Killer Tech Tips

Some of my friends have been telling me that SP 3 installation broke the uxtheme.dll patch that they had installed, preventing all third party Windows XP themes from working.

Well, there is actually an updated version of the UxTheme Multipatcher that is available for systems loaded with XP Service Pack 3. The Uxtheme.dll Multi Patcher for Windows XP SP3 is available on the Softpedia page here, and once you install it, voila! You’ll be able to install and use third party Windows XP themes on SP 3.

The downloaded file contains a patched uxtheme.dll file that should replace the original uxtheme.dll file on your machine.

Here’s how you can patch the uxtheme.dll file on your Windows XP SP 3 computer:

• Delete the uxtheme.dll files that are present in C:\Windows\system32\dllcache and also in C:\Windows\ServicePackFiles\i386
• For safety reasons, create a backup of the uxtheme.dll file that’s present in your C:\Windows\system32 directory, by renaming or copying it.
• Now, extract and copy the file that you downloaded from SoftPedia and paste it in the C:\Windows\system32 directory
• When a Window pops up telling you that some protected files have been modified, just click “Cancel” and “Yes” so as to keep the patched uxtheme.dll on your computer
• Restart your computer

Voila! Third Party themes should now work on your SP 3 machine.

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