Some time back we had posted about uxtheme.dll patch for windows 7. The main aim of patching uxtheme.dll is to allow us to install third party custom themes designed for windows 7. The patching of uxtheme.dll in windows 7 is not a easy task as it involves the taking ownership of files, renaming, Backing up of files etc.
Currently we are not aware of uxtheme.dll patcher utility which can do this manual task and it seems many users finding it difficult to do it. To help those users here is small guide on how to patch uxtheme.dll in Windows 7 to install custom windows 7 themes.
How to Patch Uxtheme.dll in Windows 7
1. Download Uxtheme patch Files
2. Login to Your Windows 7 with User having administrator privileges
3. Open you’re my Computer and Navigate to Following Directory
C:\Windows\system32\ (change driver letter as per your windows 7 installation)
4. Locate following three files
uxtheme.dll
themeui.dll
shsvcs.dll
5. Take Ownership of each of these files
6. Grant Full Permission to yourself on each of these files
7. Rename uxtheme.dll to uxtheme.old , themeui.dll to themeui.old & shsvcs.dll to shsvcs.old
8. Copy downloaded patch files and past in C:\Windows\system32\ directory
(change driver letter as per your windows 7 installation)
9. Reboot Your Windows 7
That’s it now your Windows 7 is ready to get customized with custom third party Windows 7 themes and msstyle.
9 thoughts on “How to Patch uxtheme.dll in Windows 7 to Install Custom Windows 7 Themes & Style”
Here is the UxTheme Patcher for Windows XP/2003/MCE/Vista/7 which patches the files automatically and easily :D
http://webtrickz.com/uxtheme-patcher-for-windows-xp2003vista7/
Can you please post an article on how to do this for RC build 7100? I really REALLY hate the default basic windows 7 theme which i’m forced to use cuz I can’t afford a decent video card right now. Please help.
I’d really appreciate it.
Whatever you do, DO NOT CHANGE shsvcs.dll!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Instead of changing that, change themeservice.dll to themeservice.old and use the patch file for that.
Why do I say this, if you change shsvcs.dll it will take you about half an hour to change it back.
Yeah, I confirm that you SHOULDN’T CHANGE shsvcs.dll!!!!
Confirmed x 3. Do not change “shsvcs.dll”, it will prevent you from booting Windows 7. Change this tutorial !
Confirmed x4.
Someone please update this, or create a new tutorial.
Confirmed X10
Thanks Microsoft for the recovery console XD
Anyway I corrected this issue and later I had the restore all the files. Thanks for the autopatcher.
Don’t follow this tutorial!
##################WARNING####################
DO NOT FOLLOW THIS GUIDE. Please, for the love of god, don’t do what I did.
I mistakenly thought this guy had a handle on what he was doing. Big mistake. I tried to revert some of the changes this guide instructed me to do, but by then, Windows could no longer run .exe’s. I rebooted, only to find that when I logged in, I was greeted by a mouse on a black screen. I had to FORMAT MY HARD DRIVE, and I lost everything. This guy has no idea what he is doing, please please please don’t do it!
No need to reformat. U were asked to make backup for a reason.
1. Boot into safemode with command promt
2. Navigate the cmd promt to the c:windowssystem32 folder.
3. Delete the uxtheme.dll , themeui.dll and shsvcs.dll using the del command
4. Rename the .old files back to .dll.
5. Reboot.