Go ahead and delete several uxtheme.dll?

[tradernick]

I'll try not to be one of those guys who says 'help!!' and then sits back waiting for someone to do my work for me.

Briefly, I saw a beautiful WIN XP desktop at Lifehacker and thought "gotta get me one of those'. Started by getting something simple running (RocketDock). Then tried to change my taskbar.

My problem is this. I ran UXTheme Multipatcher v 5.0, then downloaded a few themes and a taskbar from DeviantArt. Followed the protocols for pathnames, got the files extracted to the Resources-->themes folder and got them named correctly. However, the visual styles do not appear in the Appearance tab dropdown list.

I am as yet unsure that what I am downloading should just show up automatically if I get it extracted into the right place. For example, I tried downloading these items.

http://kaelri.deviantart.com/art/Enigma-103823591

http://dimage.deviantart.com/art/BW-Thin-Taskbar-65432494

The first seems to be a complete package of items necessary to create the look the guy had going. The next is supposed to be just a nice taskbar. I have yet to figure out how this all works, and how I get just a taskbar loaded, and whether or not that first one should pop up in the Appearance tab dropdown. However, I am willing to figure all this out on my own. I just have one question

Since these items did not show up in the Appearance tab dropdown, I looked at the 'Pinned FAQ: Using Msstyles for Windows' in this forum. There it says this

"You should do a search for uxtheme.dll and delete all instances of the file NOT in C:\Windows\system32. Extra uxtheme.dll files can conflict and cause problems. Deleting them will solve almost every issue regarding patching."

I used SearchEverything to look for these files and here's what I got back - there are 4 of them on my C: drive

uxtheme.dll C:WINDOWS\$NtServicePackUninstall$

uxtheme.dll C:WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386

uxtheme.dll C:WINDOWS\system32

uxtheme.dll C:WINDOWS\system32\dllcache

Now... I am not a tech guy as you have figured out. I do not want to have to test my TrueImage backup plan when I fry something while playing around with this stuff, if I can avoid it.

Should I be deleting any of these 4 items? I am running XP Pro Version 2002 SP2, and I update it pretty regularly.

(If anyone feels like giving me a quick indication about whether either the full theme or the taskbar linked above should show up in the Appearance tab dropdown, that would be a bonus).

Thanks

Nick

Edited June 20, 2009 by tradernick

[Udedenkz]

dllcache folder can be deleted.

[tradernick]

Thanks,

[Udedenkz]

The one in system32 is probably the one you shouldn't touch... :/

[CrashG]

I've never had to delete anything. I just add a .bak after the .exe and dropped the modded one in \system32 and was done. Never had a problem patching it that way.

It's most likely safe to delete the ones in every location EXECPT the System32 one.

[Rafael]

Or just forget doing this and install UxStyle now. http://www.uxstyle.com

[Colin-uk Veteran]

the one in the "$NtServicePackUninstall$" folder is a backup that would get restored if you unistalled a service pack or window update.

the one in the "i386" folder is part of the last service pack or windows update you installed.

the one in your system32 folder is the one thats used by windows.

the one in the dllcache folder is a cached copy of the one in the system32 folder which is loaded by windows instead of the one in system32 folder because its faster, its usually safe to delete this because windows will just use the one in system32 then.

so in conclusion, it doesnt matter about the first 2 because windows doesnt use them :p

if you want to replace your file, you need to delete the one in dllcache folder and the one in system32, although windows wont let you remove it if its in use so you might need to use a patcher program to do it on reboot.