Windows 7 beta is finally released from microsoft by default windows 7 already provide some themes bundled with the new release of windows 7 Beta.
But as you may get bored with the default themes in windows 7 you can try lot more new themes, sidebar gadgets and wallpapers on this official link form Microsoft.
All these themes, wallpapers and gadgets are from Microsoft which are digitally signed but what if you want to install a custom designed theme just like you do in windows xp.
In Windows XP and Vista you can install custom or MSStyles themes by patching Uxtheme.dll (theme manager) by UxTheme Patcher for Vista SP1 and XP SP2.
Similarly you can use UxTheme Patcher for Windows 7 which allows you to patch Uxtheme.dll and two other related files which you will need to patch to install cool looking custom or MSStyles themes in windows 7.
Let’s see how can you patch Uxtheme.dll in windows 7
Patching Uxtheme.dll and other files means you will need to replace this system file in windows 7 with some other file which you are going to download.
Follow the procedure to replace Uxtheme.dll, themeui.dll and shsvcs.dll all these files are located in C:/windows/system32
1. Firstly Download Replacer form here, which allows you replace the original system easily.
2. Download the patched UxTheme.dll and other files from here and extract the zip them some where on your computer
3. Extract Replacer.zip and double click replacer.cmd
4. Now drag and drop the original system file Uxtheme.dll in C:/windows/system32 to the command window
Note: Your computer may have more than 1 uxtheme.dll file make sure you replace with Uxtheme.dll and other files in C:/windows/system32
5. Press Enter, then it will ask you to drag the file with which you want to replace drag the download file Uxtheme.dll which you had downloaded in Step 2.
6. It will ask you to confirm that you want to replace the files or not, check again and press Enter
Replacer will now swap your original system file with the downloaded one, repeat the above procedure to replace other two files themeui.dll and shsvcs.dll
7. Restart your computer after replacing all these 3 files, after restart you are free to use any custom or MSStyles theme in windows 7.
Note: You will need to have administartive rights in order to patch all these system files
10 replies on “Use Custom / MSStyles Themes In Windows 7 | UxTheme Patch for Windows 7”
[…] 7 beta has been released recently, we had already written some articles on how to patch uxtheme.dll in windows 7 to apply custom themes and how can you hide the annoying action center messages, Today we are going […]
Does this need administrator privleges? im getting access denied messages.
@Cabhan – you need to have administrative rights to patch uxtheme.dll and other files
Hmmm so if i right click on replacer.cmd, and open it, using run as administrator, is that sufficient? Or do i need to modify my user account? I’m using the default account that was set up during installation. Thanks!
[…] ever theme for windows 7 is out at deviantart.com by a user alkhan, recently we had written about how to apply custom themes in windows 7 by patching Uxtheme.dll and some other system files of windows […]
Ok, I patched the files, but now I can’t even fully boot my computer. I continually get an error stating that SECBASE.DLL is missing from my computer, but I can’t find any way to fix it.
I had to system restore. Better to play safe and avoid this imho.
Windows Explorer doesn’t work after replacing the system files and rebooting my computer. (ocurrs in 7057 and 7100 builds)
It’s a bug??
My system info:
Microsoft Windows 7 RC (build 7100)
Athlon XP 2000+ 1.7Ghz CPU
1.25 Gb RAM
Nvidia GeForce FX5200 – 256 Mb VRAM
Help!!!
explorer not working for me too…
fixed by putting back the old dll’s in safe mode, but no custom styles for me it seems
Didn’t work, left windows in a mess, had to system restore. Not much fun. =[