Installation Requirements
A prerequisite for using any of the visual themes or styles on this site is to download and install Style XP 2.0 from TGTSoft. This software also has the ability to apply any of the logins, bootscreens, wallpapers or iconsets downloadable from this site.
Complete Themes
A lot of the great artists submitting to this site are designing complete visual themes for Windows XP/2003 comprised of different components such as shellstyles, wallpapers, sounds, visual styles, screensavers, icons, and cursors. ThemeXP distributes not only complete themes, visual styles and wallpapers separately, but also has Windows XP logins and bootscreens, as well as icons (.iconsets) for use with Style XP 2.0 available. A visual theme will consist of a .theme file and several other elements of the authors choosing (from the items listed above), of which a visual style (.msstyles) file is mandatory. If there is a single self-installing executable file inside the download, just unzip it and install. If the files are separate, then there should be a .theme file and an associated folder with the visual style and other author inclusions inside the .zip, (if it's packaged correctly). To install, open Style XP 2.0 and click on the 'Themes' button. If you used a self-installer and it did not launch Display Properties after installation, find the new theme on the list, highlight it, and then click the 'Apply Theme' button. If there was not a self-installer, then in the 'Themes' window, click on 'Add a New Theme...', navigate to where you have your .zip file stored and select it, then click 'Open'. Click 'Apply Theme' once your new theme displays on the list.
Visual Styles
If your download only consists of a visual style (.msstyles) file inside the .zip, then open Style XP 2.0 and click the 'Visual Styles' button. Next, click 'Add a New Style...' , navigate to where you have your .zip file stored and select it, then click 'Open'. Click 'Apply Style to Current Theme' once your new style displays on the list.
Logins
The simplest and safest way to change a login screen is to use a quality third-party application such as Style XP 2.0 from TGTSoft or
Logon Loader by Daniel Milner. If you feel comfortable doing it manually though, here are some excellent instructions courtesy of
bFarber Logins.
In Explorer, browse to C:\Windows\System32 and find the file named "logonui.exe".
Rename "logonui.exe" to "logonui.exe.bak". This way if anything messes up...you have a backup.
Place your new login in C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 and rename it to logonui.exe.
That's it! Now when you log off your new login screen will be there.
Wallpapers
Download the wallpaper .zip file to your computer.
Extract the .jpg file from the .zip and open it in Microsoft Windows Picture and Fax Viewer.
Right-click on the image and choose "Set as Desktop Background".
Your new wallpaper should appear as your desktop background.
Boot Screens
The simplest and safest way to change a boot screen is to also use a quality third-party application such as Style XP 2.0 from TGTSoft or
LogonUIBootRadomizer by UserXP. If you feel comfortable doing it manually though, here are the complete instructions for doing so.
In Explorer, browse to C:\Windows\System32 and find the file named "ntoskrnl.exe".
Copy "ntoskrnl.exe" to "ntoskrnl.exe.bak", (COPY not RENAME). This way if anything goes wrong...you will have a backup.
Extract the files inside the .zip file you downloaded to a temporary location of your hard drive, but NOT to C:\Windows\System32.
Reboot your computer into Safe Mode (hit F8 before the boot screen appears) or into true DOS mode (from a boot disk)
Browse to where you extracted the files for your new boot screen in Explorer and select the correct file to copy to C:\Windows\System32. If you have SP1 for Windows XP installed use ntoskrnlsp.exe, otherwise use ntoskrnl.exe. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO USE THE CORRECT FILE, OR YOUR SYSTEM WILL LOCK UP ON BOOT.
If using ntoskrnl.exe, copy the file to C:\Windows\System32 overwriting the existing ntoskrnl.exe, (which should have been backed up).
If you are going to use ntoskrnlsp.exe, delete ntoskrnl.exe in the temporary folder and rename ntoskrnlsp.exe to ntoskrnl.exe. Then copy the file to C:\Windows\System32 overwriting the existing ntoskrnl.exe, (which should have been backed up).
All done! Reboot your computer as you normally would and enjoy your new boot screen.
IconSets
The only way to apply IconSets is to use Style XP 2.0 from TGTSoft. To work with an IconSet, start Style XP and click on the 'Icons' button. From there things should be pretty well self-explanatory using Apply, Add, Delete, etc.
ExplorerBar Icons
The only way to apply Explorerbar (.iebarzip) icons is to use Style XP 2.0 from TGTSoft. If this is your first set that you are applying, create a directory title 'ExplorerBar' in 'C:\Windows\Resources\' and extract the .iebarzip file from your download to that location. Future downloads of this type can then be extracted to that location directly. StyleXP will find them automatically. To apply ExplorerBar icons, start Style XP and click on the 'ExplorerBar' button. From there things should be pretty well self-explanatory using Apply, Add, Delete, etc.
(This is the writting I found in the internet, unfortunatelly I couldn't recall the name. Thanks mate..)
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