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Post by goodbytes on Feb 18, 2024 20:46:22 GMT -8
I got about half way through this and had to stop - are there .reg files to reverse those entries?
This does seem like a good method but while going through it I noticed the instructions can be a little confusing. Has anybody successfully done this as of Feb 2024, and if so, were there any changes to the current instructions?
Thank you
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clara
Sophomore Member
Posts: 118 
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Post by clara on Feb 19, 2024 4:44:03 GMT -8
I got about half way through this and had to stop - are there .reg files to reverse those entries? Most of these registry changes in the tutorial are actually related to third-party software and just conveniently imports the settings you need in one go, Everything in those keys is reversible in GUI of said programs. You could make a UserPreferenceMask backup if you want before changing it. |
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Post by spaghettiaero on Feb 19, 2024 7:04:42 GMT -8
alright, i've made a change of plans...Will i have just to delete all the registry files used, then disable every windhawk mod and then remove evey other program installed to revert every change?
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Post by anixx on Feb 19, 2024 7:25:23 GMT -8
alright, i've made a change of plans...Will i have just to delete all the registry files used, then disable every windhawk mod and then remove evey other program installed to revert every change? Deleting registry files will do just nothing, lol |
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crumble266
Freshman Member
Posts: 26 
OS: Win10 LTSC 2021 (21H2)
CPU: i7-4790
RAM: 32GB
GPU: GTX 1060
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Post by crumble266 on Feb 19, 2024 13:23:10 GMT -8
I got about half way through this and had to stop - are there .reg files to reverse those entries? This does seem like a good method but while going through it I noticed the instructions can be a little confusing. Has anybody successfully done this as of Feb 2024, and if so, were there any changes to the current instructions? Thank you Yes, it works well with Win 10.
As for making the whole thing work for you, let us know where you are stuck (with screenshots)
If you want to revert, don't worry about the .reg, they don't break anything from Windows. Just uninstall ExplorerPatcher and Windhawk (or disable its mods) and your Windows installation will be back to normal.
I made a video if it can help, you can watch it here (no sound) :
The video is not perfect i was not very well prepared at the end, but you can see the different steps. (i did not install " 7+ Taskbar Tweaker" in the video, it is mostly to fix spacing in systray icons) |
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Post by spaghettiaero on Feb 20, 2024 13:10:20 GMT -8
alright, i've made a change of plans...Will i have just to delete all the registry files used, then disable every windhawk mod and then remove evey other program installed to revert every change? Deleting registry files will do just nothing, lol Well, i uninstalled some programs and even deleted the Win2k theme app, but some parts of my windows interface are still yellow after reboot. what do i do to remove it? (it's yellow because of that color change i guess.)
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Post by goodbytes on Feb 21, 2024 21:12:39 GMT -8
Yes, it works well with Win 10.
As for making the whole thing work for you, let us know where you are stuck (with screenshots)
If you want to revert, don't worry about the .reg, they don't break anything from Windows. Just uninstall ExplorerPatcher and Windhawk (or disable its mods) and your Windows installation will be back to normal.
I made a video if it can help, you can watch it here (no sound) :
The video is not perfect i was not very well prepared at the end, but you can see the different steps. (i did not install " 7+ Taskbar Tweaker" in the video, it is mostly to fix spacing in systray icons) Thank you so much for this video, incredibly helpful.
I've hit a roadblock with desk2k.cpl. In your video when you open that file you get one error message and then the program opens. I get three messages which are all the same and then the program opens - but it freezes. No options in Appearance like yours, and it freezes at that point. Any ideas? I rebooted, no changes.
"The problem is desk2k.cpl - I can run it but after click on 'Appearance' desk2k is freezing. So it is not possible to change anything. There is solution, desk2k.cpl works now: I replaced two newly installed rundll32.exes by those two I found in Windows.old [10.0.22000.653] (both places, respectively: c:\Windows\SysWOW64\rundll32.exe and c:\Windows\System32\rundll32.exe)."
I don't have a Windows.old folder to pull these files from.
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crumble266
Freshman Member
Posts: 26
OS: Win10 LTSC 2021 (21H2)
CPU: i7-4790
RAM: 32GB
GPU: GTX 1060
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Post by crumble266 on Feb 22, 2024 4:59:46 GMT -8
Personally, i have only tried with Win 10 LTSC 2021 (21H2 = 19044.4046).
What is your Windows 10 version ? A regular up-to-date one (22H2) ?
I could send you the rundll32 but i am not sure it is a good idea.
Someone else can help maybe.
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clara
Sophomore Member
Posts: 118
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Post by clara on Feb 22, 2024 6:27:17 GMT -8
desk2k.cpl is glitchy and doesn't work really well on Windows 10. I recommend using desk040.cpl (from ReactOS) for switching color schemes or deskn.cpl. Both will work with .reg file themes provided with desk2k.cpl. Themes.exe is by far the best color scheme manager but it stores them differently, so you still would need to manually go through every theme with a .cpl of your choice and save each in Themes.exe manually. A bit tedious, but worth it, i think, since it has functionality better suited for classic theme on modern Windows. All of the files can be found on forum, but i will attach them here for convenience.
Regarding Windows.old folder: it's simply a residual files from a Windows reinstall, so probably something gone awry in that particular user's case. Happens, but i don't think replacing rundll32.exe is either safe nor a universal solution.
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clara
Sophomore Member
Posts: 118
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Post by clara on Feb 22, 2024 7:48:19 GMT -8
Deleting registry files will do just nothing, lol Well, i uninstalled some programs and even deleted the Win2k theme app, but some parts of my windows interface are still yellow after reboot. what do i do to remove it? (it's yellow because of that color change i guess.)
"Piss scheme" seems to be a part of Windows 11, try changing system colors with desk040.cpl to a windows aero color scheme (white and light blue title bar) and see if this fixes it. I don't use Win11, so i don't know for sure the quirks of piss theme. |
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Post by OrthodoxWin32 on Feb 22, 2024 8:42:37 GMT -8
desk2k.cpl is glitchy and doesn't work really well on Windows 10. I recommend using desk040.cpl (from ReactOS) for switching color schemes or deskn.cpl. Both will work with .reg file themes provided with desk2k.cpl. Themes.exe is by far the best color scheme manager but it stores them differently, so you still would need to manually go through every theme with a .cpl of your choice and save each in Themes.exe manually. A bit tedious, but worth it, i think, since it has functionality better suited for classic theme on modern Windows. All of the files can be found on forum, but i will attach them here for convenience.
Regarding Windows.old folder: it's simply a residual files from a Windows reinstall, so probably something gone awry in that particular user's case. Happens, but i don't think replacing rundll32.exe is either safe nor a universal solution. I find that themes.exe is the best theme selector, totally adapted for modern Windows. And even for older Windows, it contains settings that don't exist in the original desk.cpl. Interestingly, it is based on ReactOS; As changing other display settings works with the ReactOS applet, it is theoretically possible to merge all of this into a single applet. |
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Post by OrthodoxWin32 on Feb 22, 2024 8:56:59 GMT -8
"Piss scheme" seems to be a part of Windows 11, try changing system colors with desk040.cpl to a windows aero color scheme (white and light blue title bar) and see if this fixes it. I don't use Win11, so i don't know for sure the quirks of piss theme. These are the Aero theme and four high contrast themes, which are not identical to those included with the classic theme until Windows 7 The old high contrast theme and standard Windows theme are unused but still included in the registry, so they appear with the old desk.cpl.
In Windows 11, I feel like the Aero theme has some small differences from Windows 10, and the high contrast themes are no longer the same as Windows 10. They now have names and sweet colors , and the "Desert" theme is perhaps the famous "Piss scheme" you want to talk about. Note that I'm only talking about the schemes that will display with the classic theme, not the different visual styles.
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clara
Sophomore Member
Posts: 118
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Post by clara on Feb 22, 2024 9:35:39 GMT -8
I find that themes.exe is the best theme selector, totally adapted for modern Windows. And even for older Windows, it contains settings that don't exist in the original desk.cpl. Interestingly, it is based on ReactOS; As changing other display settings works with the ReactOS applet, it is theoretically possible to merge all of this into a single applet. It is by far the best solution indeed and i think the way it stores registry settings for system colors is actually superior. Also, adding desk.cpl functionality for desktop wallpaper and display settings would be great further development well into perfection territory. |
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Post by anixx on Feb 22, 2024 9:47:17 GMT -8
Well, i uninstalled some programs and even deleted the Win2k theme app, but some parts of my windows interface are still yellow after reboot. what do i do to remove it? (it's yellow because of that color change i guess.)
"Piss scheme" seems to be a part of Windows 11, try changing system colors with desk040.cpl to a windows aero color scheme (white and light blue title bar) and see if this fixes it. I don't use Win11, so i don't know for sure the quirks of piss theme. I have never seen that piss scheme on Win11. |
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Post by goodbytes on Feb 22, 2024 16:00:38 GMT -8
desk2k.cpl is glitchy and doesn't work really well on Windows 10. I recommend using desk040.cpl (from ReactOS) for switching color schemes or deskn.cpl. Both will work with .reg file themes provided with desk2k.cpl. Themes.exe is by far the best color scheme manager but it stores them differently, so you still would need to manually go through every theme with a .cpl of your choice and save each in Themes.exe manually. A bit tedious, but worth it, i think, since it has functionality better suited for classic theme on modern Windows. All of the files can be found on forum, but i will attach them here for convenience.
Regarding Windows.old folder: it's simply a residual files from a Windows reinstall, so probably something gone awry in that particular user's case. Happens, but i don't think replacing rundll32.exe is either safe nor a universal solution.
Thank you for this! I'll replace the desk2k.cpl step with this and see if I can then complete the remaining steps. Really appreciate the help so far - this forum is great. Never thought I would miss classic Windows!
My Windows is as up to date as it can be without upgrading to W11.
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Post by goodbytes on Feb 22, 2024 18:59:02 GMT -8
Update - all of the files open but when clicking Apply on OK, it freezes, hangs and is unable to apply any of the themes. Am I missing something here? Thank you for your help so far.
This is how my desktop currently looks. Not quite there yet: |
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Post by goodbytes on Feb 24, 2024 12:02:39 GMT -8
Sorry to post again. Stuck at the desk040.cpl step. None of the files work, they all freeze/hang. I don't know what would cause them to just hang?
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clara
Sophomore Member
Posts: 118
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Post by clara on Feb 24, 2024 13:03:17 GMT -8
Apparently, there are some reports about deskn.cpl crashing, which is peculiar, since it was a part of SCT for years.
I guess you could apply theme color settings directly in to registry and then save it in themes.exe. Make sure to save current theme settings in themes.exe as well, you might need it in case you want to roll back. You could also export HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\Colors registry key beforehand if you really fret about this, although that and saving default color scheme in themes.exe is very much the same thing
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\Colors]
"ActiveBorder"="212 208 200"
"ActiveTitle"="10 36 106"
"AppWorkSpace"="128 128 128"
"ButtonAlternateFace"="181 181 181"
"ButtonDkShadow"="0 0 0"
"ButtonFace"="212 208 200"
"ButtonHiLight"="0 0 0"
"ButtonLight"="212 208 200"
"ButtonShadow"="212 208 200"
"ButtonText"="0 0 0"
"GradientActiveTitle"="166 202 240"
"GradientInactiveTitle"="192 192 192"
"GrayText"="0 0 0"
"Hilight"="10 36 106"
"HilightText"="255 255 255"
"HotTrackingColor"="0 0 128"
"InactiveBorder"="212 208 200"
"InactiveTitle"="128 128 128"
"InactiveTitleText"="212 208 200"
"InfoText"="0 0 0"
"InfoWindow"="212 208 200"
"Menu"="212 208 200"
"MenuText"="0 0 0"
"Scrollbar"="212 208 200"
"TitleText"="212 208 200"
"Window"="255 255 255"
"WindowFrame"="0 0 0"
"WindowText"="0 0 0"
I'm currently on a journey of converting every single theme included with desk2k.cpl to keys themes.exe understands. It is somewhat tedious, but i will post complete registry keys when it's done, i hope it will ease a lot of pain in the future.
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Post by OrthodoxWin32 on Feb 24, 2024 14:35:53 GMT -8
I'm currently on a journey of converting every single theme included with desk2k.cpl to keys themes.exe understands. It is somewhat tedious, but i will post complete registry keys when it's done, i hope it will ease a lot of pain in the future.
However, check beforehand if the scheme in question is not part of a scheme that I converted : winclassic.net/thread/1552/colors-metrics-fonts-schemes-collectionI have converted a good part of the existing scheme, I plan to get back to it soon (I have about two thirds of the diagram left in addition to what I have done). |
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clara
Sophomore Member
Posts: 118
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Post by clara on Feb 24, 2024 14:49:37 GMT -8
OrthodoxWin32 Wow, looks like i don't need to do anything at all. Surprising how i have not stumbled on this thread before.
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