Into Windows

  • Home
  • Windows 10
  • Windows 7
  • Freeware
  • Privacy
You are here: Home » Vista Tweaks » Modding The Windows Vista Theme

Modding The Windows Vista Theme

Last Updated on October 7, 2020 by admin Leave a Comment

RECOMMENDED: Download this PC Repair tool to quickly find and fix Windows errors automatically
 

If you are bored with the default look of the Windows Vista, you can change the default look of the theme to make it even cooler.

Required things to modify the Vista theme

*UXTheme Patcher(Download Here)

*Restorator 2007. Trial version will do the job. Download it here.

*Photoshop or Paint.net to edit images.

*Alpha Image Converter(Download Here)

Editing the Vista theme

1.Back up the theme which you are going to edit. Here, I am using a third-party aero theme.

2. Open the aero.theme file in notepad(yes, notepad)

3. Change the display name to your desired one. For default aero theme, the display name is in themeui.dll, open it using resource hacker and change the name.

4. Scroll down in the opened notepad and look for Wallpaper, and change it.

5. Place your cursors path here to have a new one.

6. Change the Visual Styles path, if you are placing this somewhere else.

Editing the msstyle and shellstyle

1. Open the file .mssstyle file with Restorator 2007. It will show you the contents of the .msstyle file.
If you like to edit images, you need to look in IMAGE Folder. And there is only one image in STREAM folder.

2. Now, right-click on the IMAGE Folder and select extract. If you can’t see the IMAGES folder on your desktop, enable Show Hidden Files in Folder OPtions.

3. Open the images one by one in your Photoshop and edit them.

4. Use the Alpha Image converter to make all images to alpha aero compatible.(else you will notice white background when you use the image with the theme. I was stuck here for several days)

5. Once you finished with the editing, drag and drop the IMAGE folder to Restorator 2007.

6. Save the .msstyle in Restorator.

7. Run Uxtheme Patcher.

8. Apply the theme.

9. You can also edit the Shellstyle.dll file using the above steps.

Filed Under: Vista Tweaks

Related Articles

  • How To Easily Name CD/DVD Drive In Windows 10/7
  • How To Disable Sent From Windows Mail Signature
  • How To Delete Old User Account Pictures In Windows 10
  • Wake PC From Sleep Using Keyboard And Mouse In Windows 10
  • How To Open Folder Options In Windows 8
  • How To Import Passwords Into Firefox From A CSV File

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Advertisements

Search Into Windows

Recent posts

  • How To Sign Out Of Signal Desktop In Windows 10 & Mac
  • How To Install Signal On Windows 10 PC
  • How To Add The Lock Option To Start & Taskbar In Windows 10
  • Lock Option Missing From Windows 10 Power Menu
  • Fix: Image Preview Option Is Missing From Context Menu In Windows 10
  • 4 Ways To Check If Your PC Has SATA Or NVMe SSD In Windows 10
  • A Storage Device May Be At Risk Of Failure & Requires Your Attention
  • Fix: Your PC Can’t Project To Another Screen
  • How To Check SSD Health & Temperature In Windows 10
  • How To Enable Or Disable Dark Mode In Microsoft Office 365 Word, Excel & PowerPoint

About us

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2021 · Into Windows