Windows 7: where is my windows shell common?

First of all Iam a real amateur here could you please help me!
Sorry for my bad english I am from germany!
I updated to windows 7 homme premium 32 one month ago!
2 days ago I tried to open a windows theme pack file!
It should open with windows shell common but opened with windows photo gallery which naturaly didn`t work! I tried to change the program to open it in the properties of the theme file to windows shell commen but could nowhere on my pc find this programm to open the theme file! Can someone please help me what to do! windows shell common where are you?

My car is from Germany, so I will try to help you! What is the file extension for the Theme Pack...was it a .theme file? I believe you would need to enable themes using a program that patches your OS to allow 3rd party themes.

thanks for the super fast reply! I like american cars!
the file extension is "Windows Theme Pack File (.themepack)"

the problem all the windos desktop themes should open with
windows shell commen. I just can`t find this programm on my C drive to select it as opener! So I momently can`t open any destop theme or download one to install

Ralph,
Willkommen beim SevenForums.

What is the extension of the themepack?

Is it themepack?

Where did you download the themepack?

A themepack is a .CAB file.

If you change the extension to .CAB, then you caneasily view the contents of the "theme" to see if the themepack is in order.

Download a themepack from Microsoft and change the extension to .cab. Then you can use that as a reference to determine the structure of a correct theme.

Hi ralphwh, welcome to the forums

It could be that 1 or more of your system files may have changed (for the worse). You could try restoring your system files to their original state

1, open Command Prompt (start->All programs->Accessories) by right clicking and selecting 'run as administrator'.
2, type in sfc /scannow

Once complete you may need to restart your machine

Hope this helps


OS

I don't..that's why I drive a German one!

Was the theme downloading from Microsoft?

well every theme I try to download from microsoft tries to open with windows photo gallery which doesn`t work. So I can`t open any of the desktop themes they all try to open with windows photo gallery. And this program windos shell common dll is nowhere to find on the pc as openener. I know it should be shell common dll because I checked it on my sister pc where all theme pack files for the desktop open with this.

ralph,
To install a themepack, simply double-click on it.

This should work, unless you reassigned the program for opening a themepack to some other program.

As I've stated, to view the contents of a themepack:
1. Change .Themepack to .CAB
2. Use Windows Explorer or WinZip or 7-Zip or WinRar to view the contents of the .CAB file.

I use WinZip and then extract the pictures and add the ones I want to a folder which holds the pics in my theme.

ralph,

Is this maybe what you seek?

go to "open with" and the 'browse' to C:\windows\system32 shell32.dll

The file association seems to have got corrupted, you need to reassociate. See this pictorial tut.

How To Re-associate .themepack File So That It Opens in Display Personalize Directly Again? | Windows7hacker