I recently installed the unofficial service pack and I must say I was quite impressed by it, I can tell Gape put a lot of work into it. The only thing that I don't like is the windows 2000 icons. For some reason I just have to have the original windows 98 icons on my computer. Is there any way to avoid changing the icons after during installation of the service pack?

Anyone out there????

ok, ok, don't panic,

first off the relavent files have the icons hacked into them, so you need to replace them, these files are explorer.exe and shell32.dll.

go here and download CopyLock
http://noeld.com/programs.asp?cat=misc

download this update
http://www.microsoft.com/ntserver/nts/down...829/default.asp

install it (or extract the Shel95.dll and rename it to shell32.dll and use CopyLock to put it in the right place (the 'windows/system' folder))

it should be version 4.72.3812.600 with a crc32 of bd29ebc3

next the explorer.exe
search the internet for IE4SHL95.CAB, (the ones from IE 501 SP2, IE 502, & IE 5.5 are all the same) extract the explorer.exe from this cab file and use CopyLock to put it in the right place (the 'windows' folder)

it should be version 4.72.3612.1700 with a crc32 of 255fb85e

if you want 256 colour icons in the tray just not the hacked in icons download a relavent hex edited explorer.exe from here - http://www.dr-hoiby.com/TrayIconIn256Color/index.php

personally i just use SFC to restore the 98SE explorer.exe from the install files but that's a personal thing.

delete your ShellIconCache, log off and on, and the icons should be back to normal.

Thank you very much. I was going to try this on my other windows 98se computer (primarily for testing), but something strange happened. I installed the service pack with the tabs "Updates", "TweakUI" and "Performance Tweaks" checked and rebooted. Everything I had checked was installed but nothing on the windows GUI changed at all. The icons, color scheme remained the same, along with the start menu, (only says Windows 98, instead of Windows 98 Second Edition) and the windows logo in the About Windows thing in My Computer. That seems kind of weird because when I installed the service pack on my other computer, the GUI did change those things. ::odd::

strange
maybe someone else can explain....

are your sure it installed ok ?
what's the version number of the explorer.exe now (on that install) ?

Explorer.exe = 4.72.3110.1 Copyright Microsoft 1997! Obviously that file is intacked.
Actually I'm not completely sure it installed ok, because the system hanged when it was installing tweakui, then windows, NOT the installer told me I needed to reboot, so I pressed OK. Then, right before the computer was shutting down another message popped up saying the service pack was done installing and that I needed to reboot. The computer rebooted, and here I am! I guess I'll go reinstall it and see what happens.

yup, its not installed properly, the SP installs 4.72.3612.1700 (with the icons & start menu banner hacked into it) 4.72.3110.1 is the original pre SP one.

in the 'Installation Guide for Win98 SE SP 2.0' topics first post -
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=38193

Gape (SP author) says -

Well, uhh, that was a clean install. I reinstalled the service pack and everything went fine. I downloaded that program you talked about and used it to replace explorer.exe and installed that MS update, and everything worked fine. Thanks again for your help!

Oops, I didn't see that message about step 8 though. Ahh, that's what I get for never reading instructions.

I'm just being a jerk (as I sometimes do) but...

I've actually never heard of anybody who didn't think each new set of Windows icons weren't better than previous ones. I'd take 2000 icons over 98's anyday, and I'd take XP's (heck, Vista's) icons over 2000 anyday.

On that note, I can send you some Win 3.11 icons and you can use those to replace your 98 icons

Well, now you have. Windows 3.11 icons...hmm, maybe at some point I could try that, even though I know you're trying to tease me, you don't need to send me them though, I already have a copy of Win3.11.

How about some Win 3.0 icons? Do you have those? huh?!

Sorry, couldn't resist

As a matter of fact, I believe so. Or at least I have the installation disks. I have just about all windows os's from 3.0 up to XP, so I could technically use icons from any of those. BTW, I'm not being sarcastic. For God's sake, I was only asking how to keep the original 98 icons, that's it. If I want the ones from other OS's, believe me, I'll find a way to get them.

Note: as silly as this sounds, I didn't realize I had two accounts on this board, as I post from different computers. Rhelic = TravisOwens

Well since you keep replying to my jokes, this post is worthy of something more serious.

I've been preaching on here for awhile about keeping SP2 pure and free of 3rd party (junkware?) as I feel the best thing Gape can offer is a true Win98SE SP and not another fly by night "this makes 98 cooler" package.

While I haven't mentioned it in the past, if you really want to be a purist I fully agree that installing new icons is going beyond the purpose of a true SP.

If I had it my way Win98SE SP2 would install ONLY Microsoft updates, and leave all the bells & whistles optional. Although it would be best IMHO if the pack detected specific items and recomended them such as if the HD is over a certain size, to recomend the user installs the 3rd party fixes to Defrag (or was that Scandisk?).

In summary, I feel the best part about SP2 is that it's a SP that MS should have released in the 1st place and Gape is picking up their slack. I applaud his work even though I probably nit pick him to death sometimes. I agree with your point about the icons and feel the problem lies that the pack shouldn't force non security/patch updates to your PC.

Huh, I didn't know anyone else thought the way I did about updating stuff.

no, there's quite a few (like me)

Yea, if I was an admin over a company's network, I wouldn't think twice to mass deploy Gape's SP2, assuming I could disable all the 3rd party stuff.

But if I was running Win98SE personally, I do like the new icons and some of the 3rd party apps (just the ones that fix hardware limitations, ex: HD size) and I also like adopting the Win2000 (or XP) style start bar.

(Although on second thought, what's good for the goose is good for the gander, if I was to deploy SP2, I should allow the icons and Win2000 style for end users.)

Honestly, I'm a tried & true XP user, I can't stand the older OSes but I won't deny there are many Win98 computers (we have hundreds dere) and they really need the updates MS has created and refused to give out to the public. And I know many of the users here swear by Win98 SE, I don't agree with them but I agree to disagree. OS wars are for script kiddies.

And therein lies my problem, actually (so I'm glad this thread has occurred) - the place I work at *never* updates properly, and because it obviously leads to problems, I tend to update/fix computers as I go along, which I've done with USP since it's clearly the easiest way to go. Except now I'm realising I'll have to go back to those machines and change the icons back, since they could be a potential source of trouble...

I too love using them on my own machine, and replace them without a thought. But the problem with making them optional, I think, would mean including two versions of shell32.dll (each a meg) and 2-3 versions of explorer in the USP. It's a bit of a lose-lose, I think.

I don't see how the icons could be a problem. If there were any bugs they would have been reported (hundreds, if not thousands of computers run this patch) here.

Also as an admin, you have a moral duty (and your job) to update machines to a state of sane security and I think we can all agree, a 98SE machine without SP2 is not a secure or possible stable box.

Changes in icons and the start bar pale to what would happen if your network crumbles, end machines are hacked and company data is stolen.... all automagically by a new TCP/IP virus. If I was an admin of the network where I work, I would notify management, prove the patch works with all company apps, then mass deploy.

I'm just saying the ability to remove any non Microsoft/non 98SE stuff would just be nice from a purist perspective.

I think Gape should add some credits into the pack. Like some shortcut at the desktop to Gape's website would rock.
The new icons are just a small improvement to Windows 98.
I hope we can merge Gape's pack with Tihiy's revolution pack some day. That would be awesome

Just to clarify, the icons aren't a problem in a technical sense; and I'm not an admin, just a user who happens to know how important it is to keep the computers upgraded when no-one else in the firm seems to have a clue (we don't have an admin, just an external support company). Which is where I may have a problem with icons, because the firm doesn't have any right to use the icons, technically, and I don't really have the right to install them, so while I personally have no objections to them, I can see why it might become an issue for others (i.e. said firm) somewhere down the line. I'd rather be able to upgrade the computers surreptitiously, and my having installed files with the icons in makes that more difficult, especially when secretaries are sharp enough to notice (as in one instance) the "second edition" tagged on to the modified boot logo, even though it's not something they would ever have reason to pay attention to. Curse their diligence!

I'd just rather not get them or myself into trouble, basically

imo that should always be left optional for people who don't want Tihiy's revolution pack, after all it's not that hard to run two install programs one after another and keep everybody happy (those who want the candy and those who don't).

You gotta be kidding me. What possible trouble could you get in for changing the GUI. I don't really see any real problem there. I do see how you might end up with technical problems though...

i imagine you could get into trouble for using hacked MS files on a companys system/network not least because of the MS licence agreements or security concerns.

imagine trying to explain it to some dumb nazi suit with managerial responsibility for IT.
"soooo you put hacked Microsoft files on our network . . . "

btw most (if not all) of the icons can be changed through the registry (also 24bit color icons work on 98SE).

I just thought I'd add as a PS to this, incidentally, since I can't see it mentioned before, that Dr Hoiby's site does not (currently) have the relevant info for 4.72.3612.1700, listing only the info for 4.72.3110.1. As best I can tell, this information would be:


Anyone care to verify that?

i think ill go see Dr Hoiby's to help my eyesight lol

That's alright, I just got the explorer.exe from IE 5.5 anyway.

can anyone confirm this (is this as it's used in the SP ?)
i'd just like to add it to my 'notes' for future reference.