How to: Apply third-party themes to Windows XP

By Elena Santos on 19 June, 2008

Windows XP includes three color schemes you can choose from to customize the system's native visual theme, namely blue, silver and an olive green that nobody I know has ever used. But what if you grow tired of this theme? You can download additional styles from many different online resources, and use them to give your XP a fresh look.

The problem comes when these themes don't come from official Microsoft sites and are not signed by the Redmond firm. This doesn't mean they're dangerous at all; it's just that they have been created by third-party designers who don't work together with Microsoft. These themes therefore are not signed for Windows, and don't work properly: they show glitches, dark spots and shadows that end up ruining the final appearance.

So if you want your newly downloaded themes to look perfect on Windows XP, you need to patch the uxtheme.dll file first. Simply download the UXTheme Multi-Patcher tool and run it. Your Windows theme will go back to a basic, gray design and you'll eventually see this window:

Apply unsigned visual themes

Press the Cancel button (and the Yes button on the following dialog window), go back to the UXTheme Multi-Patcher interface and click on OK. Then restart your system and you'll be ready to apply whatever visual theme you prefer, signed or not. See how my Windows XP looks like with the Vistamizer style!

Apply unsigned visual themes

Comments

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    • Sent on 21 Jun 2008
  • good4every1 good4every1

    Windows XP includes three color schemes you can choose from to customize the system’s native visual theme, namely blue, silver and an olive green that nobody I know has ever used. But what if you grow tired of this theme? You can download additional styles from many different online resources, and use them to give your XP a fresh look.

    • Sent on 25 Jun 2008
  • Downloads Free &raquo; SevenVG RC (Windows 7 Theme) for Windows XP-Transform Windows XP into Windows 7 in two clicks Downloads Fre<br />e &raquo; Se

    [...] on his website and you shouldn’t have any problem. Bear in mind though that you need the uxtheme.dll file patched to be able to use this and other third-party [...]

    • Sent on 27 Mar 2009
  • SevenVG RC (Windows 7 Theme) for Windows XP | Windows 7 SevenVG RC (W<br />indows 7 The

    [...] on his website and you shouldn’t have any problem. Bear in mind though that you need the uxtheme.dll file patched to be able to use this and other third-party [...]

    • Sent on 18 Nov 2009
  • SevenVG RC (Windows 7 Theme) for Windows XP | Technology Nerd Blog SevenVG RC (W<br />indows 7 The

    [...] on his website and you shouldn’t have any problem. Bear in mind though that you need the uxtheme.dll file patched to be able to use this and other third-party [...]

    • Sent on 07 Dec 2009
  • Give Windows XP The Windows 7 Look And Feel | Geek Court Give Windows <br />XP The Windo

    [...] this to work. Set a restore point before you install anything just to be safe. You’ll need a patched uxtheme.dll for getting third party themes to [...]

    • Sent on 02 Apr 2010
  • new new

    Oi galera, gostaria de uma ajuda, eu adquirir um pacote de TV HD no PC no site www.tvhd.com.br tenho acesso a vários canais através de um painel de controle que eu visualizo no próprio navegador, como eu faço para gravar os programas e série de TV no meu PC, lembrando que não tem nem um programa instalado no meu PC é todo pelo próprio navegador. Quem tiver uma luz por favor me ajude meu e-mail: duvalino_2222@ig.com.br

    • Sent on 07 Apr 2010
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