How to Install and Apply Third Party Themes in Windows 7

Tired of the standard themes of Windows 7? Then it's time to install some custom third party themes.

On this page i will show you step by step how to install and use custom third party themes in Windows 7.

To do this you need to patch Windows 7 first. A patch is a piece of software designed to fix, update or improve a computer program.

To Install and Apply Third Party Themes in Windows 7 Follow This Steps

Install & Set-Up Universal Theme Patcher (free)

1 Download Universal Theme Patcher here.

Universal Theme Patcher is a good UxTheme Patcher that is supported on the 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) versions of Windows XP, Server 2003, Vista, Server 2008 and Windows 7.

2 Unzip the "UniversalThemePatcher_20090409.zip" file.

Right-click on the zip file.
Go to the program you use to unzip files or just use windows. I use 7-Zip (it's free).
Choose "Extract Here" or if you use windows then choose "Extract All" (this will unzip the files in a folder).

3 Open the folder (UniversalThemePatcher_20090409) which contains the unzipped files.

4 Double-click on:

"UniversalThemePatcher-x64.exe" if you have a 64-bit version of windows.

"UniversalThemePatcher-x86" if you have a 32-bit version of windows.

5 Choose your language and click on "OK".

6 When you will be asked to patch system files, click on "Yes" and the program will open its main interface.

7 Click next to each file on the "Patch" button.

themeservice.dll - Patch
themeui.dll - Patch
uxtheme.dll - Patch

After you've patched the files, the "Restore" buttons get activated, so that you can restore the default files in future.

8 Restart your computer and you will be able to use 3rd party themes without any problems.

Install a 3rd Party Custom Windows 7 Theme

You can do a google search for Windows 7 themes and then you will get a list of website where you can download them for free or check our collection.

1 Download a theme.

A theme folder should include a “.theme” file and a folder that contains a “.msstyles” file.

2 Select the “Windows Theme File” and the folder that contains a “.msstyles” file, right-click and choose “Copy”.

3 Open the following location folder on your computer: “Local Disk(C:)\Windows\Resources\Themes”, right-click and choose “Paste” to copy the files into the “Themes” folder.

4 Double-click on “.theme” (Windows Theme File) file to activate the custom theme.