Creating Custom ISA Logon Page
Modifying the ISA Login Form
If the default ISA server login page is not appropriate for your organization, you can modify it by replacing a few images, and editing some of the strings in a few key files. This document will help identify which images and which files need to be modified.
Please note that after making changes to the appropriate files, the ISA firewall Service will need to be stopped and then restarted for the changes to take effect. This will cause a temporary system outage if it is in use.
Location of Files to be Modified
The files that need to be modified can be located at:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft ISA Server\CookieAuthTemplates\ISA\HTML
Note that there will be a few different folders under the ISA subfolder
· cHTML (for i-mode mobile browsers)
· xHTML (for Windows Mobile clients)
· HTML (for standard web browser clients)
This document focuses on modifying the standard (HTML) web browser forms login.
Make Backups
Make backup copies of the following files in the HTML folder:
· lgntop.gif
· lgnbottom.gif
· lglnleft.gif
· lgnright.gif
· logon_style.css
· usr_pwd.htm
· \nls\en\strings.txt
Change the default images for the ISA Forms
Below is the layout of the images included with the out-of-the-box ISA form:

You can replace the ISA default images with your own. This will change the border images around the input fields, but you still have to change the background color (assuming you don’t like the default background color).
Changing the Background Color
You can change the background color by modifying the style sheet logon_style.css
Find the section that reads:
|
body { background-color:#ffffff; text-align:center; } |
And replace the background color with the hex code of the color of your choosing.
The example below changes the background color from white (#ffffff) to gray (#C0C0C0)
|
body { background-color:# C0C0C0; text-align:center; } |
To insert a custom image, you could use the following example, substituting new_background_img.jpg with your own custom background image.
|
body { background-color:#C0C0C0; text-align:center; background-image: url(“/CookieAuth.dll?GetPic?formdir=@@FORMDIR&image=new_background_img.jpg”); background-repeat: repeat; } |
Changing the Text
You can modify the text of the form by modifying the strings.txt file. This is located at:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft ISA Server\CookieAuthTemplates\ISA\HTML\nls\en
Note that this is modifying the English language text strings. For other languages, similar modifications will need to be made to other strings.txt files under the appropriate language folder.
All of the text and login options are presented in the strings.txt file.
For example, you can change the text of the logon button and the window title by modifying the following strings from:
|
L_LoginButton_Text=”Log On” L_WindowTitle_Text=”Microsoft ISA Server 2006″ |
to
|
L_LoginButton_Text=”Sign Me In!” L_WindowTitle_Text=”Our Internal Corporate System” |
Changing the Page Layout
The file usr_pwd.htm governs the layout and structure of the ISA login page. You can modify the table layouts or to remove extraneous horizontal lines. You should not need to make many major changes to this page.
Updating the Login Page
When all of your modifications are completed, you need to copy your files back to the ISA Server, replacing all the files you modified. Again, be sure to have a backup of the files that were modified or replaced.
Copy all the images, Style Sheet, and HTML files to – you should not have to put back here, just need to modify the listener to use whatever location.
C:\Program Files\Microsoft ISA Server\CookieAuthTemplates\ISA\HTML\
If you have decided to use a custom background image, be sure to copy that as well.
Copy the strings.txt file to:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft ISA Server\CookieAuthTemplates\ISA\HTML\nls\en
When done replacing files, you will need to restart the firewall service for the changes to take effect.
1. Log on to your ISA Server.
2. Launch the ISA Server 2006 Console.
3. Select the Services Tab.
4. Right click on the Microsoft Firewall Service and select Stop.
5. After it completes, right click on the Microsoft Firewall Service again and select Start.
6. Point your web browser to the login page, and refresh your browser (F5) if necessary.

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February 1st, 2010 at 1:25 pm
How can I remove the OWA Light option?
Management is also looking at removing the public and private options. Is this something easy to customize in OWA07 /ISA 2006? Thanks.
February 1st, 2010 at 3:02 pm
Yes, removing the selection options is a common item, so that users cannot user OWA from a public location and then leave the user id behind.
http://www.leederbyshire.com/OWA-Radio-Buttons-Exchange-2007.asp
February 7th, 2010 at 7:04 pm
Can we make multiple login forms depending on sites behind?
For example,
site1.com
site2.com
if a user tries to access site1, display its own site 1 login form.
if a user tries to access site2, display its own site 2 login form.
In addition, can ISA can be configured for anonymous user login as well as user logins in the same way in Windows or SQL authentication?
Thanks
February 8th, 2010 at 9:29 am
Yes you can have different forms but you must have configured seperate listeners. If you have them on the same rule they will use the same form
February 9th, 2010 at 1:40 am
Thanks for the reply. Sorry, I didn’t mention that we use ISA FBA for OWA 2007 users. It looks like there are several htm files that need to be modified. Can you tell me which files need to be modified to remove the public and private options? Thanks.
November 7th, 2010 at 9:50 am
Hi Thanks for an excellent article. I’ve tried to change the background on my ISA 2006 published OWA HTML form by modifying the logon_style.css as below:
body
{
background-color:#0000B9;
text-align:center;
background-image: url(“/CookieAuth.dll?GetPic?formdir=@@FORMDIR&image=background.jpg”);
background-repeat: repeat;
}
This does not give me a background image. I’ve managed to change other items including the background colour. I’ve restarted the firewall after testing every change. I know that the listener is looking at the correct folder because I’ve been able to change other items. I’ve also tried to change the background in the usr_pwd.htm file but this did not work. Any ideas that you may have for this would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Paul
November 7th, 2010 at 10:01 am
Hi again,
I think I’ve just got it to display. Instead of
background-image: url(“/CookieAuth.dll?GetPic?formdir=@@FORMDIR&image=background.jpg”);
I put
background: url(“/CookieAuth.dll?GetPic?formdir=@@FORMDIR&image=background.jpg”);
This seems to have worked. It’s a bit lopsided on the browser screen. I’ve just got centre/strecth the image now.
Thanks
Paul