Vista Theming

List of resources for Vista theming

2007-10-01T21:33:00.001+10:00

Well I got out PE Explorer and went through EVERY DLL, CPL, EXE and OCX in C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32, which took like 5 hours to do all up (there's a goddamn lot of files in there!) and I wrote down: The name of the file (eg. imageres.dll), the location (eg. C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32) and what I though the graphics\icons in the file belong to.
Now there was a lot of files I wasn't completely sure about what the graphics in them were for, but I've included them. I also included ones that wouldn't really be useful for skinning, but had something interesting in them (like the one I found that had heaps of icons from Windows 95 and 98)

It took a while to do but I think this will be able to help the Vista theming community, plus I learnt some interesting things about Windows while doing it.

(Location = where X: is your drive letter (C:, D:, etc..) )

MAJOR MAIN ONES FOR SKINNING:

Aero.msstyles
Contains: Most Graphics for the UI in Vista, the most important on of the lot
Location: X:\WINDOWS\Resources\Themes\Aero

shellstyle.dll
Contains: Graphics for the lower and upper panels in explorer
Location: X:\Windows\Resources\Themes\Aero\Shell\NormalColor

browseui.dll
Contains: Explore back/forward buttons and search graphics
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

Imageres.dll
Contains: Login Screen backgrounds and most windows Icons
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

Authui.dll
Contains: Login screen buttons and boot splash
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

basebrd.dll
Contains: Images for Winver (run > winver) and Login screen branding (Windows Vista Ultimate etc.. at the bottom
of login screen)
Location: X:\WINDOWS\Branding\Basebrd

Explorer.exe
Contains: Images for the startmenu logoff, sleep, lock and shutdown buttons
Location: X:\WINDOWS

oobefldr.dll
Contains: Images for the welcom centre
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

Others that contain various editable graphics:

mshtml.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for IE7
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

wmploc.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for Windows Media Player
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

ieframe.dll
Contains: Icons and Graphics for Internet Explorer 7
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

spwizimg.dll
Contains: Icons and Graphics for Vista Setup
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

netshell.dll
Contains: Icons and Graphics for network and sharing centre
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

networkmap.dll
Contains: Icons for internet sharing thing
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

FirewallControlPanel.exe
Contains: Icons for Firewall config thing
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

wpdshext.dll
Contains: Icons for things like windows portable devices
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

accessibilitycpl.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the accessibility control panel
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

firewall.cpl
Contains: Icons and graphics for the firewall control panel
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

networkexplorer.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for networked devices (360, PCs, etc..)
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

netcenter.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the network and sharing center
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

SyncCenter.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the synce centre in the control panel
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

mmcndmgr.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for ? (Old 16bit Icons, from win 95, 98)
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

oobefldr.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for welcome center
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

TouchX.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for some sort of touch interface
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

Authui.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the login screen, the splash at boot and also Contains: things related to the UAC,
UAC does not run if Authui.dll is missing or corrupt. (BE CAREFUL WHEN EDITING, ESPECIALLY WITH THE UIFILE)
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

mstscax.dll
Contains: graphics from windows xp, things like the shutdown background when you choose shutdown, restart etc..
also contains some new Icons from vista.
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

inetcpl.cpl
Contains: Icons and graphics for the internet options in control panel and IE7
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

pnidui.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the network center (Not sure)
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

mmc.exe
Contains: Icons and graphics for things like the services menu and anything that uses the mmc snap in
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

mssvp.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for windows mail
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

gameux.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the games center
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

wscui.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics security center
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

wlanpref.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the WLAN Preferences
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

connect.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for networking
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

setupapi.dll
Contains: old Icons from windows xp
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

wpccpl.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the parental control panel
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

wucltux.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for windows update
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

certmgr.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the certificate manager
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

wcnwiz.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the windows connect now
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

brcpl.dll
Contains: Icons for the backup and control center
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

browseui.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the windows shell
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

wscedit.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the security config ui module
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

PerfCenterCPL.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the performance center
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

comres.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for COM+
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

msxml3.dll
Contains: Icons for MSXML
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

AuxiliaryDisplayCpl.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for windows side show
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

themecpl.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the windows colour and appearance applet
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

wercon.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the problems and solutions thing
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

usercpl.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the user accounts control panel
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

appwiz.cpl
Contains: Icons and graphics for the Programs and features applet
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

mmsys.cpl
Contains: Icons and graphics for the audio control panel
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

NetProjW.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for connect to a network projector
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

shdocvw.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the shell doc object and control library
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

GPOAdmin.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the group policy management utility
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

wdc.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the reliability and performance monitor
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

bthprops.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the bluetooth control panel applet
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

RASMM.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the RAS Media Manager
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

cryptui.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the microsoft trust UI Provider
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

mblctr.exe
Contains: Icons and graphics for the mobility center
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

gpedit.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the group editor applet
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

FXSRESM.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the Microsoft Fax Resources
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

UltimateExtrasCPL.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the ultimate extras control panel
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

FXSST.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the fax service
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

wer.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for windows error reporting
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

winbrand.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics from Windows XP
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

printui.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the printer settings manager
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

systemcpl.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the System Control Panel
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

WFS.exe
Contains: Icons for Windows Fax and Scan
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

rasdlg.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the remote access dialog API
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

msctf.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the MSCTF Server
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

fveui.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the bitlocker drive encryption ui
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

slcc.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the Microsoft Licensing Commerce Client
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

ipsecnp.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the IP Security Management Snap-In
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

WSFR.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for Windows fax and scan resources
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

batmeter.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the battery meter in the taskbar on laptops
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

fvecpl.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the bitlocker drive encryption control panel
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

powercpl.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the power control panel
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

timedate.cpl
Contains: Icons and graphics for the time and date control panel
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

TabletPC.cpl
Contains: Icons and graphics for the tablet PC control panel
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

colorui.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the color control panel
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

netprof.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the network profile management UI
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

rasgcw.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the RAS Wizard Pages
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

user32.dll
Contains: about 4 Icons and graphics for IE
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

dsuitext.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the directory service common UI
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

themeui.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the windows theme control panel
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

emdmgmt.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the readyboost service
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

pnpui.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the Plug and Play UI (New Hardware found icon in taskbar)
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

comctl32.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the common controls library
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

dmdskres.dll

Contains: Icons and graphics for the Disk Management Snap-In
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

autoplay.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the autoplay control panel
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

AuthFWGP.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the Windows Firewall control panel
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

Main.cpl
Contains: Icons and graphics for the Mouse and Keyboard Control Panel
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

joy.cpl
Contains: Icons and graphics for the Game Controllers Control Panel
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

filemgmt.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the Services and Shared Folders
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

irprops.cpl
Contains: Icons and graphics for the Infrared Control Panel
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

desk.cpl
Contains: Icons and graphics for the Destkop Settings Control Panel
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

zipfldr.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for Windows ZIP folder support
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

intl.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the Control Panel
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

modemui.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the windows modem properties
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

CompatUI.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the Compatibility Warning
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

VAN.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the View available networks applet
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

srchadmin.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the indexing options
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

sysdm.cpl
Contains: Icons and graphics for the System settings control panel applet
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

mycomput.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the Computer management
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

wscntfy.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the windows security center notification application
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

control.exe
Contains: Icons for the windows control panel
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

iscicpl.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the iSCSI Initiator control panel applet
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

FXSUTILITY.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the fax utility
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

mstack.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the task scheduler interface
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

wpdwcn.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the windows portable device WCN wizard
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

wlanui.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the wireless profile user interface
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

icsigd.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the internet gateway device properties
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

SndVolISSO.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the tray volume
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

morIcons.dll
Contains: heaps of old MSDOS Icons, thought it was interesting
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

hdwwiz.cpl
Contains: Icons and graphics for the add hardware wizard
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

syncui.dll
Contains: Icons and graphics for the windows briefcase
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

ncpa.cpl
Contains: Icons and graphics for the network connections control panel stub
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

powercfg.cpl
Contains: Icons and graphics for the power management applet
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

mobsync.exe
Contains: Icons and graphics for the mobile sync centre
Location: X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

2007-10-01T21:33:00.000+10:00

Tools of the trade

2007-09-28T20:44:00.001+10:00

Okay so you want to make a theme for Vista right? Well your going to need some applications first.

Heres what I use:

Resource Editor
A must to get the graphics out of the needed files.

PE Explorer
This is one of the most used tools you will use, this program isn't free (I'm sure you can find a way around that) but it's the best I've used, and it's what I use.
Alternatives:
ResHack

Graphics Editor
If you're going to be making graphics for themes you're obviously going to need a graphics editor, here's a few you could use:

Adobe Photoshop: The best graphics editor on the market and has been for a long time, but it comes at a price, Photoshop is insanely expensive (but also easily obtainable). It's what I use since it has the best UI I've used on any graphics editing application. (Windows and Mac only)

GIMP: The open source alternative to Photoshop, the price? Free of course. This is good in someways but The GIMP has some problems. For starters the terrible and confusing UI, which makes doing simple tasks frustrating sometimes, but for the price and for it's feature set GIMP is defiantly one of the best image editors after Photoshop. (For all platforms Windows, Mac, Linux)

Hex Editor
Not needed often, but comes in handy when editing the VARIANT file in a theme.

XVI32: A lightweight free hex editor that will do what you need to edit whatever files you need to. It's what I use. (Windows Only)

Must Have Utilities
These are applications you MUST have if you want to successfully create a Vista theme.

Alpha Image Converter: You need this make proper PNGs that will work in Vista (see my post called "creating proper transparent aero compatible pngs") Now I couldn't find who created this little utility since I found it on a forum, but I've uploaded it and you can download it by clicking the name of it.

And that's basically all you need to start making a Vista skin.

VistaXT Version 2.0 R2 Progress

2007-09-28T17:30:00.000+10:00

If you already didn't guess I make Vista themes, my major one called VistaXT is on release 1 of version 2.0 at the moment. You can find it and all the older versions (V1.0 releases) at my deviantart page: http://skate3214.deviantart.com)

Anyways I just thought I'd update you on my progress for the new version coming soon.
The first major change will be that I want to include an installer for the them that will:
-Take ownership of the necessary files
-Rename the files to "filename.dll.bak" so it's possible to restore it from a backup
-Copy over the modified files
-Restart explorer to show the changes

I'm pretty much finished with the installer, I just have to test it and test different ways to package it (SFX RAR, etc...)

The installer is coded using a scripting language called Autoit, which is a BASIC type language.
Other parts of it are a small executable for restarting Explorer.exe and a small one for taking ownership of all the files. These are just batch files compiled to an exe.

I plan on releasing the source code to the Autoit script and the executables with the project, so other people can build off it to make there own installers.

Now on to the graphical part. I've changed all the progress bars for the copy/paste dialogues and the meters on remaining hard drive space (basically anything that has a progress bar). I've toned down the highlights on the start bar as I got some complaints of them being to bright.
Two themes are now included (possibly three) one with the normal dark taskbar, another with a lighter more transparent taskbar and probably another with a dark taskbar but a toned down reflection.
Also new is a brand new login background and splash screen, with a new more cleaner design.
I've also for the first time have made a bootscreen (to be used with the msconfig no gui boot option)
Also included are new smoother, cleaner push buttons, instead of the old sharp harsh looking ones.
There's a few other thing's I have changed to but I can't remember everything at the moment, I also still have quite a few more things to change. But so far this release is coming along good.

If you wanna have a look at Autoit you can visit there website, it's a very handy scripting language:
http://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3/

Creating proper transparent Aero Compatible PNGs

2007-09-28T11:21:00.000+10:00

Okay this is the first tutorial in the set in helping you make a start on making a theme for Vista.
I originally posted this on JoeJoe.org a while ago.

Okay first what I mean by compatible PNGs is this:

See how there is white around the image, this is because of how programs like Photoshop save PNG files. So we need to make it so it looks like this:

See no more white!

Okay to do this you need to have your image, I'm going to use the startbutton as the example because this was the one that was giving me trouble in the beginning.

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Lets Start!

Okay so make your image in Photoshop like so:

Remember it must have a transparent background

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Now download the program called "Alpha Icon Converter"

http://www.sendspace.com/file/e4am97

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And run it you'll see the program come up, make it so that it looks like this:

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And drag your .PNG file onto the program and you'll get a .BMP file with the same name back

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Now open both these files in Photoshop, and drag the .PNG layer onto the .BMP layer like so:

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Now position the new layer exactly over the top of the "Background" layer in the image:

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Now select the "Background" and use a paint brush to completely paint it black, the whole thing, make sure you don't miss any spots!

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Now save that file as a .BMP file with these settings:

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Now drag that new .BMP file onto "Alpha Icon Converter" with these settings:

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And wala! the new .PNG that has been created is the one you use to replace the resource in your msstyles file or whatever file you are modding. This technique can be used on any image that has that problem, not all images have this problem but a few of them do.

Happy modding! :)

First Post!

2007-09-28T11:08:00.000+10:00

Hey everyone, I decided to make this blog to help people in designing some new themes and skins for Windows Vista. It will contain things such as creating proper transparent PNGs for use in Vista, the location of the graphics in what resource and other tips and helpful hints.

Hopefully with this we'll start seeing some good ORIGINAL themes and not all the longhorn and OSX rip offs I've been seeing all the time :)