How to Fix Windows XP Theme Problems

Ismet Dumlupinar posted on June 15, 2007 21:45

Sometimes you may experience problems with Windows XP Themes. These problems may happen because of following reasons:

Changes on Computer Visual Styles
Disabled Services
Incompetible Theme
Security Issues (spyware & malware problem)

There are some fixes for Theme Problems. Lets discuss some of them:

Go to Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Advanced and click on Settings button under Performance tab. If "custom" option is used, ensure that "Use visual styles on windows and buttons" checkbox is checked.
In Windows Explorer go to Tools > Folder Options. In General tab, ensure that "Show common tasks in folders" checkbox is checked under Tasks section.
Go to Start > Settings > Control Panel > Display > Appearance and ensure that "Windows XP Style" is selected under Windows and buttons drop-down list.
Click Start > Run and type services.msc to view Windows XP Services Management Console. Ensure that Themes service is configured to run automatically and check status to verify that it has already started. (Note: You may want to right click on a item on the Name column to configure a specific service)
Click Start > Run and type services.msc again. Double click on Terminal Services item on the name column. Click on Log on tab. Ensure that service is enabled for default hardware profile.

If above instructions does not help, what should i do?

Go to Start > Settings > Control Panel > Display > Themes and select Windows XP. If default Windows XP theme is not listed there you may want to check following location (%SystemRoot%\Resources\Themes\Luna.theme) (SystemRoot is the directory where your operating system is installed. E.g Windows) Luna Theme is the main theme of Windows XP.

Check following link to Restore Theme Functionality

Fix & Restore Windows XP Themes (Download and double click on .reg file - It will ask you "Are you sure you want to add the information in [location] to the registry?" Click on Yes button to apply the fix.

For other fixes you may want to visit Kelly's Korner website.

Posted in: Tutorials

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Comments

# John

Monday, June 25, 2007 6:27 PM

Thanks, i had trouble with services. Your instructions helped me to solve my problem.

# KeshavThapa

Monday, March 10, 2008 11:15 PM

Hi!,
well thanks for the tips you provided but non of them worked for me. when i followed the above settings, it gave me a error saying, "unable to run dll as app"

i have win sp3. pls help!

# Sunny

Saturday, May 10, 2008 2:12 PM

hi! i'm also using windows xp sp3 and i am facing the same problem as Keshav Thapa. i tried the method u listed but it did not solve the problem... any other solution? any help is greatly appreciated,
thanks...

# Brono

Wednesday, June 25, 2008 2:59 AM

Yeah. i was trying to test a theme for windows vista. and i had to download the patch for windows xp to run vista themes and i think it courrupted my Windows XP theme. i have sp2

# the0ne

Wednesday, September 17, 2008 7:43 PM

I'm having the same problem since i upgraded to sp3

# Anonymous

Friday, October 10, 2008 5:23 PM

I'm having problems with my themes, ever since I installed SP3. I then un-installed SP3 because it bugged up a lot of my applications. Now, when-ever I try and change theme, it brings up Windows Classic with a changed back-ground. I've tried all of the above, yet it still won't work. If you know or have any suggestions, can you e-mail me please.

How to Fix Windows XP Theme Problems

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