Hacking vista

Enable Logging in as the Administrator

* Right click on "Command Prompt" and click "Run as Administrator", then type "regedit" and press enter.
* In the Registry Editor, browse to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version\Winlogon

* Add a new key called "SpecialAccounts".
* Inside the new "SpecialAccounts" key, add a key called "UserList".
* Within the "UserList" key, create a 32-bit DWORD value called "Administrator" and set its value to 1.
* (Or if you are going to rename the Administrator account, create a 32-bit DWORD value to match and set it to 1.)

* Close the Registry Editor and back in the command prompt window, run "control userpasswords2".
* Click on the Advanced tab, then under "Advanced User Management" click the Advanced button.
* Next, click on Users and right click the Administrator account and select Properties.
* Finally, remove the check from "Account is disabled".
* (If you wish, you can rename the Administrator account and set a password for it here.
* Reboot and you should see the Administrator account on the Welcome screen.


Enable Logging in as the Administrator - Method Two

* Right click on "Command Prompt" and click "Run as Administrator".
* Enter the command, "net user administrator /active:yes"
* Reboot or log out to see the Administrator account on the Welcome screen.


Log in Automatically

* Right click on "Command Prompt" and click "Run as Administrator", then type "control userpasswords2" and press enter.
* Remove the checkmark from "Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer" and click the Apply button.
* You will be prompted for the user name and password to automatically log in. Enter them and click OK, then click OK again.
* In the same administrative command prompt window as before type "regedit" and press enter.
* In the Registry Editor, browse to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version\Winlogon

* Add a string keys called DefaultUserName and DefaultPassword if they aren't already present.
* Edit the data for those two keys to match the appropriate user name and password values entered above.


Disable UAC (User Access Control)

There are severals ways to do this. I prefer a simple registry edit instead of messing around with security policies or MSConfig.

* Open the Registry Editor with administrative rights and navigate to the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

* Locate the following DWORD value, "EnableLUA" and assign it a value of 0.
* Reboot for this change to take effect.


Get Rid of the Windows Security Center

* First, disable and stop the Security Center Service.
* Open a Command Prompt window and change to the \Windows\System32 folder.
* Take ownership of the files, wscapi.dll, wscsvc.dll and wscui.cpl.
For example, issue the command "takeown /f wscapi.dll" in the command prompt window.
* Remove the service entirely by typing the command,

"REG DELETE HKLM\SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROLSET\SERVICES\WSCSVC /F"

* Run Windows Explorer and use the Security tab to add an entry for everyone and give them full permissions.
* Rename or just delete the three files.
* Finally, reboot the computer for the change to take effect.


Disable Hibernation

From administrative command prompt issue command, "powercfg -h off"


Track down the Start Menus

The All Users Start Menu is now located: \ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu

The Users Start Menus are now located: \Users\\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu


Adjust Vista Glass Window Border

* Right click on your desktop and select Personalize.
* Click on Visual Appearance > Classic Appearance Properties > Advanced
* Select "Border Padding" in the Items drop down box.
* Change the border size and keep clicking OK to exit.


Revert to XP style fonts

* Right click on the desktop and choose Personalize.
* On the left click on Adjust font size (DPI).
* Click on the button labeled "Custom DIP...".
* Put a checkmark in the "Use Windows XP style DPI scaling" box.
* Keep clicking "OK" buttons to exit.
* Right click on the desktop and choose Personalize again.
* Click on Windows Color and Appearance.
* Click on "Open classic appearance properties for more color options".
* Click on the "Effects" button.
* Use the drop down menu to change from Cleartype to Standard, then click "OK".
* Click on the "Advanced" button.
* Use the Item drop down menu to select various screen elements.
* Change the font for the items from Segoe UI to Tahoma (or whichever you like).
* Click "OK" to accept the changes and exit.


Remove the arrow from Shortcuts

* First, right click on "Command Prompt" and click "Run as Administrator".
* Next, copy the follow line of text:

reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Shell Icons" /v 29 /d "C:\Windows\System32\imageres.dll,11"

* and paste it into the Command Prompt window. (Use the upper left corner of the command prompt for this.)
* Press Enter and you should get a response back indicating it was successful.
* Reboot or log off and on again to see the results.


Remove "- Shortcut" from Shortcuts

* Start Regedit with administrative rights.
* With Regedit browse to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer

* Find and edit the "link" value from 1D 00 00 00 to 00 00 00 00.
* Close Regedit and reboot or logoff for the change to take effect.


Connect to Samba shares

Vista defaults to using NTLMv2 authentication which does not work with versions of Samba <3.0.
Make this registry edit to enable NTLMv1 authentication, if needed.

* Start Regedit with administrative rights.
* With Regedit browse to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa

* Add a DWORD value called LmCompatibilityLevel if it isn't already present.
* Set the value of LmCompatibilityLevel to be 1.
* Reboot for this to take effect.


Open Windows Explorer with drive C: selected

* Edit your Explorer shortcut so the target field contains,

%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /e,c:

* The /e tells explorer to use a two-pane view, while the ,c: indicates which drive to select.


Changed the icon RegEdit uses to indicate an open Key

* Start Regedit with Administrative rights.
* With Regedit browse to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Shell Icons

* Change or add a value called 4 if it isn't already present.
* Set the value to be whatever icon you'd like.
* For instance, try setting the value of "4" to be "C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\SHELL32.dll,137".


Customize the OEM information and graphic

* Start Regedit with administrative rights.
* With Regedit browse to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion

* Change or create a Key called OEMInformation if it isn't already present.
* Inside this new key create the following String values setting their values as indicated:

Logo - OEMlogo.bmp, such as c:\windows\system32\OEMlogo.bmp
(The logo bmp file can be up to 120x120 or it will be scaled to fit.)
Manufacturer - Any name
Model - Any name
SupportHours - Any time
SupportPhone - Any phone number
SupportURL - Any URL

* To see the changes, open System Properties from the Control Panel or by right clicking on My Computer and choosing Properties.


Add a Network printer when Vista can only use Local drivers

* First, make sure the printer is installed properly on the network and that printer sharing is enabled for it.
* Install the printer on your Windows Vista computer as if it is a local printer. If you are prompted to connect to the printer, choose the option to continue without connecting.
* Then open the Printers applet in the Control Panel.
* Right-click on the new printer and choose Properties.
* Click on the Ports tab. Then select Add Port, then chose Local Port, and finally click New Port.
* For the port name, enter the network path and share name of your printer (e.g. \\Scratch\CanonPIX).
* Click OK, and make sure this new port is selected with the checkbox.
* Next try printing a test page and you're done.


Improve Internet speed by disabling TCP Auto-Tuning

* Open a "Command Prompt" with the "Run as Administrator" option.
* Enter the command, "netsh interface tcp show global" to check the status of TCP Auto-Tuning.
* Enter the command, "netsh interface tcp set global autotuning=disabled" to disable TCP Auto-Tuning.
* Enter the command, "netsh interface tcp set global autotuning=normal" to enable TCP Auto-Tuning.


Set processor affinity for finicky old programs

* Open a command prompt in the program's folder.
* Issue the command "start /affinity 01 program.exe" where 01 is the processor and program.exe is the finicky program's executable.


Adjust the disk space use by Volume Shadow Services

Windows Vista allocates 15% of the drive's total size or 30% of the drive's free space, whichever is smaller, as the maximum VSS storage. Sometimes this parameter is ignored so if you're running out of space you can check and/or adjust this limit with the vssadmin.exe utility.

* Open a "Command Prompt" with the "Run as Administrator" option.
* Issue the command "vssadmin /?" to see the available options.
* For example, to set the VSS limit for the C: drive to 20GB and to store these VSS backups on C:, issue the command:

vssadmin Resize ShadowStorage /On=C: /For=C: /MaxSize=20GB

* MaxSize must be at least 300MB or more and takes a KB, MB, GB, TB, PB or EB suffix.
* Leave out the MaxSize parameter to let Windows use any available space.


Use the System Recovery Command Prompt to bypass Vista security

* Boot from the Vista DVD and select the Repair option.
* Then select the Command Prompt.
* Now you have full access with both Admin and System rights, so go ahead and "recover" whatever files you need.
* Hint: the SAM file ix in c:\windows\system32\config.


Install a fresh copy of Vista with only the Upgrade edition

* Boot from the Windows Vista Upgrade DVD and start the setup program.
* When prompted, do NOT enter your product key but click next to proceed.
* Choose the version of Vista that you've purchased to install Vista as a 30-day trial.
* Once Vista is finished installing and you're at the desktop, run the Vista install program from within Vista.
* You'll be upgrading the previously installed trial version with your Upgrade edition so go ahead and use your product key when prompted this time.
* When asked, choose a Custom (advanced) install.
* When finished, activate Vista normally.>/li>
* You may also delete the Windows.old folder which just contains files from the trial install.