Master Tutorial for creating own "third party" theme

[funkybassist]

Great thread, thanks!!

 

[nofx1994]

Really informative post here I build alot of visual styles for windows seven and it is great to see new builders pop up and with all the new information that alot of us are finding out on visuals the only way is up with new and better visual styles being created

 

[Abhishek Ghosh]

Thank you very much nofx. It is great to hear such nice words from you.

 

[nofx1994]

Thank you very much nofx. It is great to hear such nice words from you.

your quite welcome i think the more knowledge out there the more complex every visual style will become. Just look at how far we have improved on visuals in just a years time.

 

[Abhishek Ghosh]

i think the more knowledge out there the more complex every visual style will become. Just look at how far we have improved on visuals in just a years time.

For sure...today a Windows 7 visual style creator knows almost like a developer. I just see and get astonished.

 

[fimble]

Hi Abhishek,

I just fell over this tutorial while browsing through the forums. Excellent bit of work.

The list of system files I've modified was growing longer and longer.

Program Files\wordpad.exe.mui
Program Files (x86)\wordpad.exe.mui
System32\CMD.EXE
System32\IMAGERES.DLL
System32\DDORES.DLL
System32\IMAGESP1.DLL
System32\mstsc.exe
System32\occache.dll
System32\PNIDUI.DLL
System32\SHELL32.DLL
System32\TASKMGR.EXE
System32\wbemcntl.dll
System32\ZIPFLDR.DLL
SysWOW64\CMD.EXE
SysWOW64\DDORES.DLL
SysWOW64\explorer.exe
SysWOW64\IMAGESP1.DLL
SysWOW64\IMAGERES.DLL
SysWOW64\mstsc.exe
SysWOW64\occache.dll
SysWOW64\PNIDUI.DLL
SysWOW64\REGEDIT.EXE
SysWOW64\SHELL32.DLL
SysWOW64\taskmgr.exe
SysWOW64\wbemcntl.dll
SysWOW64\ZIPFLDR.DLL
WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE
WINDOWS\REGEDIT.EXE
WINDOWS\Branding\Basebrd\BASEBRD.DLL

Renaming/replacing them all was becoming a pain the a*se So I ended up writing a batch file to do the donkey work for me while I rolled a tab!

First off, I downloaded from, and saved this code after editing it as explained at Ramesh Srinivasan's site, as Restore Point.vbs

'""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
'Script to create a System Restore point in Windows 7 | Vista | XP
'May 10 2008 - Revised on Jan 10, 2009
'© 2008 Ramesh Srinivasan. http://www.winhelponline.com
'""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
If GetOS = "Windows XP" Then
    CreateSRP
End If

If GetOS = "Windows Vista" Or GetOS = "Windows 7" Then
    If WScript.Arguments.length =0 Then
          Set objShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
        objShell.ShellExecute "wscript.exe", """" & _
            WScript.ScriptFullName & """" & " uac","", "runas", 1
    Else
          CreateSRP
      End If
End If

Sub CreateSRP
    Set SRP = getobject("winmgmts:\\.\root\default:Systemrestore")
    sDesc = "Pre System File Replacement"
    If Trim(sDesc) <> "" Then
        sOut = SRP.createrestorepoint (sDesc, 0, 100)
        If sOut <> 0 Then
             WScript.echo "Error " & sOut & _
               ": Unable to create Restore Point."
        End If
    End If
End Sub

Function GetOS    
    Set objWMI = GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & _
        ".\root\cimv2")
    Set colOS = objWMI.ExecQuery("Select * from Win32_OperatingSystem")
    For Each objOS in colOS
        If instr(objOS.Caption, "Windows 7") Then
            GetOS = "Windows 7"    
        ElseIf instr(objOS.Caption, "Vista") Then
            GetOS = "Windows Vista"
        elseIf instr(objOS.Caption, "Windows XP") Then
              GetOS = "Windows XP"
        End If
    Next
End Function

I also download the Sleep.exe from ComputerHope which comes with the Windows Resource kit. I keep both of these in the same folder as my Batch Swap.bat file. Finally I downloaded Delnext.exe from Gammadyne which has to be put in your system32 folder.

The bat file gives you an opt out clause, if you continue it creates a restore point (essential!!), waits a while for it to be created, takes ownership etc. Renames your "0ld" files "0ldie" so you still have a couple of steps backwards (if they're there) and swaps the files out. Clears the icon and thumbnail caches and finally reboots. All while you munch on your sandwich/roll a tab/whatever. The script of the .bat file goes along the lines of this:

@echo off
[COLOR=Red][B]REM ***BATCH COMMANDS***
REM The commands without files inserted are:
REM takeown /f [COLOR=Green]FilePathName[/COLOR]
REM icacls [COLOR=Green]FilePathName[/COLOR] /grant administrators:F /t
REM REN [COLOR=Green]FilePathName1[/COLOR] [COLOR=Green]FilePathName2[/COLOR]
REM COPY "[COLOR=Green]FilePathName[/COLOR]" "[COLOR=Green]FilePathName[/COLOR]"[/B][/COLOR]
REM ***************************************
echo.
echo PLEASE SAVE ALL DATA AND CLOSE ALL WINDOWS BEFORE RUNNING THIS SCRIPT.
echo.
echo This script will begin by creating a Restore Point. 
echo.
echo The script will then take ownership of the listed System files, rename
echo them by adding 0ld to the end of their file name and they will then be
echo replaced with their modified versions.
echo.
echo The thumbnail and icon caches will then de deleted before the
echo computer is rebooted.
set /p choice=Would you like to continue? Press "Y" for Yes or "N" for No: 
if %choice%==y goto moveon
if %choice%==n goto dontmove

:moveon
cscript.exe "Batch Swap Restore Point.vbs"
echo.
echo.
echo Please wait while a Restore Point is made.
sleep 17
echo.
echo.
cls

[COLOR=Red][B]REM Add/remove "paths" if you have any different to these[/B][/COLOR]
DEL C:\WINDOWS\*0ldie.*
DEL C:\Windows\Branding\Basebrd\*0ldie.*
DEL C:\WINDOWS\en-US\*0ldie.*
DEL C:\WINDOWS\System32\*0ldie.*
DEL C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64\*0ldie.*
DEL C:\WINDOWS\System32\en-US\*0ldie.*
DEL C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64\en-US\*0ldie.*
DEL "C:\Program Files\Windows NT\Accessories\en-US\*0ldie.*"
DEL "C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows NT\Accessories\en-US\*0ldie.*"

REN C:\WINDOWS\*0ld.* *0ldie.*
REN C:\Windows\Branding\Basebrd\*0ld.* *0ldie.*
REN C:\WINDOWS\en-US\*0ld.* *0ldie.*
REN C:\WINDOWS\System32\*0ld.* *0ldie.*
REN C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64\*0ld.* *0ldie.*
REN C:\WINDOWS\System32\en-US\*0ld.* *0ldie.*
REN C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64\en-US\*0ld.* *0ldie.*
REN "C:\Program Files\Windows NT\Accessories\en-US\*0ld.*" *0ldie.*
REN "C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows NT\Accessories\en-US\*0ld.*" *0ldie.*

echo.
echo.
[B][COLOR=Red]REM Do the following four lines for each file you wish to swap out. 
REM Obviously changing the file names and paths to match your modified ones!![/COLOR][/B]
TAKEOWN /F C:\Windows\EXPLORER.EXE
ICACLS C:\Windows\EXPLORER.EXE /grant administrators:F /t
REN C:\Windows\EXPLORER.EXE EXPLORER0ld.EXE
COPY "C:\The Path\To Your\Modified\EXPLORER.EXE" "C:\Windows\EXPLORER.EXE"

CD /d %userprofile%\AppData\Local
DEL IconCache.db /a
DELNEXT /d"%userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer" /nologo thumbcache_32.db thumbcache_96.db thumbcache_256.db thumbcache_1024.db thumbcache_idx.db thumbcache_sr.db

echo.
echo. 
echo Finished!! :-) Now Re-booting.
echo.
sleep 3
shutdown /r /t 0
exit

:dontmove
echo.   
echo The batch file operation has been cancelled.
sleep 3
echo.
pause
exit

That now makes swapping out all the system files a pleasure. Comes in handy as well when a Windows update replaces something and you've got to modify the new files because you can't stand what MS has done to your icons! Or you need to run an sfc /scannow which replaces all your hard work.


I've attached the three files mentioned for simplicity.

View attachment Batch Swap Restore Point.zip

View attachment delnext.zip

View attachment SLEEP.zip

HTH

fimble

 

[iRHardcore]

Thank you very much!