Today I will be posting a guide on how make you desktop theme look like... well whatever you want using modified Visual Styles (Microsoft's Built in Theme Manager). Now I will say right off that this guide is for XP and not Vista (As I have XP and not Vista).

In this guide, I will be making XP look like Vista.

First off we need to get something called UXTheme Patcher. What this does is replace a file (A DLL file if you know what that is) that manages theme's, so that it will accept non Microsoft made themes, and therefor let you use themes that others made.

Now instead of going though the hassle of finding the UXTheme file, I give you the link to a Patcher that does this automatically.

UXtheme Patcher for XP SP1, and SP2

UXtheme Patcher for XP SP3

Now run the program and wait. After this is done, you current theme may revert back to classic, but don't worry, that will be fixed soon. Also at this point you will want to restart you computer.



Now, after you have restarted, you will want to find your self a Visual Style. As I said earlier we wanted to make XP look like Vista. Normally you would have to search the web for Visual Style's, but this time I will post the link to one.

Vista Ultimate 13 by Baal-wa-astarte

Okay, you got the theme, now what? Well first you have to use your favorite zip program (I use 7-Zip) to unzip the file to your desktop. You should now be left with a folder called WinVista. You should place this in you theme folder, and that should be located in..

My Computer -> C: -> Windows -> Resources -> Themes

Now drag and drop it there, and go into the WinVista folder and Open a File called WinVista. This should open up the Display Property's to your new theme. Just select the Color Scheme you want and click apply.



And that's it. You should be up and running with a new theme.

FYI one of the best ways is to just google for Visual Styles, or use Deviant Art.

Also, let me know how this was, and what I need to clarify as this is my first guide.

Additionally, for those of you who care, the actual file that was modified was uxtheme.dll. This file is located in C:\windows\system32. It should also be noted that the patcher that I supplied makes a backup of the original with the file extension of .backup rather than .dll.

good job!
looks alright.

perhaps if you could also tell us what the actual .dll you are replacing that would be great. (for those of us who care)
but other than that, nice work.

nice guide, consider it stickied and +rep

Thank you, and I will add an edit at the end of the guide to tell where the .dll is located. I will also be making an update to show how to do this in Vista, and not just XP.