KBase - How to Change or Add an OEM Logo and Information on a Microsoft Windows 98/XP/ME/2000/2003 Computer

How to Change or Add an OEM Logo and Information on a Microsoft Windows 98/XP/ME/2000/2003 Computer

Last Updated: February 02, 2008

Issue

How to change or add an OEM logo and information on a Microsoft Windows 98, ME, XP, 2000 or 2003 computer? For Microsoft Vista computer, please see the article titled How to Change or Add an OEM Logo and Information on a Microsoft Windows Vista Computer..

Solution

By default, the General tab in your System Properties dialog box displays information about your version of Windows, the CPU, memory, and registration details, as illustrated below.

You can view this information on your computer, following one of these three steps:

Right-click on the My Computer icon on your desktop and select Properties.
Double-clicking on the System icon in Control Panel.
Press the WinKey + Break key combination on your keyboard.

Other information that may be displayed can include the manufacturer and computer model, a logo, and a button leading to a separate page for technical support information.

The information is not held in the registry, but in a simple text file named OEMInfo.ini. This can be created in any plain-text editor such as Notepad, that comes included with Windows..

This file can have two sections: General and Support Information

The first section, has the section header called [General], and within that section are the following two lines:

Manufacturer=(your-text-here) Model=(your-text-here)
The second section, [Support Information], is optional and will display a button, labeled Support Information, that when clicked, shows the information you entered in this section via in a popup window. The entries for this section should be in the format as shown below. You can have as many lines as you need as long as the overall file size does not exceed 64KB (kilobytes).

Line1=(your-text-here) Line2=(your-text-here) Line3=(your-text-here)

The file should be saved in the %systemroot%\system folder (for Windows 98/ME computers) or in %systemroot%\system32 folder (for W2K/XP/2003 computers) as OEMInfo.ini.

The image should be a 256-color Windows bitmap (.BMP) file. Microsoft states that the size should be 96 pixels square when using small fonts in Display Property settings, or 120 square with large fonts. The file should be saved in the %systemroot%\system folder (for Windows 98/ME computers) or in %systemroot%\system32 folder (for W2K/XP/2003 computers) as OEMLogo.bmp.

The [General] section of the oeminfo.ini file must be included and populated for the bitmap image to be visible in Display Properties.

Once you have made your changes to this file, a reboot is necessary for the change to take effect. Press the WinKey + Break key combination to open the System Properties dialog box and your updated information is now displayed.

An example of what an OEMINFO.INI file looks like is as follows:

[General] Manufacturer=My Custom Built PC Model=BFC-5000 [Support Information] Line1=Visit my website at Line2=https://www.meridianoutpost.com Line3= Line4=For PC building tips and optimization techniques. Line5= Line6=Sign up for our newsletter by emailing us at Line7= [email protected]