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Geek Culture / Patching Windows XP for a 3rd-Party theme?

Author
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Yodaman Jer
User Banned
Posted: 25th Apr 2009 21:41
Hey all,

back in January there was a thread called Post Your Desktop!, and I learned that a person could changer their Windows theme. I know what I need to do in order to use a 3rd-party theme (have to patch the Uxtheme.dll), I'm just a little apprehensive about it. Is it safe? Will it break my computer? Should I create a back-up of the original uxtheme.dll in case it goes wrong? (I will anyway, because I do that.)

Any advice is appreciated!


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draknir_
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 19th Oct 2006
Location: Netherlands
Posted: 25th Apr 2009 22:37 Edited at: 25th Apr 2009 22:37
You should always make a backup just in case, but it is perfectly safe to patch your uxtheme.dll.
Yodaman Jer
User Banned
Posted: 25th Apr 2009 23:22 Edited at: 25th Apr 2009 23:22
Okay, I tried the Ux Multi-Patcher thing, but it scared me halfway through by saying "ignore all Windows File Protection", and then an error message popped up asking me to put the Windows setup CD in the drive. So I stopped and started looking at other ways to patch the uxtheme.dll and found this on TechRecipe.com:

Quote: "1. Now double click on the replacer file (replacer.cmd)
2. Then it will ask you to drag and drop the original system file you want to replace. So go to the System32 folder and somewhere near the bottom you are going to see the uxtheme.dll file. Drag and drop it into the window.
Note: your computer may have more than 1 uxtheme.dll file but usually the file that you computer is using is the one in the system32 folder. (usually the location for your Uxtheme.dll file is C:WINDOWSsystem32uxtheme.dll)
3. Press Enter
4. Then it will ask you to drag the file you want to replace. Open the folder with the downloaded file and drag and drop the file into replacer.
5. Now it will ask you to confirm that you want to replace the files or not. So double check and then press enter.

Replacer will now swap your original file with the new one. Now restart your computer.

Congratulations you can now use custom msstyle themes on your computer. Which is going to make your computer look super cool!"


Honestly, that sounds a lot easier for me to do. I dunno why, I'd just rather do it that way. I'll get back to you and let you know how it worked!

And btw, my computer is fine. Since I stopped the setup from the Multi-Patcher, it didn't change anything.


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NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 10th Apr 2005
Location: The Fifth Plane of Oblivion
Posted: 25th Apr 2009 23:24
Yes, Windows does that. Just tell it to ignore. It's trying to make sure malware isn't replacing crucial system files. I've always used the Skinny patching tool myself and it works well enough.

Yodaman Jer
User Banned
Posted: 25th Apr 2009 23:27
Okay. I guess I'm just overly paranoid when it comes to error messages saying to ignore file protection.

Thanks for the advice guys!


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Yodaman Jer
User Banned
Posted: 26th Apr 2009 00:00
Alright, it worked perfectly!



Thanks guys!


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NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 10th Apr 2005
Location: The Fifth Plane of Oblivion
Posted: 26th Apr 2009 00:06
Nice. Is that called CrystalXP?

Yodaman Jer
User Banned
Posted: 26th Apr 2009 00:17
It's actually based off the Luna theme that Microsoft used to have. I'm still looking at themes on DevianArt, this was just one I downloaded as a test (although I really do like it, it's like a cross between Vista and XP). It's called Luna Element 5.


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JoelJ
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 8th Sep 2003
Location: UTAH
Posted: 26th Apr 2009 00:20
crystalxp.net or whatever it is has a lot of nice themes as well.

Luna was always the theme that I used when I had XP

Your mother has been erased by a mod because it's larger than 600x120
NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 10th Apr 2005
Location: The Fifth Plane of Oblivion
Posted: 26th Apr 2009 00:23
HE HAS BLITZ3D! KiLL HIM!

Yodaman Jer
User Banned
Posted: 26th Apr 2009 00:30
I knew I should have blurred that.

It's only the demo. I kind of like the language better than DB, but let's not start an argument.


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Venge
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 13th Sep 2006
Location: Iowa
Posted: 26th Apr 2009 00:44 Edited at: 26th Apr 2009 00:44
That's pretty cool. I use Luna theme as well, with the Royale Remixed color scheme. It always kills me when I log onto the school computers and they're running XP with the Classic grey theme.

In the beginning, the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.
bitJericho
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 9th Oct 2002
Location: United States
Posted: 26th Apr 2009 02:24
WARNING: ADULT SITE, NSFW or kids under 18.

http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Desktop_Modding

This will explain a lot (It's all true).

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