:::: Change "WMP 12" Background Image in Windows 7

by **-king-** on Wed Sep 15, 2010 11:12 pm

Change "WMP 12" Background Image in Windows 7

Tested by my self

Library Background
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Now Playing Background
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Windows Media Player 12 inWindows 7 comes with lots of enhancements and new features. One of themis the new Library view which allows users to manage their playlists,music, videos, recorded TV, etc.

Library view shows a nice minimal image in the background but did youknow you can customize it and replace it with other images?

Actually Microsoft provides 7 background images for WMP 12 Library viewbut for some unknown reason, all of them are hidden and no simpleoption is provided to change them. Weird, isn't it?

Today in this tutorial, we'll tell you how to customize the background image of Library view in WMP12:

Change Library View Background Image in WMP12 using Registry Editor

1. Type regedit in RUN or Startmenu Search box and press Enter. It'll open Registry Editor.

2. Now go to following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\Preferences

3. In right-side pane, look for LibraryBackgroundImage DWORD value. It'll have a value of 6 which is the default value.

4. Now to change the background image, you just need to change itsvalue from 6. You are allowed to choose a number between 0-6. Eachnumber provides a new background image for Library view.

5. That's it. Once you change the value, restart Windows Media Player and you'll see the new background image.

Special TIP for Advanced Users

All these 7 background imagesare stored in "%windir%\System32\wmploc.dll" file. You can open thisfile in Resource Hacker or Resource Tuner and then expand "257"directory. Under this directory you'll see several PNGs. You'll findfollowing 6 PNGs after scrolling a bit:

LIBRARY_BACKGROUND2.PNG
LIBRARY_BACKGROUND3.PNG
LIBRARY_BACKGROUND4.PNG
LIBRARY_BACKGROUND5.PNG
LIBRARY_BACKGROUND6.PNG
LIBRARY_BACKGROUND7.PNG

You just need to replace these PNGs with your desired images, save thefile and then set the associated number in Registry using Step 4 andyou'll see your new custom background image in WMP 12 Library view.

PS: Before editing and saving the file, take ownership of the fileusing this tutorial. If you still face problem while saving the file,save the file at some other location, then rename existing wmploc.dllfile in System32 folder to wmploc_bak.dll and then copy the newlymodified wmploc.dll file to System32 folder