Anyone know how to make maxed title bar solid black?

[edrik]

Any ideas on why it won't do the Uxtheme patching for me? (see above)

you could try this method in patching your uxthemes



Step 1 • Download patched uxtheme.dll,themeui.dll and shsvcs.dll from here and unzip the files to a folder.

Step 2 • Download Replacer, which allows you to replace system files. Extract it in a folder.

Step 3 • Run Replacer.cmd and open c:/windows/system32. Drag uxtheme.dll from system32 folder into Replacer window.Press Enter.

Step 4 • Now it will ask you to drag the file with which you want to replace.Drag Uxtheme.dll which you had downloaded in Step 1 and press enter.

Step 5 • It will ask you to confirm that you want to replace the files or not, check again and press Enter.

Step 6 • Repeat step 3-5 for themeui.dll and shsvcs.dll.

Step 7 •Restart your computer after replacing the three files. Now you can enjoy custom MSStyles in windows 7.

Here's a custom theme you might want to try out

 

[imacken]

OK, I'm going nowhere with this!
The download you suggest comes from build 6159 and just screws up my system. I have a dual boot with Vista so I was able to restore the original system files and things are OK now!
Replacer doesn't work either. It just gives 'Access Error'. That doesn't matter as I can just rename the system files and copy in the patched ones.
I'm going to try the Power Tool on my laptop which is running 7100 32 bit and see if it works there - making sure I back up the files first!

 

[imacken]

I tried the Power Tool on my laptop running 7100 x32 and it patched the 3 files absolutely fine. So far so good. But, when I run the Aero Max Opacity theme from post #4 I just can't see that it's done anything!
Can someone else try that theme and let me know what is supposed to happen?

 

[garbanzo]

did you restart after patching the system files?

by the way, it's not necessary to download that huge 50mb AIO app if all you need is to patch your theme dlls. you can get that bit here:

TCP-Z, Best TCP/IP Patch: Universal Theme Patcher (v1.5, Build 20090409)

 

[imacken]

Yes, I did restart. Anyway, your little app worked better. Now the patching of the 3 files went OK, I restarted, ran the Max Opacity Theme in post #4, but I can't see what to do then! Maybe I'm just being stupid. Can you try it out for me and see what I should do?
Thanks.

 

[garbanzo]

ok, i just had a look. for some reason there's just an .msstyles file, but no .theme file or anything else to go with it.

here's what you do.

1. go to /windows/resources/themes
2. make a copy of aero.theme, call it aeroblack.theme
3. make a copy of the aero folder, call it aeroblack
4. inside the new aeroblack folder, delete aero.msstyles, then paste the new .msstyles file you downloaded in its place. rename it aeroblack.msstyles
5. go up a level, and open aeroblack.theme in notepad
6. go down to the [VisualStyles] section, and change the Path variable to this:

Path=%SystemRoot%\resources\Themes\aeroblack\aeroblack.msstyles

7. save the file, then double-click on aeroblack.theme. it should apply the new .msstyles file.

alternately, you can replace the original aero.msstyles file with your new one, but it's probably better to just leave it alone

 

[imacken]

Excellent! Well done - it works.
The only thing I need now is a theme that'll do the same with the taskbar and I'll be a 100% happy user.
Presumably if I do the same procedure with the other themes, e.g. landscape, it'll still work. or not?

 

[imacken]

OK, I've got a problem. None of my system stuff works any more, e.g. control panel, windows explorer, etc. Apps are OK, but any windows stuff just doesn't work.

 

[imacken]

I managed to get things back to normal by running regedit from a command prompt (which luckily was on the start menu!) and changing the theme back to aero.
There is clearly an issue here as I tried the process again. When ever I try to use the Aeroblack theme it seems to work, but then on reboot no Windows stuff is usable. I then have to revert to the regedit process above to my system back to normal.
Any ideas?

 

[garbanzo]

what build are you running? i've heard of some people having problems like that when trying to patch theme files.

not sure what the solution is, tbh. i'm running 7100 and 7229 on 2 different machines, and have custom themes on each without issue.

for a black taskbar, just make the bottom of your wallpaper black

 

[imacken]

I'm running 7201 x64.
It's getting the taskbar black on maxed windows that I want.
The thing is that certain apps like Photoshop, Lightroom, Ableton Live, or Capture One etc. look really bad because the title bar and taskbar have distracting aero-glass showing the background into the app and it looks really messy largely because of their dominantly black/dark grey appearance. Having said that, apps like Office 2007 look odd with solid black, so what is needed here is an option from MS.

 

[NEOGEO]

This is very easy to do actually without using any other additional software visit
Change the Windows 7 Taskbar Color With No Extra Software (Stupid Geek Tricks)