First thing that you have to do if you want to change your Win7 theme is install universal theme patcher.
Before we start, answer this question:
Do you want to install a theme that has the file extension .themepack or is it a complex shell theme that actually changes the appearance of your operating system and has the file extension .theme and usually comes with a whole folder of files?
If the answer is that it is a .themepack theme, you can install the theme with a simple double-click. If it’s not, then proceed with the next step.
Before installing 3rd-party themes: Create a backup
Microsoft does not allow you to use themes that modify the shell of Windows 7 or other parts like the Start orb or the taskbar. In order to install those themes you will have to patch your uxtheme.dll, themeui.dll and themeservice.dll, which can be found “C:\Windows\system32\”.
Before you try to install any themes please make a backup of those files!! I won’t repeat this and you are doing any changes at your own risk, I don’t take any responsibility.
Installing Universal Theme Patcher
Alternatively, you can download the Universal Theme Patcher created by deepxwthat works with Windows XP SP2 SP3/2003/2008/Vista SP1 SP2/Windows 7, 32bit(x86)/64bit(x64). This won’t create another background process, instead it will patch your files.
Download Universal Theme Patcher.
This patcher will automatically patch the following files on Windows 7: uxtheme.dll, themeui.dll, themeservice.dll
In order to patch the files, you will to run this with administrator privileges. To provide admin rights, right-click on the file and select “Run as administrator”:
The tool will automatically create a backup of the file, so it’s totally safe, because you can always restore the original file:
One last step: To install 3rd party themes, you have to copy the complete folder to C:\Windows\Resources\Themes
