How to: Customize XP's Desktop+bootscreens+more. Use 0 Resources, FREE

[MadSkillzMan]

In this little tutorial, i hope to share with you how to customize XP's desktop for almost FREE, and using next to 0 resources. Also, the boot screen and comming soon, the login screen. The reason i include for FREE, is why pay a few bucks for software that ends up taking up recources, gets outdated, and forcing you to buy more, when a few little manual tweaks, which are legal, can enable you to it all for free, without any of these worries?

I. Visual Styles

Im sure many of us have wanted to fully customize the visual styles of XP other than the Luna Theme or Windows Classic, for free. There are some programs out there that can do that for us, which can be costly and a hog on resources, such as:

Windows Blinds: Ive tried this program. It is nice, uses small .bmps and .gifs to mask buttons and windows in XP. Problem with this is, its a resource hog even on your strongest machines. Plus, it costs.

StyleXP: This program i kind of liked. It applied actual styles to XP,
opposed to the small pictures, and you could easily change your boot screen within it. This thing does take up small resources, and id reccommend it over windows Blinds any day.

What I use: I use a little patcher. It patches uxtheme.dll in winxp, which allows you to install themes to XP. This little tool can be found at:

http://freethemes.forthnet.gr/preview/310804.html

The instructions on tis site forget something ive learned from trial and error, so ill include how i do it.

1. If you going to install SP1, Install it first!. Do this after.
2. Uninstall any version of StyleXP, Windows blinds, or anything similar.
3. Remove any CD's (especially the XP CD) from your drives.
4. Boot up in SAFE MODE.
5. Run the patch. Click "Patch". Ignore any errors you may get. They mean nothing.
6. Reboot in Normal Mode.

Ok so now we have our patch applied. Now to get rid of those ugly XP styles.

Head on over to www.themexp.org

To the left under "Categories" Click on visual styles. Browse through them until you find one you like, then download it. Ok, its going to be a .zip file. You will find a file in there that ends in ".msstyles". Extract all the files (INCLUDING the .msstyles) to C:\Windows\Resources\Themes if it has a folder with it, just place the folder in C:\windows\resources\themes

Now right click on your desktop and click "Properties" on the first screen that says "Themes", click the scroll box. If youve done this correctly, you will now see your new theme listed. Simply click on it, then click apply.

You are now running Non-microsoft themes, WITHOUT taking up resources or using 3rd party apps.

If your style only applies wallpaper, or the taskbar shows up as a different color and resembles win9x/ME, the patch may have not been applied properly.

There are some visual styles on there that replace explorer.exe such as the longhorn themes, and Blackbox, which makes your computer similar to a KDE environment, only all black. Ive never tried these, but when i do i will get back to you on how to add/remove them.

For you people still running style xp, the themes from Themexp.org are intended for StyleXP

ICONS- Some of these come with visual styles. They usually apply themselves when used. I will have more on this later on how to make your own

CURSORS. You can find mouse coursors all over. Download them, place them in a folder that will not get deleted. Go to your control panel and click on mouse. On the tab on the top, click on Pointers. Simply click on "Browse" and find the cursor of your choice.


WINMAC- Alittle tool i found in a PCmagazine CD. This little freeware program can add the Mac bar to the top of your screen. It can hide the taskbar, as well as do most of the othe rmac functions (i think?). Im not a mac user myself, but i have a machine setup using a mac OS style + winmac for my little sisters, since its all they know. They cant seem to find a difference, yet theyre not hardcore mac users, just elementru school students.

WinMac can be found here : http://winmac.emuunlim.com/
Note: The screenshots show it skinning the whole OS. From my experiences, it doesnt do such a thing. But thats ok, thats what the Uxtheme.dll hack is for.

II. Bootscreens

Im sure if we all think back to win9x-ME, Changing your bootscreen was a peice of cake. Just rename Logo.sys to Logo.bmp and have fun in paint. But in win XP/2k this isnt as easy. I have not tested this on 2k however, so im only sure its works on XP 100%. In order to get a new bootscreen, you have to modify NTOSKRNL.EXE. The slightest mistake can either render your system unusable, or the damaged ntoskrnl will be replaced by the old one. Again, if your going to install service pack 1 DO THIS FIRST.

Head on over to: http://www.bootxp.net/

Download BOOTXP. Bootxp isnt completely free, you can run it without a liscense, but a little box in the corner will remain on your bootscreens saying "BootXP" and/or the price. This isnt such a big deal and the program isnt THAT expensive. So if you like it, id reccommend buying it.

When you first start BootXp, you will receive a message asking you which OS line to modify. For you single OS people this is no big deal. Just click ok. For us dual boot people, make sure you click on XP and NOT linux or win9x.It will say it has made a copy of the boot.ini. Dont freak out this is normal.

Go back to www.themexp.org and look for Bootscreens.

Download one of your choice.

1. Extract the .zip to a directory.
2. Open up bootxp.
3. Drag the .bmp of your choice to the window titled "Bootscreens". Your .bmp should now show up in the left window.
4. You can also select an alternate progress bar. Usually these come in the .zip files. Browse to find the progress bar of your choice and click OK.
5. Click preview bootscreen. If youve done this correctly, you will now see a small screen with your bitmap and a progress bar scrolling. This is how your machine will appear at the next startup.

IMPORTANT!!!

If you dont listen and try to install SP1 after this, it WILL NOT INSTALL. What you will have to do is go to C:\ and find files named BOOT.BXP. and BOOT.INI Swap the filename extensions. This will also undo your modifyed bootscreens.

Basically here, your bringing your old boot.ini back to life by renaming boot.bxp to boot.ini, IE BOOT.BXP--> BOOT.INI

Also, if for some reason you need to run a windows repair, or upgrade, you MUST rename the file extensions. If you dont, your system will get so far within the process, and just blank out. Booting will be no option and you will have to reformat (i found this out the hard way myself).

If this happens to you, depending on how far the process got, you may be able to recover it within the recovery console on the XP CD.

III. Login Screens

OK, this can be alittle scary. In my experiences, ive had NO problems.

Go over here and download this free utility:
http://logonloader.danielmilner.com/download.php

The author of this program recommends the following places to get your login screens:

http://logonloader.danielmilner.com/get_logon_screens.php

Now i got sucked in and the one login screen i downloaded (Led Zeppelin) had SaveNow and some other spyware....so i had to spybot that out. The free utility does NOT have spyware.

Its rather simple. Download and unzip the login of your choice. To make things easy, extract it to C:\WINDOWS\Resources.

Open up Longin loader, click Set Login screen, browse to the .exe of your choice, and there you go.


IV. Fonts

Windows does not come with enough fonts. That simple.
If you go to

www.fontface.com
www.highfonts.com

you can find many free fonts for download. Or google it, but many font

places ask for money/memberships, when u can find the same fonts for free.

Fonts usually come in .zip files as well. Usually, dont bother extracting these. Theres usually junk text files or other folders in them. Double click on the .zip, find your font. It will be titled fontname.ttf. Cut and paste the font from the .zip to C:\WINDOWS\FONTS . do NOT add any subfolders to this, because it doesnt always work out.

EDIT: I take that back. Ive noticed after having thousands of fonts, xp boots SLOW!. ive read placing the fonts in a folder !=C/windows/fonts, then a shortcut to that folder in C;win, fonts, will allow u to use the fonts in multimedia apps, but not slow ur comp down.



Well i hope this little tutorial has helped you to mod your XP desktop to your liking. I will include login screens, icons, and how to make your own bootscreens, icons, themes, cursors, and login screens once i learn the experience. If i have made any mistakes, or someone has something theyd like to add please correct me, or add what you like. Any requests on desktop software is welcome too. Im only one pereson, i dont know it all.

[UberBlue]

STICKY!!! STICKY!!! STICKY!!!

And here's a guide for the boot screen hack. (http://www.overclockersclub.com/guides/hackxpbootscreen.php)

[abitavenger]

I smell something funny? Is it... I think it is! ITS STICKYNESS!!!

great work

abitavenger

[MadSkillzMan]

lol thank you all

[AlMalki]

Hi ...

its really strong ways to customize your WinXP ...
I worked on StyleXP .... its gooooooooooooooooooood very good and strong .. also bootxp for bootscreens ...

so all I can say it now is :

thanks thanks thanks ... and thanks :D

really need to STICKY




I saved the supject in my PC

[JigPu]

I still love my Windowblinds, but I have to hand it to you for the awesome how to :)

There's a free program that's a LOT harder to use then BootXP (called Resource Hacker) but if people don't like the idea of it screwing with their art, they can give it a very careful try.

STICKY!!! :)
JigPu

[MadSkillzMan]

wow....yea ive messed with resource hacker....lol little different....i just got another PC for my room and was forced to put win98 on it due a video editing card i have...ive heard of customizing 9x machines in similar ways, so ill work on this as well..

[MadSkillzMan]

OK, as promised....

ICONS!

Well, first off, you can download many icon themes and apply them yourself. Some places i like are
http://www.topicons.com/
http://www.iconarchive.com/

Pc World and Tech TV also have many free sets for download.

Now, for some of us premade icons are ok. But for those who want to COMPLETELY customize your desktop, read on.

Go over to

http://www.freewarefiles.com/programs.php?programID=3156&categoryid=2&subcategoryid=4

and download this program. Yes, it is a 100% free icon editor. It doesnt have all those fancy effects like some of the costly ones, but honestly, who needs dithering and blending and ability to apply photoshop filters on something the size of a coin?

Its pretty self explanatory, you draw your icon in the grid provided. Once your satisfyed with your icon, you can save it. This saves it as a ".ico" extension. But if for some reason you want it for other purposes, you can export as a .gif or .bmp.

Now what about grabbing part of a .bmp thats already made? This little tool here: http://www.zdnetindia.com/downloads/info/2842505.html

I love this program. VERY tiny, no need to install. I just run it from a .zip folder on my zip drive. It will allow you to take small snapshots from your existing .bmp's. Keep in mind your limited to 256 Colors, so if its an actual photo it may be quite distorted.

Basically, how you do it is, move the little square over the part of the picture you like, and click. It will now be still. Go up to FILE and click save. It will automatically set the selected region as a .ico.

Alright so now youve made your icons in either program, and you want to apply them right? Well, first, we'll do the easy ones.

SHORTCUTS: Right click on the shortcut of your choice
1. Click on the Shortcut tab, to the right of general if not already selected
2. Click "Change Icon"
3. Browse to where you have saved your icons from the program.
4. Double click on it. It will now show up in the box below. Click on it and click apply. Your shortcut icon is now changed.


SYSTEM ICONS:

1. Right click anywhere on your desktop and click Properties
2. Click the Destop Tab next to themes
3. On the bottom left, click on Customize Desktop
4. Click on the icon you wish to change, then click "Change Icon".
5. Browse to where you saved your icon, double click, and you now have changed your system icon.

If you mess it up or wish to go back, simply click "Restore to default"


Hope this part helps!

[MadSkillzMan]

OK its been awhile, ive been really busy to sit down and just play with XP. Been learning linux lately, M$ isnt my friend. Im learning reshack right now though. But a few friends of mine still dont know how to customize the boot screen in win9x/ME. So for them, and others running win9x/ME here it is:

I beleive its in C:\Windows\Sytem, if not do a search for the file logo.sys and make a copy of it. Rename your copy to logo.bmp and open it in your favorite photo editor. The dimensions are 640x480 in 256 colors. The bottom set of 5 (i think it might be higher) pixels is set to scroll. So what ever you put on the bottom will scroll upon boot.

Once you have edited this bitmap to your liking, rename it back to logo.sys. Now, swap your edited logo.sys with the original logo.sys and there you go, next time you boot, your moded boot screen will be what you want.

Simple huh?

Note: for you people dual booting with linux, it is in my experience (especially with knoppix and mandrake), it will automatically see logo.sys as an image without changing the extension. I reccommend changing it anyways to keep on the safe side. Also, i prefer to use the gimp when toying with this. Some people go overkill and use photoshop, Paint Shop Pro and such. Just keep in mind, its 256 colors, so any image you insert will have distorted colors.

Hopefully next post will be RESHACK.

[MadSkillzMan]

uxtheme.dll for XP SP2!

Ok guys, sorry for the long time in between. I know many of you want to try xp sp2, and find it fixes our little uxtheme.dll hack. Well im here to correct that.
1. Make sure you already installed SP2
2. Go here and download the NEW uxtheme.dll.
http://www.tcmagazine.net/downloadget.php?id=56&file=1&evp=58fed8e77f9276466ed31d9991d1c383

Its a .rar, so you need winrar or winace...etc..

3.Extract it to a temporary directory and rename it from uxtheme.dll TO uxtheme1.dll
4. Copy uxtheme1.dll to C:\Windows\system32

Ok heres the tricky part. We have to boot into the recovery console of the windows XP CD.

5. Insert your windows XP CD, and reboot your computer. Make sure your configured to boot from CDROM. Once you boot into the windows setup, you will be able to choose "Repair an existing installation with recovery console". You press R to get here. So do so.

You will be thrown to a black screen similar to DOS. You will then have to choose which OS, usually its 1., but those of us multibooting have to choose the correct OS.

By NO MEANS do most of the DOS commands work here. DONT MESS AROUND. ONLY follow my steps.
6. At the C:\WINDOWS> type CD system32. This should put you into the folder of C:\windows\system32
7. at the C:\WINDOWS\system32> type ren uxtheme.dll uxthemeA.dll
it might ask a yes or no or confirmation. Tell it yes.
8. At the C:\WINDOWS\system32> , type ren uxtheme1.dll uxtheme.dll

9. At the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 type EXIT. This will reboot your computer.

Now just reapply your previous themes and there you go!

PM if i have the wrong syntax or anything ill correct it.

[Antillian]

AWESOME tutorial! gets my vote for a sticky :D

[Xenocide]

STICKY ACTION REQUIRED!

im bookmarking this too!!

[MadSkillzMan]

Mac OSX Dock!

I know for linux we have Superkaramba and plugins to get the Mac OSX dock. I found a version for windows XP. Its in its early development, and has some issues, but its pretty good. It can even notify you when u get mail in you POP3 account, which i find very useful.

http://www.mobydock.com/

i will agree that the aqua theme is more appealing to the eye. Im just too used to the startup bar to keep with Winmac only. If mac had a dark scheme, like my eshock theme i have now, id definently stick with it.

And now with that idea i may just make my own.

Glad to help you out guys!


EDIT: Take a look above, ive added to the login screens.


I need your opinions!

Ive found something called LiteStep. Completely GPL liscensing. What it does is, replaces eplorer.exe. Basically its a bunch of new shells for windows. Its quite complicated however, but once i learn it i will try my best to teach you guys how to use it. The best thing is, it runs on all win platforms. The other thing is, your windows will remain the same from explorer.exe, but i beleive these can be skinned still the old way.

Theres another one i found called serenade. It looks less complicated and is also a shell replacement.
Serenade example:
http://www.customize.org/details/29272

lightstep example
http://www.customize.org/list/ls/30/5/

Talisman was the 3rd shell extension or replacement i found....check it out here
http://www.customize.org/list/talisman

I was gonna go litestep, simply because thats the first one i saw and you can create your own...but then i saw these other ones. The thing here is, you are going WAY farther than just skinning it. Thing about litestep i liked was you could create your own functions, actions and controls. These others are simpler to install though, but i am not as familiar with them as i am litestep.

Gimme some feedback guys. Thanx in advance.

[stan03]

ya can this be stickied, cause i was actually looking for this a while back and couldn't find it cause i suck at using the search button :(

[zip22]

thanks for the guide, it was very helpfull, espescially the service pack 2 thing.

i was trying to modify my boot screen the hard way, by modifying ntoskrnl.exe manually ( i saw this on tech tv: http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/windowstips/story/0,24330,3650437,00.html), but my modified bootscreen never appears.
i was thinking it probably has something to do with me using service pack 2. the menu to choose which OS to use apears and i choose my modified one, but it seems to try it, then it goes to the default one. you seem to be getting pretty far into this UI stuff, so i was wondering if you had any tips on how to modify the boot screen manually.

do the explorer.exe replacements use up more resources? if it does, ill probably jsut stick with a modified theme.

i have been using the mobydock program, and it gets errors frequently, but other than the frequent problems, it seems to function nicely, and would be exactly what i was looking for.

[MadSkillzMan]

hmm...well i do not know at this time if it uses more resources....i will have that info for you later tonite hopefully, as i am going to try out litestep. If it does i dont think ill go too deeply into it, since this is for 0resource useage, which i realize ive broken already with WinMac, the dock bar, and any external processes. I have used shell replacements, and havent seen any slowdown. Having our powerful rigs i dont think were going to notice any problems. If you can run the luna theme fine, then it seems these replacements will work nicely. If your trying to cram XP on a 200mhz with 64megs of ram, dont even bother lol

As for your SP2 problem, first off, why do you want to edit it manually? Just wondering. Everyone has their own way. Also, it must be working to an extent if your not getting BSOD right away. I assume it is SP2 right now, so i will work on that. The reason i dont mess with doing it manually, is because i run a dually and my NTOSKRNL.exe is different from single CPU machines, so it must be compiled just right. Ive messed it up before through reshack, and ended up with an unbootable system on both my dually and test rigs. I then end up going thru recovery console and restoring my original ntoskrnl.exe, and in some cases found the machine still wont function. The reason i guess is because of XPs safety feature, that if a major file is deleted, it will regenerate itself.

And just a dumb idea, u try the other OS on the OS boot choice menu? Once in a while XP confuses it. If you get it right on the other OS boot, turn off the boot menu. If you need to know taht get back to me ill walk ya thru it gladly.

Personally i dont have SP2 installed on my main rig. A little girl asked me to fix her laptop she got for free (1.6 ghz p4...its nuts!!!) and im not going to be able to give it back for awhile since she moved. So i installed SP2 on there for best security. Ill give the bootscreen a test on there though. It wouldnt surprise me if that is the problem, being sp2. If it is, im SURE ill find a way around it.

Hah, ive got to say i am flattered with the requests for a sticky. I figured people may have messed with this before and it would be either shot down or moved to the windows tweak section. I just started it because people post things alot of times just to help otherse, and i wanted to do the same. Also so i could send my freinds to a simple online tutorial. Ill get back to you guys on litestep tonite.

[zip22]

i also tried downloading and using the custom boot screens on themexp.org. they come with a modified ntoskrnl.exe which you use the same way as i was trying to do. i have only tried with 1 of them so far, and instead of just going back to the default, it says something about NTfs.exe not being installed.

im not sure why it wouldnt work the way i did it above, since i took a copy of the current ntoskrnl.exe, changed the bitmaps, and made a new one.

thanks for the help.

[MadSkillzMan]

hah oh im not done zip22 ill figure it out. Why are you doing it manually though? just not wanting to install a 3rd party app? Using the app is usually better since it almost always creates the correct Ntoskrnl.exe , where as compiling it could have problems.

[zip22]

yeah, i dont like having a bunch of apps, but if i cant get it to work this way, then i might go with one of them

edit: also, i dont really wanna pay for stuff

[MadSkillzMan]

totally understand man. But, i do use all free apps. Those links above SHOULD all still be free. If the one you are looking for isnt, then let me know i will update them.

I used litestep....it looks really nice, but im having problems. I think the only reason im having issues is because im a dual monitor person as well, and since my vision is poor and messed up, having my primary monitor on the right is a must....and litestep only supports it on the left...i

But for all you single monitor people, it truly is nice. I suggest you check it out. If you dont like it you can easily revert back to explorer.exe

Once i figure out the multimonitor scripting i will post it. It must work perfectly for me under all conditions before i release it to you guys.

[Sophisticated]

Very Informational vote for STICKY!!

[germanjulian]

How can you say that it takes no resources!?!?

any theme in xp uses resources! why do you think some themes are 3MB in size and some are 6MB in size? windows classic style doesnt use a theme so you save resources. yes you save about 4MB or ram and <<1% cpu time but hey you are using Resources.

also to note is that you didnt touch up on the topic of dll replacement to replace all the icosn in windows.
those icon replacement programd do not replace all icons and do not work 100%. the only way to get cool icons is to replace about 15 dll files in windows. (NOT EASY SAFE MODE REPLACE DLL FILES IN SYSTEM HIDDEN FILES ECT).

http://www.jonmega.com/iceman/sysfiles/
http://www.jonmega.com/iceman/sysfiles/images/mycomputer.jpg
yes thats winxp. he is using a 3d part app which creates a finder taskbar and he is hiding his windows taskbar. and yes you can emulate the osx dock on windows xp too. I have all done it.

there are quiete a few packs like this available. I had one which uses all the linux icons! it was very nice.however when you run windows update half the files get replaced again by windows. so you have some icons which are the dll files you downloaded and some which are back to windows normal.

Guys trust me all the theme's, cursors, 3dpart appz, dll replacement, extra fonts etc just hog up your system.

disable the theme service in winxp services save some resources and make sure you select windows classic style.

Every time I use a theme I go back to windows classic after a few weeks cause it is the best!

PS: yes I know it looks nicer but it isnt nicer to use!!! and when you hit windows update.... uhhh

[JigPu]

Originally posted by MadSkillzMan
Ive found something called LiteStep. Completely GPL liscensing. What it does is, replaces eplorer.exe. Basically its a bunch of new shells for windows. Its quite complicated however, but once i learn it i will try my best to teach you guys how to use it. The best thing is, it runs on all win platforms. The other thing is, your windows will remain the same from explorer.exe, but i beleive these can be skinned still the old way.

I was gonna go litestep, simply because thats the first one i saw and you can create your own...but then i saw these other ones. The thing here is, you are going WAY farther than just skinning it. Thing about litestep i liked was you could create your own functions, actions and controls. These others are simpler to install though, but i am not as familiar with them as i am litestep.
Wow, Litestep sure has evolved in the prettieness scale since I last saw it (was using Win98 at the time)!!

Litestep is a great shell replacement, but from my experience it is murder to tweak. The last time I had it, it seemed like every configuration file for it (to set up shortcuts, wallpapers, etc) was a plain old text file with no GUI options.

I'll be checking out the others you listed since they look nice as well, and are hopefully more friendly to tweak :)
JigPu

[Cerberus2k7]

Originally posted by germanjulian
Every time I use a theme I go back to windows classic after a few weeks cause it is the best!

haha, that's exactly what I do. :D

Actually fubared myself with the icon packer because it erased my stock windows Icons with I installed it, so when I un-installed it, it gave me the unknown filetype pic :mad:

[Vrykyl]

MadSkillzMan - great stuff!!! However I was wondering if you could tell me how, once I have a theme for windows installed I can edit it if theres stuff i dont like? iv got a really nice one but the start menu highlighting sucks - so i wana change it if thats possible?
Also, i downloaded bootxp and a nice new boot screen, but wwhen i installed it and restarted my pc it wouldnt come up properly - the new screen came up - but in completely the wrong colors?? I read in bootxp that it isnt compatible with HT p4s....
Thanks

[MadSkillzMan]

well it showing up in the wrong colors could be taht the person used possibly a full color pallete, when the xp boot screen only supports 256colors. With it not being compatable with HT CPU's, id say it working for you. If it wasnt, you would either A. Get the BSOD upon startup, or B. Just revert back to default XP boot theme. BootXp spits out a modified ntoskrnl.exe file (or something similar to taht name i cant think right now) and that is based on your CPU types. I beleive bootxp would insert a ntoskrnl.exe file for dual cpus for you HT people.

If you have SP2 installed that could be the issue. I hear people having problems with it. I have not gotten it on my main rig myself, since its fairly new and id like to let the others deal with it as well as see how my test rigs deal with it.

As for your highlighting, im digging around in appearance properties. I KNOW for a fact that the past windows versions would allow you to alter the color of pretty much anything, including the highlight of the start menu. For some reason i dont see it in winxp.

You can alter the colors of selected items, fonts and such if you right click your desktop, and go Properties/Appearance/Advanced
and you can play with that stuff.

Ive never run into that problem, i guess ill have to investigate it. There is a way to modify your themes, however its only a trial program from TGT soft called StyleBuilder

http://www.tgtsoft.com/download.php

Ive used it and its quite time consuming. I am hoping, and i will try to find out tmr if the selection color can be fixed with reshack. I wouldnt doubt it.


any theme in xp uses resources! why do you think some themes are 3MB in size and some are 6MB in size? windows classic style doesnt use a theme so you save resources. yes you save about 4MB or ram and <<1% cpu time but hey you are using Resources.

OK i guess i stand corrected. Yes, if you disable the visual themes you will probably notice a small difference. With most of us running CPUs <1ghz and a ton of ram, it shouldnt bother us. But hes right. Actually the WinMac and DockBar will take a few megs but its small. So i guess that part doesnt agree with the title 100% but u guys using them, have you noticed any lag from these applications? probably not.


also to note is that you didnt touch up on the topic of dll replacement to replace all the icosn in windows.

Care to elaborate alittle more? i was unaware of this method of replacing the .dlls. Ill gladly look into it. But if its unsafe and complicated and gets reset, why not just manually install the icons?

Also i notice u have a drive in there titled mac os9. Do you have some sort of emulator or just messing around with the name? Im interested in mulitplatform and wanting to learn mac.

As for litestep, yes its very complicated! And it would have to be set custom by each user most probably. Im a dual monitor person and its aggervating!

[TC]

I've tried this out, but unfortunately it only seems to work with a handful of themes available at that site. Most of them I've downloaded and copied over to the themes folder, only to find they don't show up in the list of available themes. Most of those do say that they require one of those programs you mentioned in your first post. Is there some way around that? I've also noticed some of the themes show new toolbars in their screenshots, but I can't figure out how to activate them. Most of them look like Longhorn toolbars, so maybe the screen shots are actually of the real beta, not a custom theme in xp.

[Stiffler69]

Originally posted by TC
I've tried this out, but unfortunately it only seems to work with a handful of themes available at that site. Most of them I've downloaded and copied over to the themes folder, only to find they don't show up in the list of available themes. Most of those do say that they require one of those programs you mentioned in your first post. Is there some way around that? I've also noticed some of the themes show new toolbars in their screenshots, but I can't figure out how to activate them. Most of them look like Longhorn toolbars, so maybe the screen shots are actually of the real beta, not a custom theme in xp.


yea same here man, what u have to do is follow all his steps and then go to Appearance and find the theme in there and hit apply, thats how it works for me it doesnt show up in Themes for me either.

[Vrykyl]

TC - the progam in question that emualtes the new sidebars in longhorn but for winxp is called - SmartBarXP BETA4.4
download it here - http://www.smartbarxp.com/cgi-bin/main.cgi?parent=main&display=news
There are quite a few skins there for it and its fully customisable - you can even move all the taskbar items and the start menu into it and then hide the taskbar :D

Stiffler69 - that happened to me too - did you patch the dll in safe mode - and did you get the right one for your service pack? also, if you install a lot of themes they dont all show up in the settings -> appearance list....go to the folder the themes are in and double click the theme file and press ok! see if that helps

[TC]

The problem I've had is the themes that don't show up don't have a name.theme file in the themes directory like the others do.

[ToiletDuck]

STICKY and move th ICONS part up top!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[stan03]

TC did you get it working? if you did i may try this...

[TC]

Yeah I *think* it's giving me more options under the appearance tab.

[MadSkillzMan]

TC - the progam in question that emualtes the new sidebars in longhorn but for winxp is called - SmartBarXP BETA4.4

thank you for adding that. The ones i saw were all shell replacements which can get messy.


Your problem with them not showing up....let me think here....

Ok, the Name.Theme should refer to a folder. Im sure in the resource folder you see one that says "Luna.theme" and then there is a folder titled luna. Inside luna there is a Shell folder, and then a Luna.Msstyles.

You should have your .theme outside of any folders and in resources, and the rest of the files go in a folder within resources.

for example, my favorite theme is the Eshock. within C:\Windows\Resources there is a bare files called ESHOCK.Theme. An there is a folder in there simply called ESHOCK.

Anything that ends in .msstyles and has no .theme wont work unless u stick it in a sub folder. And sometimes then it doesnt work. Ive noticed some themes on that site do that alot.

I hope that helps or partially solves your problem.

Are you sure you didnt download a windows blinds theme?

[TC]

I'm not sure what a "blinds" theme is - I just bought XP on Saturday so this is the first time I've had a chance to play with the themes. The ones I had trouble with were packed as executables that created sub folders and placed the files automatically. I looked around for a file ending in .theme for those but couldn't locate any. Like you said the ones that work have a .theme file in the theme directory. The others just create some folders, which oddly don't have any files in theme - not even hidden files. I'm playing with the OS X icons now - boy that's a royal pain to replace all those dlls. I think I'm going to wipe xp and setup dual boot with 2k so I can copy all of them over at one time while booted into 2k.

[MadSkillzMan]

u can replace the .dlls through the recovery console. Its similar to dos.

Basically you insert your xp CD before boot, and press R. It will thro u to a similar DOS prompt. I would suggest moving the .dlls to your windows/system32 directoy, but with a name of like name.dll1 and just rename them.

Ive yet to screw with these.

As for your .exe files, i know what your talking about. That also comes with spyware. I really dont know why theyre doing that i havent gotten them to work myself.

[MadSkillzMan]

M$ Included a way to change interfaces!

If you're running Windows NT 5.x (Windows 2000 or XP) , go to the RUN dialog box on the start menu and type GPEDIT.MSC
Find your way over to User Configuration\Administrative Templates\System

Check out the 'Custom User Interface.' This setting lets you change your Windows shell. Click Enable, and then in the box below, insert the COMPLETE patch of the file including file extension.


I got this from a website, so i must be kind and state that:

We found out from Shelfront, which, according to Rootrider, "found out .... from LS2K, which found out about this from Desktopian.org, which in turn found out from Ephedrine.

I will send u to this site. It has MANY shell replcements. Many are designed to be light on windows, so if you dont mind an ugly system check this out. There is far too many shells for me to test them all.

http://shellcity.net/content10.htm

I only quoted that above, since i know most of you wont read all the way down to catch that.

[TC]

Good point - totally forgot about the recovery console.

[Vrykyl]

Microsofts free Powertoys tools (particularly TweakUI) are also great wincustomisation tools - they let you take the recycle bin off the desktop and take things out of the control panel list to name but a few....

[MadSkillzMan]

WINDOW TRANSPARENCY

You linux users (like me) probably like the fact you can have transparent windows. We can have them now in XP.

http://www.softpedia.com/public/cat/9/6/9-6-157.shtml

Ok, this does take resources, but hey, transparent windows.

Sidebar
This i really like, its basically to me the longhorn dock. It seems easier on the system than the longhorn conversion packs. It has support for MBM5, Winamp, some system monitors..i really like it.

http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/SmartBar_XP__BETA-Download-15077.html

[mbentley]

link for the sp2 download of the dll seems to be dead...

[PhobMX]

link for the sp2 download of the dll seems to be dead...


and yet to be replaced... I NEED IT BADLY

why didnt this made to stick anyway

[PhobMX]

uxtheme.dll for XP SP2!

Ok guys, sorry for the long time in between. I know many of you want to try xp sp2, and find it fixes our little uxtheme.dll hack. Well im here to correct that.
1. Make sure you already installed SP2
2. Go here and download the NEW uxtheme.dll.
http://www.tcmagazine.net/downloadget.php?id=56&file=1&evp=58fed8e77f9276466ed31d9991d1c383

Its a .rar, so you need winrar or winace...etc..

3.Extract it to a temporary directory and rename it from uxtheme.dll TO uxtheme1.dll
4. Copy uxtheme1.dll to C:\Windows\system32

Ok heres the tricky part. We have to boot into the recovery console of the windows XP CD.

5. Insert your windows XP CD, and reboot your computer. Make sure your configured to boot from CDROM. Once you boot into the windows setup, you will be able to choose "Repair an existing installation with recovery console". You press R to get here. So do so.

You will be thrown to a black screen similar to DOS. You will then have to choose which OS, usually its 1., but those of us multibooting have to choose the correct OS.

By NO MEANS do most of the DOS commands work here. DONT MESS AROUND. ONLY follow my steps.
6. At the C:\WINDOWS> type CD system32. This should put you into the folder of C:\windows\system32
7. at the C:\WINDOWS\system32> type ren uxtheme.dll uxthemeA.dll
it might ask a yes or no or confirmation. Tell it yes.
8. At the C:\WINDOWS\system32> , type ren uxtheme1.dll uxtheme.dll

9. At the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 type EXIT. This will reboot your computer.

Now just reapply your previous themes and there you go!

PM if i have the wrong syntax or anything ill correct it.

alrighty, its available here for anybody interested

http://www.softpedia.com/public/cat/9/3/9-3-14.shtml

[MadSkillzMan]

jeez it keeps changin! Thanks for the find PhotoMX

[PhobMX]

ive tested the stuff myself and all i can say is:

THNX THNX THNX MadSkillzMan...

I love this black theme i found, its called "Desiny" for anybody interested...

[MadSkillzMan]

Ur welcome phobmx..lol...im STILL sending people to this thread that arent on the forums...doesnt surprise me u guys still dig it up. glad ya do.

Id like to EMPHASISE!

The packages on Themexp.org, TRY to get the .zip files only...the .exe's contain TONS of spyware!...what i did, was started alittle folder on my D: drive, titled it CUSTOMIZE, and just made 1 big folder of al my themes...that way, when windows decided to be a jerk and require a reinstall, i just copy the files over...no spyware, no buggy loaders..hmm...getting an idea for a program..

[PhobMX]

Ur welcome phobmx..lol...im STILL sending people to this thread that arent on the forums...doesnt surprise me u guys still dig it up. glad ya do.

Id like to EMPHASISE!

The packages on Themexp.org, TRY to get the .zip files only...the .exe's contain TONS of spyware!...what i did, was started alittle folder on my D: drive, titled it CUSTOMIZE, and just made 1 big folder of al my themes...that way, when windows decided to be a jerk and require a reinstall, i just copy the files over...no spyware, no buggy loaders..hmm...getting an idea for a program..

the destiny theme im using was extracted from an exe, i didnt get any spyware from it whatsoever... but good to know

EDIT: OMG LOL... I downloaded a rammstein screensaver from themexp.org also and it was the perfect example of what madskillz said....

it had like 5 different spyware programs in it, thank god i had ad-watch up and running and blocked all the stuff, im currently uninstalling all the crap... in the end what matters is the scr file...

so in short, be sure you have some sort of tsr spyware detection when you feel like using and exe. As my experience says, some are legit, some are not, but if you are willing to take the risk to block the spyware (as i did) you get your stuff and fool the spyware lameness

[MadSkillzMan]

i use a combo of adaware pro and spybot S&D....even if u click NO THANKS it loads u up..friend of mine had 30 objects after one theme install...but, if u do as i suggested, and back them up, next windows install ull be fine

Also, a note on fonts....i have well over 2,000 fonts on my PC...it takes a LONG time to boot it..like bout 3 minutes....i heard, if u place ur fonts in a folder within the fonts, OR, make a shortcut in your C:/windows/fonts, u can still ahve use of them in multimedia progs.....

Now, i have not tested this, YET, but xp is aggervating me like always..a format is comming, so if anyone can vouch for that, lemme know..this works with macs....its how i got the idea...in macs, place them in "My Briefcase "(os9.2)...and u can still use em, but wont slow down ur mac.

[PhobMX]

i use a combo of adaware pro and spybot S&D....even if u click NO THANKS it loads u up..friend of mine had 30 objects after one theme install...but, if u do as i suggested, and back them up, next windows install ull be fine

Also, a note on fonts....i have well over 2,000 fonts on my PC...it takes a LONG time to boot it..like bout 3 minutes....i heard, if u place ur fonts in a folder within the fonts, OR, make a shortcut in your C:/windows/fonts, u can still ahve use of them in multimedia progs.....

Now, i have not tested this, YET, but xp is aggervating me like always..a format is comming, so if anyone can vouch for that, lemme know..this works with macs....its how i got the idea...in macs, place them in "My Briefcase "(os9.2)...and u can still use em, but wont slow down ur mac.

alrighty, is there a way to find "sound combos"? this desktop theme is kewl, but id also like some audio for the events.

btw, after i scanned, i had 36new spyware objects... but the rammstein screensaver is so cool it was worth the risk. anyhow my comp is clean right now and i have the saver, i just kept the scr file and a mdb file along with it, works the same without spyware :D

[MadSkillzMan]

u know, even after i googled it i cant find ne pure sound sites for it...some themes come with sounds, like this Cradle Of Filth one i used to have..it jsut got ANNOYING THO...EVERYTHING had a sound.

I can post how to add your own sounds if that would suffice... hmm..maybe i should redo this thread with pictures...i found a GREAT hoster...said to put an end to photobucket..jsut cant remembe the name..

[Labotomy Jack]

Just want to say thanks for this thread. I was actually searching for opinions on stylexp vs windowsblinds as I was gonna shell out $20 on one of them. Just ran the patch with the SP2 .dll and immediately had access to all of the themes I had installed from my trial period of stylexp -- and no stylexp service slowing done my boot times :attn:

[MadSkillzMan]

well as old as it is im really glad its still helping you guys out

[quiksilver316]

I have a little problem going on here. I have SP2 installed and renamed all the .dll files but when I go to display property and look in Themes they are never in there but when I go to the Appearance tab and look in Windows and Buttons the theme is there.

Can somebody please help me so I don't have to have theme without doing it manually.

[MadSkillzMan]

i had a similar problem. do a search, make sure u UNHIDE all HIDDEN and SYSTEM files.
(Tools/Foler options/) SP2 installs a backup of the uxtheme.dll. find them all, and rename them to Uxtheme.dl1, cuz sometimes windows CAN rename the uxtheme.bak file.

u will find one i beleive in a backup folder and/or sp2 folder (i dont use SP2, too many problems)

Basically what happens now is, windows sees the hacked Uxtheme, and automatically replaces it with the one in the backup folder, which is ALSO the hacked one so its forced to live with it.

by rights, one should be able to do a splitstream CD with the hacked UXtheme and themes already included on there (dont ask me how ive never done a splitstream CD)

hope that helps quicksilver.

[quiksilver316]

Thanks alot Madman. :clap: That was just what I needed. :santa:

[PhobMX]

i cant believe this aint a sticky, this makes my whole windows xp experience "non standard" and enjoyful. it finaly makes my puter feel special on something rather than just speed hehehe

[MadSkillzMan]

i think the mod's would be alitttle more enclined if i had illustrated the tips..which i will get to eventually ...justa pain cuz ATM i have 3 monitors, so all the images will need to be either resized or edited in some way

EDIT: i wonder if this has upped the traffic on the "post your desktop" thread

[cornbread]

Linky for the .dll file is dead :)

[Blackmage]

Man this Worked Great for me Thanks looking for a Back Ground!

[Woozy]

Here is a nice website. Don't know if it was posted above. Click on me (http://www.wincustomize.com/index.aspx?u=0) :beer:

[MadSkillzMan]

Im looking into something simpler than litestep, basically turns ur wallpaper into a flash file. Imagine the possabilites

[Gnufsh]

Im looking into something simpler than litestep, basically turns ur wallpaper into a flash file. Imagine the possabilites
Umm... flash ads on the desktop?

[MadSkillzMan]

not ads

Like you create a page in flash MX, and that becomes your wallpaper. You can make animations and such, but my thought was make custom buttons to navigate around your computer..etc...think of that kind of power, flash can do ALOT, although im not very experienced in flash.

[Slackfumasta]

Maybe I missed it somewhere in this thread, but is there a DLL patch for SP2? I tried the one for SP1, gave me errors when I tried to change themes.

[MadSkillzMan]

what kind of errors? and yes there is. If its down i can attach this .zip i have, if its small enough

[mbentley]

Maybe I missed it somewhere in this thread, but is there a DLL patch for SP2? I tried the one for SP1, gave me errors when I tried to change themes.

sp2 link: http://www.softpedia.com/get/Desktop-Enhancements/Themes/UXTheme-Patch-For-Windows-XP-SP2-Final.shtml

[ps2cho]

some nice info...would probably be a lot easier if you placed everything into the first post. It would be read easier, and be a lot cleaner. just a suggestion.
Goodwork though.

[Slackfumasta]

Yay, thanks for the link! I'll try it when I get home tonight.

The error I was getting was a 'Use DLL as an executable' error, and it gave me the option of sending a report to MS or not. It's most likely the SP1 patch on an SP2 install that is causing it.

[PhobMX]

this thing rocks, it really gives you the ability to have a real "custom" windows xp look

[dark_15]

I need your opinions!

Ive found something called LiteStep. Completely GPL liscensing. What it does is, replaces eplorer.exe. Basically its a bunch of new shells for windows. Its quite complicated however, but once i learn it i will try my best to teach you guys how to use it. The best thing is, it runs on all win platforms. The other thing is, your windows will remain the same from explorer.exe, but i beleive these can be skinned still the old way.

I was gonna go litestep, simply because thats the first one i saw and you can create your own...but then i saw these other ones. The thing here is, you are going WAY farther than just skinning it. Thing about litestep i liked was you could create your own functions, actions and controls. These others are simpler to install though, but i am not as familiar with them as i am litestep.

Gimme some feedback guys. Thanx in advance.

Here is what I got from LiteStep and a skin I found on a website:

http://www.bluffton.noacsc.org/swifty/Webs/HaynesC/desktop.jpg


Basically, it takes roughly the same memory footprint as windows explorer...
integrates a lot of shortcuts, system resources, winamp, and 4 desktops. It is very functional... however, dragging and dropping on the desktop is disabled. I am liking it so far...

Will post more when I finish tweaking.

[Maganja]

Does this work for the XP64 also?

[MadSkillzMan]

no clue

[mbentley]

i don't think anybody has fixed the uxtheme.dll file for winxp x64 yet...

[threeme2189]

i really think this should be a sticky.

[DrkLrdsSlv]

The visual styles from ThemeXp now come conveniently loaded with Accoona toolbar, just what I wanted :rolleyes: No option to just install the visual style, either.

[Maganja]

If i were to buy the Style xp instead of the Trial version .... Will I be able to just download the Theme itself or will I be stuck getting the Accoona Toolbar with it no matter what? anyone know?

[mdameron]

The visual styles from ThemeXp now come conveniently loaded with Accoona toolbar, just what I wanted :rolleyes: No option to just install the visual style, either.

I've been messing with themes and stuff yesterday and today... and that is the biggest buzzkill. ThemeXP has 4 different programs that will install if you just click 'next' really fast... you have to manually uncheck each one (though 1 you have to use)... really sucks when you're trying to decide which one to keep. Between the x-fi control panels, samurize, and my themes, I'm up to 40 processes. Used to be at 29. Jesus.

The only other option is to mess with that .dll, and I'm not so keen to jump into that just yet...

[hkh]

I dont no but windows blinds 5 just came out and it is faster then the normal windows desktop interface.

[Maganja]

I dont no but windows blinds 5 just came out and it is faster then the normal windows desktop interface.





Is windowblinds ok to use with xp-64?

[hkh]

yes the new version supports windows 64bit.