Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Unofficial Windows XP Themes Created by Microsoft

Anybody who has ever tried to change the theme in Windows will
already know that you have to hack the uxtheme file in order to install
themes into XP that aren't digitally signed by Microsoft. If you would
rather not or are unable to patch your system you might be interested
in these unofficial themes created by Microsoft.


There might be other themes out there, but these are the ones I know
about. Feel free to inform everybody in the comments if you know of any
others.


Royale


This theme is really bright and blue… Just look at all that blue…


image


To install this theme you'll need to download, extract the zipfile,
and then run the installer. When prompted for the location to save the
files, leave it set to default.


image


Now you can go into your display settings and change the theme from the list.


Download Royale Theme from Softpedia


Royale Noir


This theme was supposed to be a darker version of the regular Royale
theme, but it wasn't really finished before somebody from Microsoft
published it, and it spread all over the web.


image


After downloading and extracting the zipfile, you'll need to copy
the royale_noir folder into C:\Windows\Resources\Themes and then
double-click on the Luna.msstyles file found in that directory and
change the settings to match the above screenshot.


image


Download Royale Noir theme from istartedsomething.com


Zune Theme


This theme was released to celebrate the Zune launch, and you'll
notice it's very similar to Royale Noir, except for the kinda ugly
orange start button. Long time readers will note that we've mentioned this theme before.


image


Installing this theme is really simple… download and run the installer.


Download Zune Theme from Microsoft.com

Source