Customizing the login window in Mavericks

Before 10.9 Mavericks, customizing the login window was a sometimes complicated process. Apple has changed the resources for the login window several times over the years.

If possible, it’s generally a good idea to stay away from altering system files. However, our Windows PCs are branded, so we’d like to do the same for our Macs. With 10.9, we’ve settled upon replacing the Apple logo with our own.

We started off using this tutorial from OS X Daily – however, we found that the results weren’t consistent when replacing the Apple logo images with full-sized backgrounds as the tutorial recommends. With so many resolutions to support, we found that our custom background didn’t always cover the default gray Apple background.

Instead, after much testing, we came up with this:

  1. In the Finder, type Command-Shift-G and open /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/LoginUIKit.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LoginUICore.framework/Resources/
  2. Make backups of these files: “apple_s1.png”, “apple_s1@2x.png”, “apple.png”, and “apple@2x.png”.
  3. Open each file in an image editor (I like Acorn), and double the size of each image.  Delete the Apple logo and replace it with a transparent version of your own.
  4. Copy your modified versions of these files back to their original folder, replacing Apple’s versions.

Log out, and you should see your logo just above the username and password fields. I have not tested against a login window using names and pictures, but it should be fine.

If Apple modifies these files in a future OS X update, you might need to replace them again. I’d recommend packaging them up for easy reinstallation.

Tested with: 10.9

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1 Comment

  1. Agent Zer0

    Definitely gonna try this on my Mavericks!

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