Changing visual style for classic logon in XP

[RadishTM Veteran]

This has been requested many times in this forum, so a sticky would be appropriate :)

Now this involves using the Registry Editor in XP, make sure you are familiar with how it works.

To open Registry Editor in XP -

Start > Run > type "regedit" - no quotes.

The Windows registry is in a tree format, drill down to the specific key, in this case these three keys need to be edited to allow visual styles other than Luna on the classic logon screen in XP -

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ThemeManager

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ThemeManager

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ThemeManager

When you are there, look over to the right-hand pane and look for this key -

DllName - this key is for the Visual Style you are using currently, Luna is the default Visual Style in XP = %SystemRoot%\Resources\themes\Luna\Luna.msstyles

If you want to use a different visual style other than Luna for the classic logon, you have to edit the path to it.

For example, if you are using b0se's Opus OS visual style the key's value would look like this if you edited it -

%SystemRoot%\Resources\themes\OpusOS\OpusOS.msstyles

So you point this key to the visual style you want displayed at logon, this has to be done three times at the respective keys that I've shown.

But that's not all, if a visual style has multiple sub-styles e.g. other colour variations, and you want to show a specfic colour of the theme at the classic logon, another key has to be edited -

ColorName - this key determines the colour of the custom visual style you have chosen to be shown at the classic logon. In the default Luna visual style it is NormalColor - this states the first colour in the visual style, so if you want to use Luna's Olive Green for the logon - the key value has to be edited to Homestead.

The way you find out these 'ColorName' is via the folder the visual style is kept in, under C:\WINDOWS\Resources\Themes, in every visual style folder there is a folder called Shell - the Shellstyles for the visual style, the names of these folders are the keys for the ColorName key in the registry.

Once you have found this, you can then edit the key to change the colour variation of the visual style at logon other than the default colour of a visual style :yes:

Now you should be able to see the visual styles you want on the classic logon, as well as any colour sub-styles within your custom visual style :)

If you have any problems with this, contact me via PM.

Radish?

[RadishTM Veteran]

You can also export your animations, colours, cursors, cleartype settings, keyboard settings, metrics and fonts, screensavers, mouse settings, sounds, and wallpapers to the classic logon with the use of Microsoft's Tweak UI.

Download TweakUI for Windows here

Radish?

[RadishTM Veteran]

Some members have requested this via PM, so here it is -

How to leave the classic style on the logon as default (no visual style) -

At these three keys -

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ThemeManager

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ThemeManager

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ThemeManager

There is a key in the right-hand pane that need to be changed so that NO visual style is applied at the startup logon, and so you can enjoy the classic theme there too as well as in Windows XP.

The key is called ThemeActive, and by default it's value is 1 - to apply visual styles at the logon screen, all you need to do is change this value to so NO visual style is applied to the logon screen.

Hope this helps other members too :)

Radish?