Having fun with system.ini

Just can't get enough of win.ini eh? well, micro$oft, being so good as to forget two vulnerabilities exposed by accessing the win.ini via dos before windows boots up, left a nice gap for hackers to explore and have fun...heh, heh. Now on to some mischief with its counterpart: the system.ini file.

Well, by now I'm sure you know how to edit win.ini, same thing with system.ini. Like so at dos:

C:>edit c:windowssystem.ini

So, what are we going to do now after all the havoc and fun we had before? Hmm, know about that blue screen of death? You know, the mother of all gpfs (general protection faults) in windows? Where your whole screen turns into some programmer's interface? Well, guess what? You can change that from system.ini! Want a red screen of death? How about green text on black background ala the matrix? Heh, or how about just plain ol' pure black screen? Heh, the user would have no idea what the error message even is! So how do you go about doing this? Locate the 386 enhanced section in system.ini like so:

[386enh]
device=c:windowssystemdva.386
ebios=*ebios
display=*vdd

There are going to be many entries, look for these two lines:

messagebackcolor=1
messagetextcolor=f

If it's not there, add it anywhere, as long it's in the [386enh] section. The back colour setting determines the colour used, well, in the background (default is dark blue)! The text colour setting is defaulted to gray. The number/letter used are vga colour codes. Here are the options you can use:

0 = black
1 = dark blue
2 = dark green
3 = dark cyan
4 = dark red
5 = dark magenta
6 = dark yellow (brown)
7 = gray
8 = dark gray
9 = blue
a = green
b = cyan
c = red
d = magenta
e = yellow
f = gray

Just replace each with your own option and see what suits best (or make both red so you end up with a black red screen...heh). Now the question is...how do you test it out :D well, short of wishing for a blue screen (now to whatever colour you've modified it into), heh, we don't have to wish for a blue screen, windows will give it to you when you least expect it! ;)?

First, don't forget to save and exit the editor then restart the computer.

The easiest way is get a 'blue screen of death' is to eject a cd in the drive while it's being accessed. Run something off a cd (like setup prog., for e.g.) and while the cd is being read, eject the disc out. You should get windows whining about not being able to locate the disc in your newly coloured-screen! :)

From now on, anytime you get a what-would-have-been-blue-screen, it will now show that colour combo unless you change it back to the default or delete those two lines from system.ini. Don't forget, if both the text and background colour are the same, you won't be able to read the error message! Which can get annoying...heh.

Heh, well, the fur may fly though, especially the user that gets this modified system below. Here's another, though, slightly more dangerous feature you can add to the system.ini's [386enh] section.

localreboot=false

Save, exit and reboot as usual. You won't notice anything different about windows but just wait! Normally when you hit the ctrl+alt+del keys simultaneously (also known as the pc's three-finger salute...heh) in windows, the system won't immediately reboot (unlike in dos). You will get that close program option in a pop up box to either close a non-responding prog. or force shutdown of the computer. Hitting the three keys again will restart the system, but now with this added line in system.ini hitting those three keys won't give you any option, it will immediately reboot the system!

Heh, this can be a boon or bane depending on the person using the system...figure out yourself! :D to revert back to default, either change the false to true or delete the line from system.ini.

There's a whole lot more settings you can apply/add/modify in the [386enh] section of the system.ini but this will do for now. Not all settings are supported by win95/98 and many will suit only for win 3.x. till next time, cheerio!

xearthed@hotmail.com | xearthed.tripod.com

- xearthed

1.) Daemon
processes - psyops
2.)Analysis
: Implications of Internet Growth - CptZZap
3.)The Art of
IRC - JesterS
4.)Network
Stacks & TCP/IP - Liquid Sphear
5.)Basics of
Internet Investigations - madirish
6.)Proliferation of
the Internet
7.)Having fun
with system.ini - xearthed
8.)A look into
VPNs and setting one up - L33tdawg
9.)Review of
DIVA LAN ISDN Router - L33tdawg
10.)Strategies
for Tomorrows War - Cpt ZZap