        New Windows 95 Logos + Windows 95 Desktop Wallpapers

                      Step by step procedures



Are you already tired of the same Win95 startup logo, when you boot
your machine with Win95 OS (or the same bitmap-wallpaper on your Windows
95 desktop) ?
If your answer is YES, read on...


To have a new logo displayed each time you bootup your computer with
the Win95 OS (or/and a new Windows desktop wallpaper every time you
start Windows 95), you will need to do the following:


1. Download the ZIPAPER utility from AOL (go to the Windows Software
area, keyword WINDOWS, Walpaper Utilities), or type ZIPAPER in the box,
when you bring up the File Search window (left-click on the magnifier
glass icon, on the AOL top icon menu) and download the file ZIPAPER.ZIP
(Wallpaper utility version 1.3c).
Unzip this ZIP archive with Winzip version 6.0 (or better) for 95/NT,
found in the AOL Win95 area (keyword WIN95), in the "Hot! : Top Windows
95 Files" Software area.
Read the documentation that comes with Zipaper, and install it let's say
in the same directory (sorry, folder) with the Winzip files (let's call
it \ZIP).


2. Modify/add a line in MSDOS.SYS's [Options] section (a hidden,
read-only, system file, located in the root directory of your boot drive,
C:\ is default), to read:
Logo=1
In order to be able to modify (edit) this file, you will need to change
its DOS attributes to "archive". To edit MSDOS.SYS, you can use any
Windows/DOS text (ASCI) file editor. You can simply use Notepad, or
the MS-DOS mode editor EDIT.COM.
Save the file and change its attributes back to hidden, read-only and
system.
To ease your task, I included SYS95.BAT, a DOS style batch file, that
automates all the above operations for you: changes MSDOS.SYS's
attributes to enable its editing, uses EDIT.COM to edit the file, and
after YOU make the modification:
Logo=1
in the [Options] section, it changes back the attributes, to make
it recognizable by the Win95 OS bootup routine.
Contents of SYS95.BAT:
@C:
@CD\
@ATTRIB +A -H -R -S MSDOS.SYS
@EDIT MSDOS.SYS
@ATTRIB -A +H +R +S MSDOS.SYS
Change the drive letter if other than C (or add the same lines again to
point to your compressed drive letter, if you use any disk compression:
Dblspace, or Drvspace). On Drvspace/Dblspace compressed drives there are
two MSDOS.SYS files: one on the compressed drive (default C:) and one on
the host drive (default H:). You need to edit BOTH FILES to include the
same modifications (Logo=1) !


3. Use Paint Shop Pro version 3.12 32 bit, or better, or Lview
Pro 1.B or better, 32 bit version, both found on AOL, to resize
the bitmaps (wallpapers with the BMP extension) you want to have
displayed at bootup time by Win95. Each bitmap needs to be exactly
320x400x256colors, which means that the size of the wallpaper MUST be
320x400, so Win95 will recognize it as its default logo, and also, MUST
HAVE exactly 256 colors. The name of the Win95 startup logo MUST be
LOGO.SYS, and it MUST be located in the root directory of your boot
hard drive (default C:\). The size of LOGO.SYS MUST be 129,078 bytes!
NOTE: both 129,078 and 129,080 bytes logo files work with Win95.


4. Put together as many bitmaps as you like (with the BMP extension),
in the same folder, and zip them up with Winzip, let's say in the
archive called LOGO95.ZIP (all these bitmaps MUST be 320x400x256colors,
and 129,078 bytes long!). Place the zip in the same folder with ZIPAPER
and WINZIP (let's say \ZIP). The bitmaps contained in this file MUST have
the extension .BMP, to be recognized and extracted by Zipaper. When you
run Zipaper, it extracts randomly or in order (you control the way this
happens with Zipaper's parameters) a bitmap from LOGO95.ZIP to the
default folder and names it WALPAPER.BMP.


5. You'll also need PKUNZIP.EXE, part of the PKWARE package, version
2.04g (contains PKZIP.EXE and PKUNZIP.EXE, essential DOS mode zip/unzip
utilities), also found in almost every AOL software area (it's easy to
find it in the Top Downloads areas of DOS or Windows areas). Download
the PKZIP/PKUNZIP package, and install (copy all the PKWARE files) to
the \ZIP folder, mentioned above.
Also download Winzip 6.0 or above for 95/NT, from the WIN95 area on AOL,
found in the "Hot! - Top Windows 95 Files" area. Download/copy the Winzip
setup file(s) into an empty directory and follow the install instructions
(choose to install WinZip in the \ZIP directory).
Edit your AUTOEXEC.BAT (located in C:\ root) with Notepad or EDIT.COM and
add C:\ZIP to your PATH line. Example:
SET PATH=C:\;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND;C:\ZIP
Save the file and reboot.


6. Download VPIC version 6.1 (MS-DOS mode) a Picture Display and
Conversion Utility from the Graphics area on AOL (or type VPIC.ZIP into
AOL's File Search box, and download the VPIC.ZIP file), and then follow
the program's install instructions to install it into the \ZIP directory
(mentioned above).
After installing Vpic, READ its documentation files to understand how to
use it and adapt it to your own system configuration!
Add a command line to your AUTOEXEC.BAT for Vpic (see below), to display your
favorite bitmap before starting Windows 95.
Example of Vpic lines in your AUTOEXEC.BAT (make these lines your last
autoexec.bat lines):
CD\ZIP
C:\ZIP\ZIPAPER C:\ZIP\BMPS.ZIP C:\ZIP\PKUNZIP.EXE /NR
C:\ZIP\VPIC /R /Z C:\ZIP\WALPAPER.BMP
C:\ZIP\WAIT 3
WIN
The WAIT.COM utility is included with the Vpic program files.
You need to have all your 256 colors full screen bitmaps, 640x480 (with
the BMP extension), zipped with Winzip or with PKZIP.EXE into the BMPS.ZIP
archive, in the \ZIP directory.
In order to use Vpic as a logo startup program, you can use many graphics
formats: BMP, GIF, PCX, PIC, TGA, TIF etc. If you are using any of these
picture formats with Vpic, just mention the file's extension, on the Vpic
line. Example:
C:\ZIP\VPIC /R /Z C:\GRAPHICS\MYPICT.GIF


7. You can use the DOS batch file included here, called NEWLOGO.BAT.
Place it in the \ZIP directory (mentioned above) and include the
following commands as the last lines of your AUTOEXEC.BAT file:
CALL C:\ZIP\NEWLOGO.BAT
WIN
or better, copy its lines as the last lines of your AUTOEXEC.BAT (before
the WIN line) to have a new startup logo (or shut off logo if you like)
displayed every time you boot with Windows 95. NEWLOGO.BAT contents:
@C:
@CD\ZIP
@C:\ZIP\ZIPAPER C:\ZIP\LOGO95.ZIP C:\ZIP\PKUNZIP.EXE /NR
@MOVE C:\ZIP\WALPAPER.BMP C:\LOGO.SYS
@CD\ZIP
@C:\ZIP\ZIPAPER C:\ZIP\LOGO95.ZIP C:\ZIP\PKUNZIP.EXE /NR
@MOVE C:\ZIP\WALPAPER.BMP C:\WINDOWS\LOGOW.SYS
@CD\ZIP
@C:\ZIP\ZIPAPER C:\ZIP\LOGO95.ZIP C:\ZIP\PKUNZIP.EXE /NR
@MOVE C:\ZIP\WALPAPER.BMP C:\WINDOWS\LOGOS.SYS
Change the drive letter if other than C (and Win95's directory name, if
other than \WINDOWS).
NEWLOGO actually runs Zipaper, and replaces your old logo.sys (that
you've seen the last time you booted with Win95) with the new bitmap
renamed as LOGO.SYS (to have Win95 recognize and display it at boot
time). This way you'll have a new logo everytime you boot with Win95.
NEWLOGO.BAT does the same job replacing the LOGOW.SYS and LOGOS.SYS
files (located in your Win95 folder, \WINDOWS by default) everytime
you reboot with Win95 (backup the original Microsoft logo files first,
if you want to use them in the future).


8. You can use the same steps to have a new bitmap displayed as your
desktop wallpaper, every time you load Win95. All you have to do, is
load Win95 from a DOS batch file, which needs to include the following
lines (change the drive letter if other than C):
@C:
@CD\
@C:\ZIP\ZIPAPER C:\ZIP\BMPS.ZIP C:\ZIP\PKUNZIP.EXE /NR
@WIN %1 %2
Prior to this, zip all your full screen size wallpapers (.BMP-s),
640x480x256colors (size and number of colors are optional) into a zip
file called BMPS.ZIP, and place it in the same folder, \ZIP. Then
add/modify these lines into the [Desktop] section of your WIN.INI
file, found in your Windows 95 directory/folder:
[Desktop]
TileWallPaper=0
BmpDir=C:\
WallPaper=C:\WALPAPER.BMP
WallpaperStyle=2


* I included here a funny LOGO.SYS to use at Win95 bootup/load time.
Just backup yours, and copy this one to the root folder of your boot
drive (default is C:\). Or include this logo into your zip file that
contains your other bitmaps (change its extension to BMP first by
renaming the file to SUNK95.BMP, to be recognized by Zipaper, if you
decide to use Zipaper).


Conclusion

It's nice to have a bunch of bitmaps in a zip file, so they don't
take much space on your hard disk (and have Windows show up with a
different full screen wallpaper every time it loads). I have 585
Windows style wallpapers (.BMP), 640x480x256colors bitmaps, compressed
into a single zip file that takes only 65MB on my hard disk (if I would
unzip this archive, the 585 bitmaps would take 165MB of disk space!).
I also archived 85 windows bitmaps (.BMP) 129,078 in size (320x400x256)
into a single zip file, to have a different logo each time I boot up
my machine with the Win95 OS. This zip takes about 4.5MB of disk space,
instead of 10.5MB (unzipped). To make all these work, I obviously start
Windows 95 from a separate batch file, which is also included here (you
can open W95.BAT with Notepad).


... And Credits:

1. The following programs are SHAREWARE (make sure you READ the
   documentation files included with each utility):
 - PkWare, PKZip/PKUnzip are trademarks of PKWare Incorporated.
 - Zipaper is trademark of Daniel Thomas.
 - Lview Pro is trademark of Leonardo Haddad Loureiro.
 - Paint Shop Pro is trademark of JASC Incorporated.
 - WinZip is trademark of Niko Mak Computing Incorporated.
 - Vpic is trademark of Bob Montgomery.

2. - MS-DOS 6.xx, MS-DOS 7.00,
   - MS Windows 95 and
   - MS Plus! for Windows 95
     are trademarks of Microsoft (COMERCIAL programs).


Hope you'll find something useful in here. Enjoy!


If you have any comments/ideas/questions/etc... send me a "wire" at:

axcel216@aol.com

Regards