How to Patch Windows Vista to Enable Custom Themes (Visual Styles)

The very first step is to download the patched theme files. For this user has to go to the Within Windows site and then install the proper version that their system requires. User will notice that three .dll files will be there along with this installation named by themeui.dll, uxtheme.dll and shsvcs.dll. All the above three files are to be paced in the C:WindowsSystem32 directory. So in order to enable the custom themes, these files should be replaced with the patched versions.

The second step is to create a system restore point. User has to take the full command of all the patched files so it will easier for him to rename the files. For this, he has to use Take Ownership context menu item. He then should browse to the following command: C:WindowsSystem32 and place all the patched files into it so he can see them conveniently. Then right click on each and every file and pick out the option “Take Ownership”. After this renaming the files is an important step. Now user has to copy the patched files by entering the command C:windowssystem32 and then pasting them into the particular folder. Restarting the PC will immediately patch the files to enable the custom themes.

There is another method using the command line. User has to take the full possession of the files by browsing to the following command lines and then run their systems:

Takeown /f c:windowssystem32themeui.dll
Takeown /f c:windowssystem32uxtheme.dll
Takeown /f c:windowssystem32shsvcs.dll
Icacls c:windowssystem32themeui.dll /grant administrators: F
Icacls c:windowssystem32uxtheme.dll /grant administrators:F
Icacls c:windowssystem32shsvcs.dll /grant administrators:F

The above two methods are quite efficient and effective and are strongly recommended. It is not at all essential to patch files in order to enable the custom themes as it creates trouble shooting and a lot of mess for the user. But if the user really wants to go through this process, he surely can!