Member Avatar for Coach Allen

I was recently brought on board at a car dealership that was sold a few months ago. The previous IT staff used biometric fingerprint scanners from digital persona. We are not using them, but the install program modified the graphical part of the logon screen. It now has the logo of the previous owner as well as a picture of his main dealership. I do not need to change the funtionalty of how the GINA handles it's data, just the graphical file that it calls. We would like to go back to the MS default or possibly use our own logo instead.

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— quick, safe checklist and options that address the exact problem you described.

First confirm the OS: the GINA mechanism applies to Windows 2000/XP/Server 2003 only (Vista and later use Credential Providers). If the machines are XP/2003, the installed fingerprint software most likely replaced the Winlogon GINA. To find what is active open the registry (export the key first) and check:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\GinaDLL

If that value points to a third‑party DLL, Winlogon is using it instead of the Microsoft default (msgina.dll). To restore the stock logon you can either change the value back to msgina.dll or remove the custom GinaDLL value entirely — but export the key and make a system image or restore point first. Changing the GINA can leave a machine unbootable to interactive logon if done incorrectly, so test on one nonproduction PC first.

If the goal is only to remove the old dealer artwork without removing the biometric GINA, determine whether the image is an external file or embedded as a bitmap resource in the GINA DLL. ’s tip about matching filename/dimensions applies only when the GINA loads an external bitmap. If the image is embedded, use a resource editor on a copy of the DLL (backup the original), replace the bitmap resource with your artwork (keep dimensions/bit depth compatible), then replace the DLL and reboot. Be aware of Windows File Protection, file ownership/permissions, and digital signatures — perform these edits offline or on a test machine and keep the original DLL so you can restore it if needed.

If you no longer need the biometric software, the safest route is to uninstall it through Programs and Features (or the vendor uninstall utility) which should restore the default GINA. Always keep an admin account with a local password and recovery media handy before modifying GINA or the registry.

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Member Avatar for Suspishio

You could try and put in a different picture and rename the file to what it was. I suspect you might need to ensure that the replacement has the same pixel dimension as the original.

You haven't really provided much information as to exactly what this image is so that's the best I can offer.

Member Avatar for Member #127113

If you are using Windows XP then you need to remove additional parametres from its boot file. Please Provide OS Information.

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