The Ultimate Guide to using 3rd party unisgned themes and visual styles on Windows

[safeguy]

Do you want to use unsigned themes and visual styles on Windows? If you do, you have to do these 3 things:

1. You have to patch or replace a file named uxtheme.dll on your computer. This file is what controls the visual styles in Windows.

Usually, what I do or recommend others to do is to use third-party uxtheme patchers that are available on the web....most of them have no problem patching your uxtheme.dll file as long as you make sure you downloaded the right one for your version of Windows.

For newbies, you might not be familiar and might be confused with the vast numbers of patchers out there...if that is the case, I recommend you to use Universal Theme Patcher as it supports Windows XP SP2/SP3, Server 2003, Vista SP1/SP2, Server 2008 and Windows 7. Better still, it can be used in both 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) systems.

Download it from here:
Universal Theme Patcher

From then on, it's easy....all you have to do is to run the EXE file and click on the "Patch" button given for each file....

More details on how to use Universal Theme Patcher here

However, in the rare case where these patchers do not work fine for you (e.g giving errors saying they can't patch your uxtheme.dll file or you still can't use 3rd party themes and styles even after the 'patch'), then do not fret as you can replace your uxtheme.dll file manually.

1. Download pre-patched uxtheme files from here:
Repository for uxtheme patches (WithinWindows)

Make sure you choose the right version for your Windows.

2. Log-in to to your PC with Administrator privileges.

3. Go to C:\Windows\system32\ and find the following three files:

uxtheme.dll
themeui.dll
shsvcs.dll

4. Take Ownership of each of these files. You can do that easily by adding "Take Ownership" to Explorer right-click menu....

Add "Take Ownership" to Explorer Right-Click Menu in Win 7 or Vista (HowToGeek)

5. Rename these original files with another extension (e.g. either .old or .bak)

Examples:

Rename uxtheme.dll to uxtheme.old or uxtheme.bak
Rename themeui.dll to themeui.old or themeui.bak
shsvcs.dll to shsvcs.old or shsvcs.bak

What you are doing here is to back-up these original files (just in case you need them in the future or you want to 'undo' the patch)

6. Copy the downloaded pre-patched files and paste them into C:\Windows\system32\

7. Reboot your PC and you can now start using unsigned themes and visual styles on Windows

2. It's time to download unsigned themes and visual styles for Windows....Well, you can get them at any one of the following sites:

- Deviant Art (My favorite)
- BelchFire
- WinMatrix
- Wincustomize
- WinModify

There are actually a few more sites but I'm not posting the links here as I'm not sure of the reliability of those sites.

3. How to use these themes and visual styles?

After you have download the files to your desktop, unzip them. Drag the unzipped folders into your themes folder located at here:

C:\WINDOWS\Resources\Themes\.

Now, all you have to do is to go into the folder of the downloaded theme and double-click on the file name that ends with .msstyles (this is the visual style) or the one that ends with .theme (this is the entire theme including the wallpaper provided). Select your new theme and click ‘Apply’.

ENJOY your PC's fresh new look!!!

[Ranjan]

Ok.. Thanks safeguy... I'll give it a try..

[safeguy]

Come on guys...it took me some time to write that long 'guide' and only 1 response so far??? Does everyone here know how to do this already??? If that's the case, I guess I've wasted my time lol

[A Guy]

No, you're right, it is a nice piece of work. But yes, I have been doing this one way or the other for quite some time. It didn't used to be this easy. Thanks for the hard work. A Guy

[jurx]

thx! i'm using xp sp2 right now and i was wondering if I would update to sp3 with the patched uxtheme.dll, could it harm my OS/PC???

anyway nice guide!

[hellnoire]

I can't see it being that way myself

[KaYaN]

Already tried..It awesome..

[JayCub]

Thanks Safe guy for taking the time to share this tutorial with the rest of us...always appreciated

[boyzee]

Nice guide ive been doing this for a long time now on my XP machine. Ive had lots of themes like windows 7, OSX etc... I currently have it looking like Ubuntu.