Walkthrough: Customize Welcome Center

Welcome Center is the user's introduction to offers from OEMs and from Windows in Windows Vista. To customize and to brand Welcome Center, you must update the Oobe.xml file.

A sample of Oobe.xml is provided with the Windows OPK and the Windows AIK in the \Samples directory. This sample uses the fictitious company Fabrikam and Fabrikam graphics and offers.

To view the sample files in Windows Welcome and the Welcome Center

  • Copy the \Info folder to \Windows\System32\Oobe, and copy the \Fabrikam folder to the root of drive C, where C is the letter of the drive on which you have installed Windows Vista.

To view Welcome Center with the sample content

  • Launch Welcome Center from Control Panel\System and Maintenance.

The following procedure describes how to update Oobe.xml to add your customizations to Welcome Center.

Note

You cannot edit Oobe.xml with Windows System Image Manager (Windows SIM).

To customize Welcome Center by using OOBE.xml

  1. Create a file named Oobe.xml and store this file in Windows\System32\Oobe\Info.
  2. By using a text editor or an XML editor, such as Notepad, update Oobe.xml with the appropriate files, paths, and content.
  3. Save your updated version of Oobe.xml in Windows\System32\Oobe\Info, or in the appropriate language-specific and locale-specific folders that are required for your customizations.
  4. Test Welcome Center by launching Welcome Center.

Additional Information

For information about Oobe.xml settings and the folder structure for multiple-language and multiple-region deployments of Oobe.xml, see Oobe.xml Technical Reference.

The following illustration shows Welcome Center with some of the extensible elements in place.

See Also

Concepts

Oobe.xml Technical Reference