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How To Make Your XP Look Like Vista: The Complete Step-By-Step Guide

19 June 2008 4,204 views 21 Comments



Tired of your XP? Want to buy Vista? Well, don’t. Vista is still full of bugs and not reliable yet. So what’s so good about it? Most people like the new and pretty looks.
It’s a great idea to mix together the good things from both Windows systems: the reliability of XP and looks of Vista. Lets go over this, step-by-step so you can easily follow.

Vista Theme on XP - xptricks.net

1.Change the theme. This is probably the most important thing when trying to make your XP look like Vista. You will need a good Vista-ish theme, I recommend VistaXP or YAVFC. You should be able to get some good ones from Deviantart.

But before you can install 3rd party themes, you will need to patch up your uxtheme.dll file. This file tries to stop you from using other themes than Microsoft’s own. Here are the patches for service pack 1 and service pack 2. (If you’re not sure which Service Pack you have, or what it even is, make sure you take a look at this post.)

You can replace the file manually, but the easiest way is to use replacer, which also backs up the old file in case anything goes wrong..

To replace, go to C: \WINDOWS\System32 and look for uxtheme.dll, which should be among the bottom half of the files. Drag it into the replacer window. Now drag the patch which you downloaded into the window and confirm.

To install a theme, download and unzip into the C:\WINDOWS\Resources\Themes folder.

You’ll also need StyleXP to use the themes.

Now that the hardest part is over, take a deep breath and give yourself the good-old pat on the back.

2. Download the Vista cursor pack. Unzip it to your desktop or anywhere where you can find it later. Now, go to Control Panel -> Appearance and Themes -> Mouse Pointers and open the pointers tab. Click a cursor, press Browse and find the corresponding Vista cursor from the pack you downloaded.

Try Yahoo! Widgets or Thoosje for that Vista signature sidebar.

If you want to, you can also get the TRANSPARENT explorer and internet explorer, which are almost as good as the real ones.

3. A transformation pack is also necessary if you want to go all the way. Basically, what this does, is that it replaces the startup, logon and shutdown screens of XP and makes them look like Vista. You will need to sacrifice some startup speed, but that’s the price.

Here’s a good transformation pack by Windows X.

This is what my XP desktop looks like after a little bit of tweaking:

So, congratulations on your new „Vista“ and make sure you show it off to your friends

More Cool Windows XP Tips & Tricks HERE!

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21 Comments »

  • Salman said:

    will this hog my systems spaces? like vista??

    I have tried many such tutorials to give XP the look of vista and it starts eating up my RAM like it is real vista…lol

    # 20 June 2008 at 12:31 am
  • Eerik said:

    If something looks like anything remotely similar to Vista, the computer often starts to eat RAM in fright.. It’s not as bad as real Vista, though…

    # 20 June 2008 at 4:22 pm
  • marcos said:

    i followed all ur steps but mine didnt come out like urs ?

    # 24 June 2008 at 1:08 pm
  • Eerik said:

    Which theme did you use? Mine is YAVFC. That’s the only one I know that has the flag button instead of “Start” on the startbar. It’s hard to find that theme because Microsoft asked it to be removed from major download sites.

    I can send it to you if you’re interested…

    By the way, the sidebar is Thoosje.

    # 24 June 2008 at 3:08 pm
  • sofo said:

    if i install the transformation pack will i be able to uninstall it if i want?

    # 8 July 2008 at 5:10 pm
  • Eerik said:

    to sofo:

    Certainly. The Transformation Pack is a normal piece of software and you can also turn it on and disable it from its own menu without having to uninstall..

    It might hog your system a little, though. Try it and see for yourself if you like it or not.

    # 8 July 2008 at 7:36 pm
  • Briongloid said:

    At the risk of sounding like a smart-ass though, and no disrespect to the tutorial, which is quite good, but why would anyone want to make XP look like Vista in the first place?

    It’s like having a strong, healthy workhorse and sticking fake ears on it to make it look like a mangy, lame jackass.

    Briongloid’s last blog post..I Will Follow

    # 26 July 2008 at 12:01 pm
  • Eerik said:

    You have a point there, but you still have to agree that Vista looks a hell of a lot better than XP. Why not use the best of both operating systems?

    # 30 July 2008 at 11:16 am
  • Briongloid said:

    Not especially, I personally find XP too dark. I suppose it’s a matter of taste, though I can see why a lot of people do that. Gives me an idea, maybe I should start offering an “upgrade your computer to Vista XP!” service ;)

    I suppose I might as well tell you I’m also the kind of guy who knocks off all the eye candy, “adjust for best performance” all the way!

    (Just for those reading, since this is an XP tips blog that’s Right click my computer, properties, advanced, performance settings , visual effects – it’s a great way of speeding up XP, esp for those running on low RAM and/or with crappy gfx card)

    # 2 August 2008 at 2:47 pm
  • Eerik said:

    Great business idea! Let’s start this service together… You pull visitors to this post and tell them to click my ads and we’ll share the profits! :D

    Oh yeah, and thanks for the performance tip although I might have already posted it?…

    # 2 August 2008 at 8:27 pm
  • martinbrice said:

    I am stuck, sorry I admit to being a complete knob at this stuff but I have servicepack 3… tried skipping that stage in the vain hope it does not apply but it wont let me.

    # 5 September 2008 at 1:33 am
  • Eerik said:

    Which step do you mean?

    # 5 September 2008 at 6:54 am
  • techniqueal t. said:

    whoa! pretty nice tutorial! it certainly eats up a lot of memory, but at least, bugs wont be as much as VISTA. great post ^_^

    # 9 November 2008 at 1:59 pm
  • Sonu Demon Prince said:

    i think its a good trick but don’t you thinks its too “vistaish”……I am just saying

    # 3 December 2008 at 12:25 am
  • Dev said:

    it is a good idea for starting new bussiness.
    thanks for showing me a way

    # 16 December 2008 at 9:18 am
  • Philip said:

    I have service pack 3. What do i do?

    # 18 December 2008 at 11:04 pm
  • treyZ said:

    Just use ms.styles theme n apply them..no need for other apps to support the themes.adding more apps will slow dwn ur pc.

    # 5 February 2009 at 8:26 am
  • Iproxp said:

    Thanks for this great article. In addition, the best other guides for Windows XP to Windows Vista and Windows 7 Transformation i’ve ever known on WinMatrix for every Windows XP user (thanks to amirz):

    http://www.winmatrix.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=20480

    and

    http://www.winmatrix.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=21246

    You can find and download many cool stuffs + even some port apps and guides/links there to totally transform and enhance XP like Windows Vista and or Windows 7 for free, in both GUI and feature/function! Just FYI. Thanks.

    Long live XP!

    # 29 March 2009 at 6:45 pm
  • cat man said:

    If yu want it to look better than vista download desk space
    IT IS AWSOME

    # 20 May 2009 at 7:12 pm
  • Joseph Bailey said:

    I tried it, but it didn’t work.
    I downloaded each file repeatedly for it to work, but never did.
    send me a trouble shooter ’cause i NEED help. (i’m not mad at YOU.)

    # 31 May 2009 at 1:57 am
  • Zara said:

    Hi! first off this is a really awesome tutorial. Secondly, I tried to add that sidebar, I’ve downloaded it but when i tried to open it up it kept saying something like This is not a valid zip code. Please try again.

    I put in my zipcode, tried version and it wont work. i dont get it. Help Please!

    # 20 August 2009 at 7:57 pm

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