Replace the Boot Panel and Log-In Screen in Mac OS X 10.2.6 by Edward O'Rourke IV

Intro
This how too is meant for experienced mod users. I have omitted the how to's for the power user info to protect those that might try and not really be sure how to do it. If you do want to and don't understand all the terms used in this guide I suggest reading up on them on other parts of resex first... you wont regret it and will have valuable information under your belt. If another person feels like adding to this and making it more accessible for less advanced users feel free. I just don't want that responsibility on my hands.

It appears that the Boot and Log-in panels are now both 480 x 360.
Items you should have before you begin.

• Ability to login in OS 9 or as Root or know how to use the terminal to move files as super user (not covered, if you need to know how to do this then you may reconsider this type of mod)
• A Graphic Editing Application
• Apple Mac OS X Developer tools installed
• Visage for switching the boot panel (easiest way)
  
  

Boot Panel Mod
Switching boot panels is easy just use visage to set the image to be used for the boot panel. The image needs to be a pdf not sure if visage will do the conversion from any file type.


Log-In Panel Mod
First the login panel layout should be set to the type where you enter your name and password instead of selecting your name from a list of users.
The dimensions of the panel change if you use select from list.
The image file type for the login panel is .tiff you will need to save your login panel image as a .tiff file format

place your loginpanel.tiff file in this location
/System/Library/CoreServices/SecurityAgent.app/
Contents/Resources/loginpanel.tiff

Next using the developer tools, launch Interface Builder with administrator privileges (root) edit the file login.nib found in the following location
/System/Library/CoreServices/SecurityAgentPlugins/
loginwindow.bundle/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/login.nib

• Be very careful not to do more than you need to, especially if you're not sure what's going on here, things will break if you screw up.
• I HIGHLY HIGHLY advise you make a backup of login.nib
• Interface Builder will make a backup when you save a new one but make a back up anyway just in case, also know how to login to the console and make changes ahead of time in case you break something

Once you have login.nib open in interface builder open the info palette from the tools menu.

• click on the broken image icons in the center area above the input fields (see #1 in the image below)
• find the one with the icon named loginpanel you will see the name appear in the info panel (see #2 in the image below)
• From the Drop down menu at the top of the info panel select the menu item size.
• With the loginpanel image selected set the X and Y values to 0 and the w value to 480 and the h value to 360
• at this point you can simply save your work and you are finished
• If you feel more adventurous you could make other layout changes be very careful not to break any connections or your login panel will break
• As you can see in the image below I moved things around a bit and changed font sizes and button locations.
• If it doesn't allow you to save the file then you didn't launch Interface Builder with administrator privileges.