Chaning BSOD color

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reactosuser7
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Chaning BSOD color

Post by reactosuser7 »

In http://toastytech.com/files/bsod.html there is a program that claims changing BSOD color:

<< This program makes use of some old Windows 3.1 options in the system.ini file that have been long forgotten, but are still present in Windows 95, 98, and ME. Unfortunately this program has no effect on Windows NT 3.x, 4, 2000, or XP.

What this program does is simply takes your selection and places it in
two lines in the [386Enh] section of your SYSTEM.INI file. The lines are:

MessageTextColor=C
MessageBackColor=0

In this case "C" is the hexadecimal number for bright red, and "0" is
black.

Here is a complete list of colors:

0 - Black
1 - Blue
2 - Green
3 - Cyan
4 - Red
5 - Magenta
6 - Yellow/brown
7 - White
8 - Gray
9 - Bright blue
A - Bright green
B - Bright cyan
C - Bright red
D - Bright magenta
E - Bright yellow
F - Bright white
>>

Maybe in ReactOS 0.4.x works or not, but in testing will see.
In 0.3.x should work if anyone want to test. Earlier 0.3.x versions was like Windows 98.
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EmuandCo
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Re: Chaning BSOD color

Post by EmuandCo »

No ReactOS version was like Windows 98, never ever.
ReactOS is still in alpha stage, meaning it is not feature-complete and is recommended only for evaluation and testing purposes.

If my post/reply offends or insults you, be sure that you know what sarcasm is...
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Konata
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Re: Chaning BSOD color

Post by Konata »

If you're looking to change the color of the BSOD I think you're having a little too much fun with the system :lol:

If you're curious, a major issue here is how Windows 9x and Windows NT work. 9x BSOD's aren't actually blue screens of "death", they're warning screens. They're only for application crashes and can be recovered from. With this assumption in the minds of the OS developers, they can still read from disk and add customization options to the blue screen.
NT is a whole lot different. NT's BSOD truly is a blue screen of death, it's the kernel panic screen and only deploys when the system has reached an unstable state and cannot continue operation without risking data corruption, which is absolutely unacceptable. There is no chance here to read from disk. So customizing an NT blue screen isn't an option. At least not with how NT's architecture is laid out.
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dizt3mp3r
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Re: Chaning BSOD color

Post by dizt3mp3r »

If we are allowed to change the colour then I'd like to be the first to reserve some space for advertising.

The BSOD could be the screen ReactOS users see most, so it makes sense to think about exploiting it...
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hbelusca
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Re: Chaning BSOD color

Post by hbelusca »

As the original post citation mentions:
Unfortunately this program has no effect on Windows NT 3.x, 4, 2000, or XP.
So it's the same concerning ReactOS.

BUT...

... You can programmatically change the BSoD color in the kernel code here:
https://git.reactos.org/?p=reactos.git; ... 22ff4#l661
Change the last parameter of the InbvSolidColorFill() call to some other number to change the colour.
You can also change the text colour by modifying the parameter of the InbvSetTextColor() call.

Another option would be to have a set of registry values to customize the BSoD colors... (this would be ReactOS-specific).
reactosuser7
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Re: Chaning BSOD color

Post by reactosuser7 »

hbelusca wrote:As the original post citation mentions:
Unfortunately this program has no effect on Windows NT 3.x, 4, 2000, or XP.
So it's the same concerning ReactOS.

BUT...

... You can programmatically change the BSoD color in the kernel code here:
https://git.reactos.org/?p=reactos.git; ... 22ff4#l661
Change the last parameter of the InbvSolidColorFill() call to some other number to change the colour.
You can also change the text colour by modifying the parameter of the InbvSetTextColor() call.

Another option would be to have a set of registry values to customize the BSoD colors... (this would be ReactOS-specific).
Thanks for this detail.
The point is to change BSOD in a finish compilation and installed ReactOS for a normal user, with hacks or with a program.
middings
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Re: Changing BSOD color

Post by middings »

Changing BSOD color.

Because no one would know what a GSOD or RSOD is, only colors that begin with the letter 'b' may be used. A black screen might frighten people to death and a beige screen doesn't look deadly. So a BSOD is blue or nothing.
:lol:
Last edited by middings on Sun Jan 21, 2018 2:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
reactosuser7
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Re: Chaning BSOD color

Post by reactosuser7 »

middings wrote:Changing BSOD color.

Because no one would know what a GSOD or RSOD is, only colors that begin with the letter 'b' may be used. A black screen might frighten people to death and a beige screen doesn't look deadly. So a BSOD is blue or nothing.
:lol:
It is focusing on advanced users. :D
justincase
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Re: Chaning BSOD color

Post by justincase »

middings wrote:Because no one would know what a GSOD or RSOD is, only colors that begin with the letter 'b' may be used.
What about Brown? ;)
In fact there are some other colors too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colors:_A-F#B :lol:
reactosuser7 wrote:The point is to change BSOD in a finish compilation and installed ReactOS for a normal user, with hacks or with a program.
It should be possible to do it with a hex editor if someone's determined enough, but I don't know that there's anyone who thinks it's worth it enough to bother, and I have my doubts anyone wants to write a program to automate the hack. It seems more likely to me that someone would either compile their own fork of the ReactOS kernel as a drop-in replacement (as long as the revision matches), or that the team might accept a patch that adds a registry key/value that can override the default color (which would be ReacOS specific, like hbelusca mentioned) if someone wants it enough to write the code for it.
I reserve the right to ignore any portion of any post if I deem it not constructive or likely to cause the discussion to degenerate.
DGMurdockIII
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Re: Chaning BSOD color

Post by DGMurdockIII »

what about doing what windows 8 and windows 10 have done for the BSOD and have it show useful info that can make it easier to diagnose why it crashed
reactosuser7
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Re: Chaning BSOD color

Post by reactosuser7 »

DGMurdockIII wrote:what about doing what windows 8 and windows 10 have done for the BSOD and have it show useful info that can make it easier to diagnose why it crashed
Do a JIRA request.
oldman
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Re: Chaning BSOD color

Post by oldman »

An improved BSOD screen is in the pipeline; it was discussed over a week ago by the developers.
Please keep the Windows classic 9x/2000 look and feel.
The layman's guides - debugging - bug reporting - compiling - ISO remaster.
They may help you with a problem, so do have a look at them.
DGMurdockIII
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Re: Chaning BSOD color

Post by DGMurdockIII »

That's nice to hear as I don't like to get blue screen it just nice when you get usable information on it
PurpleGurl
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Re: Chaning BSOD color

Post by PurpleGurl »

I'd love to see such a registry key, but there are much more serious things to focus on now.
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