Extracting Windows 8 Start Screen Patterns
Solution 1:
I finally found the solution!
All the required information can be found on this page:
http://code-bude.net/2012/08/31/anleitung-benutzerdefinierte-hintergrundbilder-in-windows-8/(German)
Basically the new file containing the images is imageres.dll. Opening it with ResourceHacker reveals all the wallpapers in the PNG section.
The backgrounds begin with Resource 10000. For each pattern(and some colors?) there are 5 images each.
- 10000 - Small preview in settings
- 10001 - Background for low resolution devices
- 10002 - Background for mid resolution devices
- 10003 - Background for high resolution devices
- 10004 - Large preview in settings
For example exporting 10003 creates a 3000x800px PNG:
Solution 2:
Is there any way to extract the Windows 8 Start Screen patterns, in order to use them as standalone wallpapers on other systems?
Yes, there is.
The backgrounds reside in %systemroot%/system32/imageres.dll. To use them, I suggest the following method:
Start by opening the folder where our resource-file is, by pressing WinR and entering %systemroot%/system32.
Extract the resources by using 7-Zip, (right-click) on imageres.dll and select 7-Zip > Open archive.
Dwelve into the archive by opening .rsrc/png. This is where you'll find the backgrounds. To extract, select the files you want and (left-click) the Extract button and select where the selected files should end up, e.g. C:\Windows 8 Start Screen Backgrounds Note: Backward-slashes are important!
The resources extracted don't have a file extension, we need to add that by renaming our files. Navigate to the folder where you extracted the resources, hold Shift and (right-click) in the folder, (left-click) on Open command window here.
Inside the Command Prompt, type and execute the following command: REN * *.png
Congratulations! Now you have all the resources at your disposal.
Note: Windows 8.1 removes the old start screen backgrounds 10000-11904, if you want those you'll have to get hold of an imageres.dll file from a Windows 8.0 installation. The new Windows 8.1 backgrounds follow the same principle for extraction, but have the numbers 20001-22101 instead.