Changing the menu bar's Apple logo

[Derek McNelly]

I'm trying to change the little blue Apple logo on the menu bar to the classic rainbow Apple.

I don't want to use Shapeshifter, because I'm not willing to shell out $30 to change the logo, and I'm sure there's a way to do it manually.

Sadly, I can't figure that out.

I googled every possibly wording I could think of, but to no avail.

Theme park created an RSRC file for me to use, and I put it in the original "Extras.rsrc" spot, but it's not reading it.

Hrumpf.

I really want to figure this out.

 

[Derek McNelly]

Screenshot!

 

[eric]

nice.

will be interesting to know how it was done.

can you shrink that image a bit though, or link it from a thumb?

 

[Derek McNelly]

eric: I fixed it up for ya.

Okay, in the few hours that have passed since my first inquiry about changing the apple logo on the menubar, I discovered that there are NO tutorials on the internet whatsoever.

After trial and error, and the lone tip from "Benjamin" at Macrumors who posted a link to the app you will need to do this, I was able to figure out how to change the logo from the stock Aqua Apple logo to the classic rainbow Apple. You can use whatever you want to use as the new logo, but I have an affinity for that colorful apple myself.

DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR SYSTEM. BY FOLLOWING THESE DIRECTIONS, I HOLD NO LIABILITY SHOULD SOMETHING GO WRONG WITH YOUR COMPUTER.

DO NOT MUCK AROUND IN THE SYSTEM FILES UNLESS YOU ARE 100% CONFIDENT IN YOUR ABILITY.

I would rather have a working computer with the blue Apple logo than a dead computer with no Apple logo.

Okay, enough technicalities.

First, you will need to download [URL="http://www.geekspiff.com/software/themepark/]ThemePark[/URL], and you will need to have a copy of Adobe PhotoShop (legal, of course! )

Open up ThemePark, and go to File -> Open -> Macintosh HD/System/Library/Frameworks/Carbon.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/HIToolbox.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Extras.rsrc and Extras2.rsrc

In the search box, type in "2030" and hit enter. You should only see "pxm#" in the far left column. Click that, then "2030 Root Menu Center", and then select the Blue Apple logo.

There is a button with a picture of the Photoshop CS2 logo (blue-green feather in a white box), which is titled "Send". Click that, and Photoshop will automatically open the Blue Apple logo.

From here, take the image of your choosing (in my case, the rainbow Apple), and open that. Resize both images until they're a similar size, in my case, expanding the blue apple about 200% and shrinking the rainbow apple 50% was enough to make it workable.

YOU WILL WANT THE NEW IMAGE TO BE SLIGHTLY LARGER THAN THE BLUE APPLE SO YOU CAN PLAY WITH THE SIZE WITHOUT TOO MUCH DISTORTION

Copy the new image over to the blue apple, and use Transform -> Scale to resize the image until it's the size of the blue apple.

Then shrink the image back down to 19x22 pixels.

Leave photoshop open and go back to ThemePark, and select the button next to the "send" button, which is "Recieve". Your new logo will be in place of the old blue apple.

Repeat the same steps on the white apple, if you so feel. In my case, I took my new rainbow logo, dropped the contrast and brightness, and made a black apple. (The white apple is what shows up when you click on the blue apple.)

Once you've done this to both the Extra.rsrc and the Extra2.rsrc file, click "Save As", and save them as "Extra" and "Extra2" to the desktop.

EXTRA.RSRC MUST BE SET FOR POWER PC, AND EXTRA2.RSRC MUST BE SET FOR INTEL. YOUR SYSTEM WILL CRASH IF YOU DON'T HAVE IT SET ACCORDINGLY.

Opening Photoshop CS after my first attempt at this caused my whole system to go down until I went back and made Extra.rsrc set for PowerPC. I made the mistake of making them both set for Intel.

EXTRA.RSRC IS POWER PC!

EXTRA2.RSRC IS INTEL!

Now, make a folder on your Desktop called "ORIGINAL THEMES".

Go back to /System/Library/Frameworks/Carbon.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/HIToolbox.framework/Versions/A/Resources/, and copy the original Extra.rsrc and Extra2.rsrc to the ORIGINAL THEMES folder. Then, drag the original files from /System/Library/Frameworks/Carbon.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/HIToolbox.framework/Versions/A/Resources/ to the Trash. You will be asked to authenticate the move.

DO NOT EMPTY THE TRASH YET

Copy your new Extras.rsrc and Extras2.rsrc from your Desktop to /System/Library/Frameworks/Carbon.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/HIToolbox.framework/Versions/A/Resources/. You will be asked to authenticate again.

DO NOT EMPTY THE TRASH YET

Go to your ORIGINAL THEMES folder, and rename the original Extra.rsrc and Extra2.rsrc to ExtraORIG.rsrc and Extra2ORIG.rsrc. Move these from your ORIGINAL THEMES folder back to /System/Library/Frameworks/Carbon.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/HIToolbox.framework/Versions/A/Resources/. You will be asked to authenticate again.

NOW SECURE EMPTY THE TRASH

Secure empty the trash and relaunch the finder.

CONGRATULATIONS! YOU NOW HAVE A CUSTOM APPLE LOGO WITHOUT PAYING $30 FOR SHAPESHIFTER!

If you have any questions, feel free to IM me or send me a PM.

 

[maulrat1967]

ah poop ... doesnt work in Leopard ... looks as if the apple menu icon looks at a different source ID ........ the id #s and color are the same as in Tiger ... 2030 / blue .... but as anyone knows in Leopard the new icon is black. I couldnt find the source for the Leopard Black Apple icon for anything (using ThemePark).

Anyone have a clue???

All I wanna do is change the Apple Menu to red/ruby ... like the one used here in the address bar

 

[MacRenegade]

ah poop ... doesnt work in Leopard ... looks as if the apple menu icon looks at a different source ID ........ the id #s and color are the same as in Tiger ... 2030 / blue .... but as anyone knows in Leopard the new icon is black. I couldnt find the source for the Leopard Black Apple icon for anything (using ThemePark).

Anyone have a clue???

All I wanna do is change the Apple Menu to red/ruby ... like the one used here in the address bar

Leopard uses vector graphics to create many of it elements. Therefor, many are very hard to obtain and modify.

 

[AJB]

With the greatest of respect gentlemen, do you think you might have too much time on your hands (like me, for writing this)?

 

[Derek McNelly]

With the greatest of respect gentlemen, do you think you might have too much time on your hands (like me, for writing this)?

I was in my Japanese studies class when I figured out how to do it, so I suppose you can call it too much time on my hands.

Leopard uses vector graphics to create many of it elements. Therefor, many are very hard to obtain and modify.

You sir, are 100% correct here. Apple basically recycled the resource files from Aqua to keep the scroll bars, close buttons, etc., but used vector graphics for the menubar.

 

[Chimpur]

Awww i really like the rainbow apple logo! I'd really like it on my macbook with leopard tho!!

 

[XP_Master]

I wish you luck with this experiment of yours but be careful how you mess with OS X.

 

[mac57]

Hmmm... I love the result, but the method is pretty complex and somewhat prone to human error.

For $10, you can get ClassicMenu, which also allows you to change the Menu bar Apple logo into a variety of other Apple logos, including the classic rainbow colored one. I have done this myself. I think having the rainbow colored Apple back on the menu bar is worth the $10 all by itself!

Of course, ClassicMenu also lets you build a replica of the old Mac OS "Classic" Apple Menu, sort of like Windows Start Menu. To this day, I still find that sort of menu useful, and actually bought ClassicMenu for that. The rainbow Apple was a wonderful bonus when I discovered it.

You might wish to check out ClassicMenu. For $10 it is quite a package.

 

[Derek McNelly]

Thanks for letting me know about that software!

Now that I've upgraded to Leopard, I've started to really like the black apple.

I still think this tutorial was worth doing, but I'm starting to buy into the current Apple wave now.

 

[Chimpur]

Thanks I'll try it!

 

[JudasX]

This Is the Answer You Need

Hey man check out this forum posting.

Some guy already made a nice installer for this operation. It's simple and works awesome.


http://forums.mactalk.com.au/24/48758-classic-apple-icon-leopard-menubar-installer.html

 

[louishen]

Since we are all spending our time on this

I did like the bits for Tiger - cool, but it looks like Leopard does things differently

http://macthemes2.net/wiki/Extras.rsrc#Modifying_the_Menubar

see the bit about the SArtFile.bin. file

 

[exvswat238]

ah poop ... doesnt work in Leopard ... looks as if the apple menu icon looks at a different source ID ........ the id #s and color are the same as in Tiger ... 2030 / blue .... but as anyone knows in Leopard the new icon is black. I couldnt find the source for the Leopard Black Apple icon for anything (using ThemePark).

Anyone have a clue???

All I wanna do is change the Apple Menu to red/ruby ... like the one used here in the address bar

I found out how to fix this dilemma. I use the 4.1 version of Themepark, it's free, in addition of the editing of the extras.rsrc file, you must also edit the sArtFile, back up ALL the apple logos, then replace ALL of them with you custom one. It worked for me. Happy modding! YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING YOU DO TO YOU SYSTEM.