't work with cmd well
When using this project with W7 we had the option of installing any version we wanted and as long as we had SLIC 2.1 it would automatically get activated. I have heard it is not the same with W8 or 8.1. I understand that if I have W8 core edition all I can install is the same edition. Is there any way to install a different edition and activate it with this project?
No there is not. Although you can install another edition and this project will apply oem branding solely. To activate you need to use a KMS activator (you can find several ones in here) or use a legit key.
After searching high and low in the registry I found out how to apply windows theme for all users (the user image I wont mess with) but the theme is now possible for all users. I think I know how to simplify the process within the install.cmd without adding more code...got to do some more testing but progress has been made. For example I have the admin acct and I setup registry how it should be for all users then I setup the user acct Billy Bob and low and behold when I logged off the admin acct and onto Billy Bob's acct the theme was there. I can add more users and the theme is auto applied. After looking at project and looking at the registry...32 bit should brand all users where 64 bit would fail. Testing will continue... I will work more on this tomorrow because I am tired and all I see is registry values everywhere. lol Break time.
Confirmed....32 bit does branding for all users including user images but 64 bit was never addressed. In original script by searchengine the arch. type was not address for registry entries. I will correct this. I didn't never notice it before but I am the only user on my machine so never thought to check it. Either way it will be corrected in next version. I can do one of two methods...add 64 bit reg entry's to OEM's folders or have script create and apply reg entry's for 64 bit. After thinking about it...adding the extra reg file to OEM's folder would be best so if end users wish to extract and edit the OEM info for their region, they will still be able to. Yep, think that is better overall. I know what I need to do to correct this so going to watch some tv and call it a night. I will pick this up tomorrow.
Registrar Registry manager FTW! hehe enjoy man. I am on break myself as well since there is a long list of things needing to be done but there's always time