Third party themes, those that change many aspects of the operating system including the system fonts, taskbar, graphics, icons and basically any other element, can only be installed after system files are patched in the operating system. These system files lock the core elements of the operating system so that no unsigned themes can be installed.

The Windows Themes Installer for Windows 7 and Windows Vista changes this. The comfortable software program can be used to install and manage third party themes in the supported operating systems.

The software program will automatically patch the system files that block third party themes from being installed during the theme installation. It comes with an option to restore the original files if the user decides to go back to one of the original themes of the operating system.

New themes can be installed by selecting them from the list of installed themes and clicking on the Apply Theme button. It is furthermore possible to select a theme file from the local computer system with additional options to load a modified explorer.exe, oobeFldr.dll, ExplorerFrame.dll and Shell32.dll. New themes sometimes provide access to these additional files as well. A click on the Install Theme button will install that theme and add it to the list of installed themes in the program.

Windows Theme Installer offers an absolutely easy and foolproof way of installing third party themes in Windows 7 and Windows Vista. Windows users can download the program from The Windows Club website. Windows 7 themes can for instance be found at Deviant Art.

The only way to enable third party theme support in the Windows operating system is to patch system files. The number of files depends largely on the operating system. Windows XP users for example only need to patch one file while Windows Vista and Windows 7 users need to patch three files to be able to add custom Windows themes.

Universal Theme Patcher is the solution for all users. It can patch system files of 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and even those of Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008. The program is fully portable and can be executed right after downloading and unpacking it. Users of 32-bit editions of Windows need to execute UniversalThemePatcher-x86.exe while those that run 64-bit editions need to run UniversalThemePatcher-x64.exe instead.

The Windows theme patcher will display information if files need to be patched on the computer system after selecting the interface language. A click on Yes will lead to a detailed screen that is displaying the system files that lock the custom theme selection in Windows. Information included are the file version, platform, checksum and if the file is patched. Each system file can be patched and restored individually in that menu.

The program will automatically create a backup before patching the system files. Windows Vista and Windows 7 users need to run the application as administrators to be able to patch or restore the system files. The computer system needs to be restarted for the changes to take effect. It is possible to patch silently by using the -silent argument.

It is then possible to add custom themes to the operating system. Take a look at available Windows 7 themes for various Microsoft operating systems for a start.

There is however a second possibility. Third party software that can load themes into Windows Vista. These programs usually patch the files themselves. One of those software programs that can install Vista themes automatically is Style Selector.

Style Selector is a free 200 Kilobyte portable application that runs on 32-bit editions of Windows Vista. New Vista themes have to be moved into the Styles folder. The Vista theme has to make use of a .styles file to be recognized by the software program.

Vista themes that have been moved into the folder are automatically recognized by the application. Selecting the Vista theme in the list of available themes and clicking on the Apply button will load that theme into Windows Vista.

The Startup box can be checked to apply the Vista theme during startup so that the new theme will be available even after a reboot of the system. The same preferences allow to pick a default font and font size which will then be used as the standard font in Windows Vista.

Update: Style Selector is no longer available. The developer website returns an error and no download portal seems to carry the download.

Official themes on the other hand have the advantage of being signed meaning that there is no need to tamper with the uxtheme.dll file that protects the operating system from unofficial themes. Vishal over at Ask VG discovered a new signed Windows XP theme that is also compatible with Windows Server 2003 that can be installed without changing system files.

He discovered the theme in the Windows Embedded Standard CTP Refresh distribution and provided download links to it. The theme is supplied as a self extracting executable that installs the theme in the right location in Windows. The theme can then be selected from the Themes tab in the Display Properties.

The main benefit of this theme is that it is signed. Many users will probably still prefer unsigned themes because of the choice of thousands of themes instead of the handful of signed ones. Take a look at my Windows Vista Theme Customization article for information about applying custom themes to Windows Vista or the Windows XP Theme Royal Noir which is also signed.

One example where taking ownership of files comes in handy is when trying to patch the uxtheme.dll file. Custom themes cannot be applied to Windows Vista without patching that file first and patching the file is only possible with file ownership and the correct user rights. After patching the file users can add and use custom Windows Vista Themes.

Winmatrix forum user XPero wrote a lightweight script that speeds up the process of taking ownership and setting file rights tremendously. All that needs to be done is to execute the Take Ownership application, add the file or files that the user wants ownership of and seize control by pressing the Take Ownership button.

Take Control has a file size of just 160 Kilobytes and works fine only in Windows Vista.