Add Branding to the Dashboard, Remote Web Access, and Launchpad

 

Updated: April 11, 2014

Applies To: Windows Server 2012 Essentials, Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials

Add Branding to the Dashboard, Remote Web Access, and Launchpad

You can make many branding additions by adding entries in the registry. All branding entries in the registry for the operating system are located under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Server\OEM.

All co-branding must meet the following logo requirements:

• The Windows Server 2012 Essentials logo must have a minimum width of 170 pixels, keeping the correct aspect ratio, with 96 DPI.

To add branding by changing the registry

1. On the server, move your mouse to the upper right corner of the screen, and click Search.

2. In the Search box, type regedit, and then click the Regedit application.

3. In the navigation pane, expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, expand SOFTWARE, expand Microsoft, expand Windows Server. If the OEM key does not exist, complete the following steps to create it:

   1. Right-click Windows Server, click New, and then click Key.

   2. Type OEM for the name of the key.

4. (Optional) If you are creating an entry for a logo, you can create different keys to differentiate the language versions of the logo. For example, if you have both English and German versions of a logo, you can create an en-us key and a de-de key. Because all of the logo files are stored in the same folder, you must provide instances of the logo image file with a unique name for each language. For example, you would create a file called DashboardLogo_en.png and DashboardLogo_de.png.

5. Either right-click OEM or right-click the appropriate language key, click to New, and then click String Value.

6. Enter the name of the string, and then press ENTER. Refer to the Registry strings and values table for the string names and data values.

7. Right-click the new string, and then click Modify.

8. Enter the value from the table that is associated with the string name, and then click OK.

9. If you are creating an entry for a logo image or appended links, copy the file to %programFiles%\Windows Server\Bin\OEM. If the OEM directory does not exist, create it.

10. If changes are made that affect Remote Web Access, after the customer takes possession of the server, they must turn on Remote Web Access. Advise the customer to do the following:

    1. On the Dashboard, click Settings, and then click the Anywhere Access tab.

    2. If Anywhere Access is turned on, click Configure, and then clear Remote Web Access checkbox on the Choose Anywhere Access features to enable page of the Set up Anywhere Access wizard.

    3. Click Configure.

The following table lists the location where registry changes affect branding, the string name, and the data value.

Registry strings and values

Location of branding	Description	String name	Data value
Dashboard logo	Adds the logo image to the Dashboard. The Dashboard logo must be in .png format and must not be larger than 350 pixels wide by 38 pixels high.  Important: To cobrand the Dashboard with your logo, you must edit the artwork tile that is provided on the OPK DVD and append your company logo to the image while following the appropriate white space requirements. For additional information see the example tile that is provided.	DashboardLogo	Name of the logo image file
DashboardClientLogo	Adds the logo image to the Dashboard client login screen.	DashboardClientLogo	Name of the logo image file
Website background picture	Changes the background image that is displayed on the Remote Web Access logon page. Typical resolutions will appear as follows: - 1024x768 pixel resolution will precisely fill the logon page - 800x600 pixel resolution will be centered on the page and appear with a black border - 1280x720 pixel resolution will be centered and the pixels that exceed 1024x768 will not appear	LogonBackground	Name of background image file
Website title	Replaces the title of the Remote Web Access site from Windows Server 2012 Essentials to a title that you choose.	WebsiteName	New Remote Web Access site title
Website logo	Changes the default logo on the Remote Web Access site. The expected size of the logo is 32 pixels by 32 pixels. If your logo is smaller or larger than this, it will be stretched or made reduced to match these dimensions	WebsiteLogo	Name of the logo image file
Appended Website logo	Your partner logo will display just below the Microsoft logo that is displayed on the Remote Web Access site. The expected size of the logo is 200 pixels high by 50 pixels wide. If your logo is larger than this, it will be made smaller to fit while maintaining the original aspect ratio. If your logo is smaller than this, it will be centered within the 200 by 50 pixel space and neither the size nor aspect ratio will be changed.	OEMLogo	Name of the logo image file
Links on the Website home page and logon page	Append links to the logon page and home page of the Remote Web Access site. The .xml that contains the link information must be located in %programFiles%\Windows Server\Bin\OEM. The following example shows the format of the .xml file: <OemLinks> <LogonLinks> <Link Name=”LogonLinkName”> <Text>LogonLinkDescription</Text> <Url>LogonLinkURL</Url> <Icon>LinkIcon</Icon> </Link> </LogonLinks> <HomepageLinks> <Link Name=”HomepageLinkName”> <Text>HomepageLinkDescription</Text> <Url>HomepageLinkURL</Url> </Link> </HomepageLinks> </OemLinks>	LinksXML	Refer to the LinksXML elements table for a list of the elements and descriptions.
Launchpad logo	Adds the logo image to the Launchpad. The Launchpad logo must be in .png format and must not taller than 64 pixels.	LaunchpadLogo	Name of the logo image file

The following table lists and describes the LinksXML string name elements.

LinksXML elements

LinksXML element
LogonLinks
LogonLinkName
LogonLinkDescription
LogonLinkURL
LinkIcon
HomepageLinks
HomepageLinkName
HomepageLinkDescription
HomepageLinkURL
HomepageLinkIcon

See Also

Creating and Customizing the Image
Additional Customizations
Preparing the Image for Deployment
Testing the Customer Experience