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Take 2: VistaGlazz
24 Comments »Posted in SoftwareJul 9, 2007
My first second take! An enthusiastic reader recently installed VistaGlazz on his computer and was ready to install new themes for Vista; unfortunately, he had no idea how to do it. But, I realized that a majority of users probably wouldn’t know how to install themes either. After all, I only learned how through major tweaking on XP (oh, all those countless nights).
Assuming you’ve already downloaded and installed VistaGlazz and patched your uxtheme.dll (that would be the computer with the green checkmark in VistaGlazz), you are now free to choose from any .msstyle designed for Vista. Wait, what the heck is a .msstyle? A .msstyle is a file designed for your computer that changes the look of the taskbar, the start menu, the windows themselves, the menus on the side, and many other aspects of Windows Vista. There are also .msstyle files for Windows XP, but they are incompatible with Windows Vista so we’ll leave those alone for now.
Now, where the devil would you download a .msstyle? Personally, I would suggest DeviantArt, as it has a huge collection of .msstyles for both Windows XP and Vista. However, take caution; many .msstyles that look like Vista could simply be a theme for XP. You will be able to tell the difference by the screenshot or the summary; usually, any screenshot with transparency will be Vista-compatible. Just to make sure it’s Vista compatible, read the creator’s summary; they will usually say “VISTA-ONLY” (or something like that).
After downloading, you realize it’s a “.rar” file. Now, what is a .rar file? A .rar file is simply a file format that compresses the size the original file (meaning it makes the original file smaller). You’re going to need a .rar program like UltimateZip, which I found to be sufficient till I got the full Winrar version. First, I tried highlighting all the contents and used the “extract” command to try to move the files to “C:\Windows\Resources\Themes”. However, I think Vista’s built-in defense stopped it. Don’t fret, there’s a very simple workaround. Navigate to “C:\Windows\Resources\Themes” by opening My Computer or any explorer window and paste “C:\Windows\Resources\Themes” into the navigation bar. Then simply drag the contents from UltimateZip or Winrar into “C:\Windows\Resources\Themes” and double click the “.msstyle” file that came with the contents. The .msstyle will be applied, and you’ll have a nice shiny new skin.
I hope you enjoy your new themes. If you’re computer-friendly enough, you might even be able to design your own!
If you’ve got any questions, feel free to reply with a comment on this post. If you want to learn about more cool free software like VistaGlazz or interesting gizmos, visit my home page for more information.
[...] you need instructions on how to install a custom style, read this article (thnx to Herbert): http://cutedge.org/2007/07/09/take-2-vistaglazz/ Published by Administrator on December 24, 2007 in Software and VistaGlazz. Tags: style, [...]
yop sa choque
i installed i have 2 green checkmarks and the last one isnt checked each time i try to start it just takes me to the checkmarks again can u help me please =)
Thanks, friend. We need more people like you on the internet!
Thanks for the encouragement, much appreciated Zbuckone.
And Mike, I think that it’s always with two checkmarks and that’s just the startup screen. Unless I’m incorrect, you’re referring to the computer and the paint-colours and the globe – and mine is normally like that too. All this means is your Aero-style and your uxtheme.dll is patched appropriately and you can use third-party themes, no more and no less. Hopefully that helped you out a bit buddy.
I was so excited to find this article so I could use the .msstyle visual styles I have been finding. I followed all the directiond and they seemed to simple but when I double click the msstyle file to set as the theme nothing changes…please help!
Sorry guys, please ignore previous post, it was all silly operator error:) This works great, thanks for the breakdown of how to apply the VistaGlazz!
I’m having a problem! Ive got two shields check marked, and it doesn’t work for me. The only thing thats different is that the top of explorer 7 is clear instead of black at maximum
Hi namasteknight, glad your problem was solved. I find that correcting my own mistakes is the best way to learn (helps me remember what I did wrong).
And Richard, that’s actually what VistaGlazz aims to do – change your explorer to a clear colour when its maximized. There was a lot of controversy about Aero turning black when a window was maximized, so VistaGlazz was created to “restore” the transparency into Windows Vista.
It’s good you’ve got two shields check-marked though. Now you’re free to download .msstyles made for Vista, and apply them. Although the variety isn’t too great (they all look pretty much the same), at the same time they differ in many different ways. I recommend exploring your way through.
I have followed all of the instructions yet none of the .msstyles seem to work. They don’t change anything when I apply them. Any suggestions?
Well Jme, I’ll assume that you’ve downloaded .msstyles that work with Vista (Windows XP .msstyles are still currently incompatible with Windows Vista). You’re going to want to start up VistaGlazz and see if the two shields are there, because if they’re properly patched they should have two shields in front of them.
This might sound silly, but if you haven’t actually applied a theme and you’re looking strictly at the Preview window, you’re going to find that they do look the same as the original Aero, and that they’ve even got the same name sometimes! Just go on ahead and apply it, and it should work out for you.
Good luck, and I hope that helped.
Hey, I applied both patches using vistaglazz and I am getting the full window transparency. Unfortunately custom made themes aren’t working for me. The ones I have downloaded turn my computers theme into windows classic! I can’t seem to figure out what to do to get them to work. Also are there ways to make things such as the start menu fully transparent?
Hm, I can only speculate as to what really is going on. I think it’d be either of these issues:
a. Are the custom made themes Vista-compatible, or were they made for XP? Currently, you can’t actually intertwine the two and you have to stick with Vista-compatible themes. If you don’t mind linking the theme to me, I’ll be more than happy to verify it for you.
b. It’s not in C:\Windows\Resources, but I’m not sure if that would affect the theme at all.
As for your second question, I think that this theme’s gotten pretty darn close to it. Actually, by applying this theme, you can kill two birds with one stone: if you can apply this theme successfully, not only will you get a pretty transparent start menu, but you will be able to verify that your uxtheme.dll is properly patched.
Here’s the link: http://vishal-gupta.deviantart.com/art/AeroVG-Theme-for-Windows-Vista-71036512
Hope that works for you.
Hey the theme you found for me is just what I’m looking for! but it still didn’t work for me. I’m not sure what the problem is so I’ll just describe what I did and maybe you’ll pick something out that I’m doing incorrectly.
Downloaded, unzipped to the theme foloder in windows resource folder.
Then right clicked desktop, personalize, selected the theme window which pops up. From the scroll down list I selected browse and browsed to C:\Windows\Resources\Themes\AeroVG by Vishal Gupta and selected the theme file there.
This time when I selected it turned my theme in to the original Windows Aero theme not the one from the file.
the vistaglazz program definately patched something though because full screen windows are still transparent at the top like it said it would.
hmm….
and by the way thanks a lot for looking into this!
I’m sorry Dan, but actually I got the same result. My apologies, I can’t figure out what’s wrong with the theme.
I’ve got another theme for you to try, hopefully it works for you as smoothly as it did for me. It’s got somewhat of a transparent taskbar, but a custom Start Orb. Give it a look.
Link: http://ekodaniel.deviantart.com/art/Revisited-LongHorn-V1-3-68014733
Again, sorry for not being able to fix your problem.
Hey Herbert, that worked for me. Thanks a lot It seems that I possibly managed to download a few bad ones in a row leading to the poor results but the one you just found for me works great. Thanks for the help!
Dan, I’m glad to be of service and am relieved to hear that the theme worked for you. Hopefully you’ll grow to like it as much as the transparent themes.
You can always experiment and tweak – I’d suggest trying to download other themes, if you really want to be adventurous. As I’ve repeated over and over again, DeviantArt is a great place to start.
Hi there, Herbert. Nice instructions you have here, but I’ve come across a problem with VistaGlazz.
I downloaded it, the two shields are checked, the borders are transparent when maximized, I followed your instructions, and yet, I can’t get this theme called Aerox to work. Yes, it is Vista compatible. I will provide a link so that you can see it and try to find out what the problem is, because when I try to apply, it will say “Visual Style could not be applied.”
Link: http://ironjer.deviantart.com/art/Aerox-1-0-For-Windows-Vista-57280901
Any help will be appreciated.
Oh, lol, I fixed the problem myself.
I found out that after the KB933928 Update by Mircosoft that if a theme does not have a .msstyles.mui with the same name as the .msstyles theme itself, then the theme will malfunction and will not be applied. Even after using a uxpatch, such a VistaGlazz.
The original explanation can can be found in the following link.
http://www.aeroxp.org/board/?showtopic=9524
Also, I thank you for making this post, those instructions are quite helpful.
Hi Mith, sorry I couldn’t get to your problem sooner. Glad to see that you were resourceful enough to fix it yourself and thanks for posting the explanation for future references!
Hey Herbert , this works great for me , i installed new themes and they work just fine , thanks but is there a way to keep the black taskbar and windows on maximize with the new themes , because i kinda like them black , thanks again .
Hi Joseph, I think all you need to do in order to get the old Vista theme back is open up VistaGlazz and un-patch the Style file (the colour sheets). I think that you might need to reboot your computer, but when you re-start VistaGlazz and see the Style file with a grey shield instead of the green shield, you’ve got the old Vista style back.
Hi, …it does not work with x64 vista versions WITH Service pack 1, right?
Hi Alan, I’m not sure if it works with x64 vista versions with SP1 installed. After referring to the official requirements at the CodeGazer website, I still wasn’t able to find out anymore information. I recommend you try it only after setting up a system restore point in case something goes awry, which could very possibly happen. Feel free to come back for more advice, and tell us about how the patching went. Thanks.