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Disclaimer: I will not be held responsible for any damage caused to your iPod because of this hack. By performing this procedure, you accept full responsibility for your actions.

Articles have been written for changing images on 1st-4th Generation iPods, but since iPod wizard now supports all iPods (particularly 5G ipods) it is now possible to change images on your Video iPod or iPod Nano. Before we begin, here is a list of all the things you’ll need:

CopyPod: http://www.copypod.net/
iPod Updater: http://www.apple.com/ipod/download/
iPod Wizard v1.1: http://www.ipodwizard.net/cmps_index.php
A 100 x 100 bitmap (.bmp, .jpg, or .gif) file that you want to see on the iPod.
An iPod (obviously)
An iPod USB Cable or dock

Download and install CopyPod and the iPod updater and extract the iPod Wizard files to a directory on your computer (make sure you remember which one). Because hacking the firmware requires erasing all data on the ipod, the first thing we’ll do is copy all the files to your computer so that they’ll be easily accessible when go back to put them on later. If you feel you can remember all the music you want on your iPod, go ahead and skip this, but I prefer to do this step so you don’t go searching for songs later.

Plug in your iPod and open up copyPod. It should recognize your iPod and ask you if you want to start listing files. Tell it yes, and it’ll show you a list of everything you have. Make sure that it is showing All Files, and let’s go over to the Settings Tab. Because these songs are on your iPod, they’re probably already in iTunes. So, make sure that “Import songs into iTunes” is unchecked. Now, go back to the Main Tab and click Folder. Select the folder you want to copy the songs to, and click OK. It will begin copying the songs from your iPod. You may want to get a cup of coffee, this will take a while. Below are some pictures with the important parts circled.

The Main Tab

The Settings Tab

Copying….How’s that coffee?

When the copying is finished, open up iPod wizard. Click on “Open Updater” and browse to the directory where you installed the iPod software (by default, it is c:\Program Files\iPod\iPod Updater [date]). Click the program file and click Open. Next, select your iPod version from the list directly to the right, and then click Load. You should see a picture of the pause symbol. That’s not the one we want to replace. Scroll over to image 9 (use the “>>” symbol). You should see the “No” sign that you see when your iPod is plugged in. Now click “Load Bitmap” (below the arrow symbols) and locate your 100 x 100 image. When that shows up, click “Write.”

That’s the file you want

How boring….

Okay, now that the updater has been changed, open up your iPod updater software. Plugin your iPod and click “Restore.” Once it’s done, your iPod should have a brand new “Do not disconnect” image, instead of that No sign. Enjoy, and post your customized images so that everyone can see them!