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Windows Vista Theme Customization

Martin Brinkmann — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 09:06:48 +0000

Microsoft put a lot of effort into making Windows Vista a visually compelling operating system. The system still has the same Windows Vista theme protections in place that make it impossible to add custom themes to Windows Vista. There is also no easy way to change elements like the boot logo or system icons in Windows Vista.

The Windows Vista theme customization application Vista Visual Master changes that. It is a all in one solution for everyone who wants to customize the Windows Vista theme and appearance. The application can be divided into two sections. The first deals directly with the Windows Vista theme while the second takes care of system settings that relate to the visual appearance of Windows Vista.

One of the most important aspects of Windows Vista theme customization is patching the uxtheme.dll file in Windows Vista to be able to apply custom themes to the operating system. This option is available in Vista Visual Master. The same menu contains an option to change the Windows Vista theme directly to another one.

Other options that relate to the visual appearance of Windows Vista are the abilities to change Windows vista icons, logon pictures and the vista boot screen. All options are easily accessible and there is always an option to restore to defaults with should ease the minds of users who feel uncomfortable about changing system files in Windows Vista.

The second section is just the usual Windows Vista tweaker with the only difference that the available settings relate to visual effects on the system. It is for instance possible to remove icons from the computer deskop, remove shortcut arrows and to disable the changing of wallpapers in Windows Vista.

The main use of the tool is to customize the Windows Vista theme. It works flawlessly and creates backups of the most important files which come in handy if something goes wrong along the way.

Vista Live Shell Pack For Windows XP

Martin Brinkmann — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 08:14:31 +0000

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.

Royal Noir Theme Windows XP

Martin Brinkmann — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 09:16:57 +0000

Users who want to change the Windows XP theme are left with two choices. They can go the official way and use the few official Windows XP themes that have been released by Microsoft or they can patch the uxtheme.dll file to be able to use user created XP themes. The first way is the easier one but limits the themes to a handful while the second requires patching a Windows system file but rewards the user with thousands of Windows XP themes.

The official XP themes have the advantage that they can be used right away. Royal Noir is a Windows XP theme that was discovered about two years ago. It comes as a blue and black theme with great contrasts.

Installation of Windows XP Royal Noir. Just download the Royale Noir package and unpack it on your computer. The contents have to be moved to windows\resources\themes\royal noir. A click on the luna.msstyles file should be located in the royal noir directory will activate the theme and bring the Display Properties to the front.

The default color scheme will be the blue one which will be shown as Royal in the Color Scheme menu. A click on the Color Scheme pulldown menu will display the second option entitled Royal Noir which will change the blue color to black upon selection.

Windows XP Service Pack 3 Uxtheme.dll patch

Martin Brinkmann — Sun, 04 May 2008 15:58:31 +0000

The first operating system that I setup anew on my new computer was Windows XP which was also updated with Service Pack 3. One thing that I noticed when trying to change to my favorite Thallos theme from the default Windows XP theme was that it was not possible because I forgot to patch the file uxtheme.dll which protects the system from third party themes.

The uxtheme.dll patcher that I had installed on my previous system was not working anymore because Microsoft seemed to have replaced the uxtheme.dll file with a newer version which had the result that the patch failed. A quick research on the Internet brought me to Rafael’s website that offered a patched uxtheme.dll that was compatible with the English Windows XP Service Pack 3 final.

I then used the small application Replacer to replace the existing uxtheme.dll in c:\windows\system32 with the patched one. Replacer displays a command window upon execution and all that needs to be done is to drag and drop the original file and then the new file into the window. Everything else will be done by replacer.

I was able to change the theme after the next reboot.

uxtheme.dll Patcher for Windows XP and Vista

Martin Brinkmann — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 15:16:25 +0000

The file uxtheme.dll is a digitally signed file that validates themes during boot and theme installation. It is restricted and usually means that you can only install a handful of Microsoft certified themes. If you want to add and use custom themes in Windows XP or Windows Vista you have to update the file uxtheme.dll. Once the file is patched you can install and use custom themes.

I would like to introduce two methods of patching uxtheme.dll. The first method is automatic but sometimes not working. I would still suggest to use the Uxtheme Multi-patcher first if you use Windows XP or Windows Server 2003. Just unpack and start the application (no installation required) and click on Patch to patch uxtheme.dll. The software checks the operating system and asks if the findings are correct. If the information is correct click OK.

Windows File Protection will kick in which you have to cancel of course. File Protection would otherwise replace the patched uxtheme.dll with the original from the Windows XP CD which would have the result that you would not be able to use custom themes. Once that is done restart the computer once and check if you can add custom themes. If that is possible you have successfully patched uxtheme.dll. If not or if you are using Windows Vista read on.

Windows Vista users or users where the automatic patching failed can replace the file manually instead. They need the application Replacer for it which can be used to replace files with system protection. They also need the patched uxtheme.dll which they can find at Uxtheme Patches. Make sure to download the correct version for your operating system.

Start Replacer and follow the on screen instructions. Begin by dragging and dropping the original uxtheme.dll file which is located in c:\windows\system32 into the program window and hit enter. Then drag and drop the patched dll into the window and hit enter again. Follow the instructions until File Protection kicks in again. Make sure you cancel the file protection window so that the patched file is not replaced with the original one again.

Custom themes can be added after a restart.

5 beautiful visual styles for Windows XP

Martin Brinkmann — Fri, 11 May 2007 11:08:58 +0000

The feature to add your own visual styles to Windows XP is locked by default and you need to replace the original uxtheme.dll with a patched unlocked one to be able to add visual styles to the operating system. Download the patched uxtheme.dll from Softpedia and do the following. Rename the original file which can be found in the system32 folder of your Windows XP installation to uxtheme.dll.old and move the downloaded version into system32. You will have to restart your computer afterwards before the changes are recognized.

Visual Styles can be changed in the Appearance tab in the display properties menu or by double-clicking the *.msstyles file. Using the patched uxtheme.dll gives us an advantage over softwares like theme xp or wincustomize because we do not need to run the software in the background.