I never quite understood the users who wanted to turn the visual appearance of their operating system into another operating system. The most popular conversions are without question available for Windows XP which can be turned into pretty much any other operating system visually, well except for Commodore C-64 maybe.
The Vista Live Shell Pack for Windows XP is a collection of three shell packs for Windows XP that turn the visuals of Windows XP into a Windows Vista looking interface. The three packs distinguish themselves only by color from each other. They are available in baby blue, gray and pink (gosh) (via Techyard).
Changes to Windows XP require the patching of the file uxtheme.dll. This file refuses changes otherwise and does not allow the installation of any themes that have not been officially released by Microsoft. Vista Live Shell Pack comes with an installer that includes the uxtheme.dll patcher making it very easy to install the new themes.
The installer provides a list of files that will be installed on the system. It turns out that the pack installs and modifies lots of files on the system, especially those with icons and other graphic information in them.
Many other files get updated as well if the user chooses so. Some noteworthy ones are the boot logo, logon screen, screensaver, the installation of Windows Vista fonts, the skin and some applications (ViOrb, TaskSwitchXP and RebIC). Everything can be unchecked in the installer. The installer can create a system restore point which is important to do in case something goes wrong during installation.
Related posts:
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Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Update Errors
Cleanup Vista after Service Pack 1 installation
Windows Vista Service Pack 2 RC Download
Microsoft Windows Vista Service Pack 2 Pre-Beta Released
Windows Vista Service Pack 2 Beta Download
Windows Vista Theme Customization
9 Responses to “Vista Live Shell Pack For Windows XP”
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[...] 3- Vista Live Shell Pack For Windows XP [...]
there are much nicer shell packs out there:
http://www.trucsenvrac.com/shellpacks.php
http://www.crystalxp.net/galerie/en.id.130.htm
here’s a nice one that just replaces your icons and system bitmaps with Tango icons:
http://vertigosity.deviantart.com/art/Tango-Patcher-6000-8-03-62421428
Nice find! I’m using Vista 64 right now and it’s working flawlessly so far. But I still have an XP box that game on. I’ve made the XP machine look as close to Vista as I can but this seems like it would have been a lot less work. Think I’ll give this a try on a VM and see if it works any better than the other transformation packs out there.
i just want to know if it can restore my system to normal after uninstall
i am guessing thts not possible
The installer creates a system restore point so yes you can revert your system to how it was before you installed.
awesome… worked amazing on my XP
i compiled a list of amesome vista themes from deviant art
http://www.gravityblue.com/2008/09/27/5-awesome-vista-and-xp-themes/
This looks really nice!
good
its ok