Customizing Windows XP SP2 with Visual Styles

Hopefully this will be a quick tutorial walking you through the process of transforming your basic Windows XP "Visual Styles" a.k.a. Shell Themes into something like this Windows Vista like design. It'll take about 10 minutes and it is worth every second.

Gathering your tools and resources

Visit the links below and download a couple things before you start the patching process. It will go smoother that way.

  • uxtheme.dll replacement file. This file will replace an system file; Microsofts attempt to prevent people from creating their own themes. This is effectively the 'patch'.
  • Replacer. A utility which allows you to replace protected system Windows system files.
  • Visual Styles. There are lots to choose from. DeviantArt is the unofficial hub of Visual Style 'skins' in my mind, so that's where I will point you. Download a few that catch your interest.

We've gathered all of the materials, so let's begin.

Patching uxtheme.dll

  1. Extract replacer, and run Replacer.exe.
  2. Drag the ORIGINAL Windows system file located at: C:WINDOWSsystem32uxtheme.dll into the command window and press enter.
  3. At the next prompt drag the REPLACEMENT uxtheme.dll file that your downloaded earlier into the window, and hit enter. Follow the prompts, and Reboot when prompted.
  4. Upon reboot, find the new visual styles that you have download and move them to a fairly permanent place. I suggest making a folder on your C drive called 'themes' C: hemes. Windows will use be using these files to draw its GUI.
  5. To apply a new Visual Style, double click on the .msstyles file usually in the download. You'll be presented with a familiar "Display Settings" screen where you can usually choose from a number of colour options included with the theme.

Hopefully everything goes smoothly for you. I have listed a few of my favourite Visual Styles below, if you find one you like please share it with me, I wouldn't mind a new change of atmosphere. I'm not the author of any of these styles, if you like them leave a note on their respective deviantArt pages.

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