uxtheme.dll problems please help!

[Mike521]

If anyone can help me figure this out I'd REALLY appreciate it!

OK here's my story:

I had XP installed with Service Pack 1, and patched it with the PatchXP.exe file that I downloaded here. Everything worked fine and I changed my theme at will.

Then I had a PC problem and had to repair my XP installation.
After repairing the installation, I installed Service Pack 1 again. Then I downloaded all other updates etc and got everything just about back to normal.
Then I ran PatchXP, and it refused to work for some reason! No matter how many times I run it, unpatch, patch, reboot, nothing seems to work.
I installed that program "StyleXP" and that did work, but I don't want some extra unnecessary program running just to replace uxtheme.dll.. Plus I'd have to eventually pay for StyleXP, right?
So while StyleXP was installed, I made a copy of the uxtheme.dll file, assuming it was patched. Then I removed Style XP, and renamed the "patched" uxtheme.dll file to be the main uxtheme. Then rebooted, and XP still won't allow me to change my theme
Can anyone help?

Also, for the record, if I go to display properties and then click the Appearance tab, it takes a REALLY long time to show up. As in like, 30 seconds, as opposed to 1 second. Its been like that ever since this whole mess began, after repairing the XP install.

Thanks in advance for any solutions I get!

 

[Hipster Doofus]

Sounds like you're in a real mess there. This won't help now but for future reference you should 'slipstream' the xp cd with sp1. (put them on one disk). Then when you do a repair it will be with sp1 not the origianl xp. Instructions are here.

The only thing to suggest with the problem is to boot into safe mode, move the theme file to the desktop. Reboot then try & apply the patch. (I don't know what will happen moving the file. It's just a guess)

 

[gajef]

This happened to me also... Until i removed the UXTHEME.DLL from the directory where sp1 was installed....

Do a search for uxtheme.dll (use the advanced search options to search through system/hidden folders)...

If this is the problem you will find one installed in a directory other then c:\windows\system32 and c:\windows\system32\dllcache

Also remember to remove your orig xp cd from the drive before you do the pathing (otherwise the patched one will be replaced by the original file)

Gert-Jan

 

[2z]

this is how I fix it ;

delete this file uxtheme.bak
from here C:\WINDOWS\system32

run the uxtheme theme patcher

wait a few seconds for the file protection notice
click no then yes & reboot

that should do it

 

[Mike521]

its working!!! thanks for the help guys! here's what I did

Hipster, I tried what you said, but when I came back to windows, explorer wouldn't load because apparently it needs uxtheme.dll (it didn't prompt me to insert the windows CD to recopy it).
I was still able to get to a command prompt though, so I replaced uxtheme and started explorer manually.

Then I booted into safe mode with command prompt, and followed gajef's advice on making sure all copies of uxtheme were taken care of.
I had 2 copies of it, one in system32 and one in dllcache. I renamed both the system32 one and the dllcache one to be uxtheme.bak.
Then, still in safe mode command prompt, I ran PatchXP.exe and patched the non-existant uxtheme.dll. Then I checked system32, and a new uxtheme.dll had appeared. None had appeared in dllcache.

Then I rebooted, and everything works perfectly! And there's no slowdown when clicking the appearance tab either

Thanks for the help!!

 

[Hipster Doofus]

Glad you got it sorted. Now I know what to suggest & what not to suggest.