Aero not working right - Windows classic theme on some windows.

[coollettuce]

I hope someone can help me. I ran the patcher that came with this Vista theme SoulGlass by ~bubito on deviantART and now some windows have Aero and others have what looks like a messed up windows classic theme. I tried using vista glazz to patch it back. I tried restarting multiple times. I tried switching to classic theme and back. Nothing works. I have Vista Ultimate 64. Here's a screenshot.

Thanks for your time.

 

[AlexRD]

I hope someone can help me. I ran the patcher that came with this Vista theme SoulGlass by ~bubito on deviantART and now some windows have Aero and others have what looks like a messed up windows classic theme. I tried using vista glazz to patch it back. I tried restarting multiple times. I tried switching to classic theme and back. Nothing works. I have Vista Ultimate 64. Here's a screenshot.

Thanks for your time.

Maybe, you should try that CD Repair ( you insert the CD and repair )
OR
Start > Right Click Computer then Properties > Advanced System Settings >
Performance (Settings) and adjust it for best appearance.

Tell me what happened.

 

[coollettuce]

Thanks for the reply. I tried both and when I tried to repair using the cd there was the option to repair my pc if its having problems starting up and the system restore. I didn't try repairing my pc for startup issues because it starts fine. And I have system restore disabled. I tried adjusting for best appearance and that didn't work either.

 

[OldBloke]

I tried both and when I tried to repair using the cd there was the option to repair my pc if its having problems starting up and the system restore. I didn't try repairing my pc for startup issues because it starts fine. And I have system restore disabled.

This happens if the patched system files are not compatible with your system (versions, whether it's 32bit or 64bit, Service Packs, etc)

Oh dear, no System Restore...
You should have kept backup copies of the original system .dll files, when you installed the patched versions.

The Visual Styles from DeviantArt need 3 system dlls (shsvcs.dll, themeui.dll, uxtheme.dll) to be replaced by patched versions. You can either do it manually (they recommend you rename the old dlls before you copy the alternative ones into system32, so you can easily restore the originals)

Or you can do it using VistaGlazz, but I've seen a few posts from people where VistaGlazz has gone wrong. It should check carefully for compatability and refuse to install the patches if they don't match, but it doesn't.

Hopefully you can fix it by renaming them in c:\windows\system32 for example:
rename shsvcs.dll to shsvcs.dll.patched
then rename shsvcs.dll.old to shsvcs.dll
and do the same for themeui.dll and uxtheme.dll
then reboot.
However you can only do that if you have the .old versions of course. Otherwise you could find the originals from your Vista DVD, but that's not much use if the DVD is pre-SP1 and your current system has SP1 added.

If you want to go back to standard Aero, you also need to check in the C:\Windows\Resources\Themes folder. The aero.theme file and the Aero folder and all its contents should be the Microsoft originals.

I just looked inside the .rar download for the SoulGlass style you installed. It contains substitutes for Explorer.exe, browseui.dll and imageres.dll. Are these substitutes compatable with your system? The author of this style says it's for Vista but doesn't specify whether it's for SP1, or 32bit vs 64bit.
Again, I hope you kept backup copies of the Microsoft originals before replacing them with these patched versions.

You have learned the hard way:
Never install these amateur patches without first making a restore point or even better save an image of your whole system.

 

[coollettuce]

Thanks a lot for your informative reply. I don't have copies of the original files. I see you have x64 SP1 as well. Even though it's Home Premium the DLLs should be the same, right? Do you think you could email them to me? I think that either explorer.exe, browseui.dll or imageres.dll is the culprit. If you could email them to me I could replace them and hopefully it will fix it. How do I replace an in use file, just go into safe mode? My email is coollettuce at gmail dot com. Thanks again.

 

[OldBloke]

I sent them. I hope the zip size (13MB) is not too big for what gmail allows. I used maximum compression but imageres.dll is a huge file - 15MB.

Explorer.exe goes into c:\windows and the other two go into c:\windows\system32

To me, it seems just as likely that the files you need to replace are shsvcs.dll, themeui.dll and uxtheme.dll so I'll send you my unpatched originals of those three in a separate email.

We can't be sure that my files will suit your system because you have Ultimate and I have Home Premium.

 

[coollettuce]

Thank you so much for sending the files and helping me fix this problem. I just did a system restore. I had system restore disabled but it seems that when I installed Opera a week ago it made a restore point! It took about 15 minutes to restore I almost turned it off because I thought it was frozen. Everything is back to normal now, and now I definitely going to enable automatic system restore point creation.

THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP!

- Tom

 

[OldBloke]

I'm very relieved to hear your good news.

I have installed one of those Visual Styles from DeviantArt here and it works well, but it's a bit risky so I'd always set a restore point first.

 

[Raphs]

Hi. So how do you fix this issue without using system restore ? I used VistaGlazz and my themes are stuck on the classic style and whenever i try to open the 'Windows Color and Appearance&quot' under personalisation in the control panel, it rerurns a message saying..Ahem 'Windows host process (Rundll32) has stopped working A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Pease cose the program --> Close the Program' (the option available) A similar thing happens when i try to open other dialogues, like the Performance settings in system properties. Are these problems just from the themes or did i break rundll ? So far, everything else seems to be working fine. I'm on Vista Ultimate SP1. Please help, i don't know how much longer my eyes can withstand the lameness that is Windows Classic.