[Intro]
When Windows XP was popular, many users in its popular years loved to customize the system.
And the first thing that always comes to the mind in terms of customization is just the desktop themes.
People created themes for all tastes: creating themes based on a movie or cartoon series, or just from the soul of drawing something original.
There are even entire programs that could create their own design theme.
And with the release of Windows Vista and the complete redesign there, people started making Windows XP so that it looked like Windows Vista as much as possible, there are even entire manuals on the subject.
The design system itself, in general, appeared a long time ago, almost from the very first versions of Windows.
So that's what we're going to do in this video?
First, we find out when theme support first became available in the system in general.
Second, let's do a little experiment and find out how the system will work without the themes
And finally, thirdly and most interestingly, we will take open one theme and see how it is arranged from the inside.
So, let's get started.
Some sort of system appearance could be installed back in Windows 1.0: in the system settings, you select a window element and use the sliders below to select color, brightness, and saturation.
Later, in Windows 3.1, in addition to all the other present functionalities, new variations of themes are added.
In Windows 95, along with a complete redesign of the graphical interface, improved and the system design.
Now you can set there not only colors, but also set your own size to some elements, height and font outline to some elements...
In versions of Windows before XP there was no design theme engine.
That is, we were only using the classic theme, and the installation of a custom theme in the system by standard means was out of the question.
But there were special programs that could do this.
For example WindowBlinds or Revolutions Pack 9.
Whereas the first program was only available free of charge in trial form and had to be purchased for a full license, the second program was completely free and freely distributable.
I already told you about Revolutions Pack 9 and what it contains in one of my videos on the channel.
Hmm, what are we talking about?
Oh, yes, that's right!
Windows XP finally has the ability to put custom design themes.
But you could only install themes that contained the publisher's official digital signature or Microsoft's signature.
Windows XP contains the Luna design theme with three color schemes: blue, silver and olive.
I don't think the theme needs any more in-depth introduction.
In addition, the Media Center Edition came with the new official Royale theme, which could also be started with normal XP.
And with the release of the Zune player, the Windows XP theme of the same name came out and you can also install it without any problems.
All themes are stored in the Themes folder, which is located in the Resources folder and which is...
In total, you see the full path on your screens.
Of course, in addition to the new themes, it is still possible to return the classic theme.
But the classic theme is not a theme at all. This style is generated by the system itself and you can't delete it as a theme.
While we're on the subject of deletion, why don't we do a little experiment: let's delete the Resources folder in Windows and see what happens.
Those people who watched my channel in the 2010s must remember that video where I just showed in a few minutes, without any explanation, how the system would work without the Resources folder.
And since such topic of the video, and in the 2010s I did not really want to do videos with the voice, I will show it again, but in more detail: with my explanations and, in fact, with my voice
In front of us now is Windows 7 with the Aero theme installed.
Standard means, without any manipulation of system rights, this folder can not be removed.
Therefore, the folder is deleted by the tried and tested old method - via File Shredder.
And after deleting nothing happens, only in the Explorer action menu, which is under the address bar, takes on a classic appearance.
But why...
Why doesn't everything break right away after removal?
The thing is that our theme is already stored in memory, the corresponding service "Themes" in the current user session and drawn by Desktop Window Manager - a component of Windows, which deals with the rendering of themes and provides the work of Windows Aero.
I go back into the account and see that there is no trace of our applied theme left.
Automatically applied the classic theme with the sizes and selected colors of our past theme, which was installed before removal.
And in the personalization, except for the regional theme and the theme "basic", which incidentally does not work, nothing left.
There you go.
But if you delete the Resources folder in a modern Windows, for example in 8.1 or 10, or even in Windows 11, the system simply becomes unworkable.
Instead of a login screen, we just see a black screen.
B R I C K E D.
And now we move seamlessly from experimentation to one of the interesting things - the question of "How do themes work from the inside?"
Before we start opening the theme file, we'll first go through each file and find out what it's for.
As an example, we'll take the standard Aero theme. In the Themes folder there is a file with the extension .theme and the actual folder with the theme name.
If we open aero.theme in notepad, we can see the configuration: path of icons in file for "Computer", "Control Panel", "Recycle Bin" and similar folders;...
...path to the wallpaper and its position on the desktop;...
...data about the screensaver (in our case here there no data), the selected sound scheme and the cursors.
Well and most importantly, here you can see what theme and its type are loaded, in our case it is Aero.msstyles with NormalSize, that is in standard size;...
...and with which system color mode the theme should apply (in our case here a dark theme is specified)
aero.msstyles is the theme file itself, we will learn about it later.
File shellstyle.dll - in fact, this file is no longer used anywhere, opening it, not only do we see a patch from Windows XP, and even CSS-code from those days in addition.
Most of the resources in this file were used when you first opened a system folder and Windows Explorer told you that the folder was hidden.
And on the side was a picture taken from that file.
Oh yes, I forgot to mention that we will use Resource Hacker to decompile the theme file.
In short, you can use it to view and modify program and system files.
It is suitable for different purposes: or just to find easter eggs, or just to translate the program into your native language.
Before I open the file, think about what do you think the theme might consist of?
Have you thought about it? Write your opinions in the comments!
Open the file aero.msstyles in this program and immediately see a lot of folders.
The first folders in the list hardly contain any understandable information, but one folder, in fact, reveals all the secrets.
So, I previously asked the question "what do you think a theme might consist of?" - now it's time for the right answer.
The theme consist of...
The theme consist of... [drum roll]
...of individual pictures. It's not just dozens of them, it's hundreds.
Checkboxes of different kinds and positions, switches, buttons, button icons and a bunch of different parts and elements.
And in the STREAM folder we can see one big picture where almost everything that involves Aero technology is put together.
Even the Aero glass is there :D
That is, in fact, the theme consists of ordinary pictures, the system simply sets each element to the desired picture, and eventually we see a beautiful theme.
If you open the Luna theme from Windows XP and open the TEXTFILE folder, you will see files with the configuration of each window element: font, color, size, font style and the path to the image, which, as I understand it, is superimposed over the classic theme.
Logically, if you remove these pictures, we will have a classic theme. With the specified colors that were specified in the configuration.
And basically, that's how themes work.
As I said earlier, the standard allows you to install and apply themes that are officially digitally signed by the publisher or Microsoft itself.
But themes that do not have this signature cannot be applied.
It will either just be a standard theme, or a classic theme, or will break all altogether - it depends on the version of Windows.
So, how do you put unofficial, or third-party themes?
There is no official way that Microsoft itself would give, which is not surprising.
In order to make the system apply third-party themes, you need a special patcher.
However, such actions were not approved by Microsoft itself and in fact it violated the license agreement, but wait, did that ever stop anyone?!
This patcher makes changes to the files that make the theme system work as a whole.
After applying the patch, it is possible to install third-party themes, because the files simply do not check the existence of the publisher's digital signature.
The first presence of the Windows themes engine and his developments have appeared in the early beta versions of Windows XP, which is not even called XP, but it was all called as Windows Whistler.
Many themes were made for the system throughout development, but they changed over time and eventually we saw the Luna theme, which has become the main and, in fact, legendary style of Windows.
But, however, in 2020 the sources of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 were leaked.
In these sources found a theme that never saw the light of day - this theme is called Candy.
There are a couple of screenshots on the Internet that show how this design theme works.
And as you can already understand, the theme almost completely parodies the Aqua interface, which appeared in Mac OS X. You can draw your own conclusions.
Although, personally, I think that they made this theme on purpose, in order to test the theme engine.
Does everything apply, does everything change in the system if you set a theme.
But then again, the truth is unlikely to be known.
What's up with the themes now?
At the very least, they still exist.
However, there are far fewer customization options.
I remember how with every new build of Windows 10, like 1803, 1809 and so on, the theme engine broke and the theme that was meant for 1803 no longer fit 1809.
Even if I somehow patched the files, it was still the same picture - the theme did not work correctly.
There is no way to change the size of the buttons - it is now fixed.
And the classic style was removed, since Windows 8.
Well, how do you say removed: it was just carefully hidden. The style is activated only through special programs and scripts.
Again, however, as new semi-annual builds came out, the ways to bring back the classic theme were fix, but enthusiasts didn't give up and looked for more and more ways.
And what's the result of all this?
Themes were a very good, and to me, even a fun way to decorate the system in some way.
You could make the design whatever you wanted it to be.
But over time, this whole movement with the themes is gone and this functionality is essentially unnecessary.
I personally am satisfied with the standard style of the system and I have absolutely no complaints...
What do you think about themes, what was your favorite theme and did you ever put it up?
Think back and write in the comments!
That's it now, thanks for watching
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