How do I reset the taskbar

Hello,

I had downloaded uxTheme.dll from the internet and put it into my Windows
directory and then rebooted because it says on the internet that this will
allow me to use non microsoft themes.

My task bar with the START button, quick lanch icons, running programs
icons, and clock is now all light grey and boxy looking. I tried to
uninstall it and it would not revert back to the stardard Windows XP look.

help.

Shaun

On Sun, 23 Nov 2008 21:06:59 -0600, "Shaun" <scepp@shaw.ca> wrote:

>Hello,
>
>I had downloaded uxTheme.dll from the internet and put it into my Windows
>directory and then rebooted because it says on the internet that this will
>allow me to use non microsoft themes.

And because you read it on the Internet, it MUST be TRUE, right?

>My task bar with the START button, quick lanch icons, running programs
>icons, and clock is now all light grey and boxy looking. I tried to
>uninstall it and it would not revert back to the stardard Windows XP look.

Try using System Restore to set your system back to where it was
before you installed the new theme.

How to restore Windows XP to a previous state
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306084

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience

---------------------------------------------------------------------

"Shaun" <scepp@shaw.ca> wrote in message news:eEYT4GeTJHA.1184@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
Hello,

I had downloaded uxTheme.dll from the internet and put it into my Windows
directory and then rebooted because it says on the internet that this will
allow me to use non microsoft themes.

My task bar with the START button, quick lanch icons, running programs
icons, and clock is now all light grey and boxy looking. I tried to
uninstall it and it would not revert back to the stardard Windows XP look.

help.

Shaun

Thanks for the suggestions, unfortunatly it would not let me restore because
it says there were no changes to windows.
Is there a way to delete uxtheme.dll from the windows directory, I've tried
and I get access denied. I even downloaded a command line delete program
and it wouldn't do it either, even with zap file. Would just deleting it
fix my problem? Any other suggestions?

Shaun


"Shaun" <scepp@shaw.ca> wrote in message
news:eEYT4GeTJHA.1184@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Hello,
>
> I had downloaded uxTheme.dll from the internet and put it into my Windows
> directory and then rebooted because it says on the internet that this will
> allow me to use non microsoft themes.
>
> My task bar with the START button, quick lanch icons, running programs
> icons, and clock is now all light grey and boxy looking. I tried to
> uninstall it and it would not revert back to the stardard Windows XP look.
>
> help.
>
> Shaun
>

Shaun wrote:

> I had downloaded uxTheme.dll from the internet and put it into my Windows
> directory and then rebooted because it says on the internet that this will
> allow me to use non microsoft themes.
>
> My task bar with the START button, quick lanch icons, running programs
> icons, and clock is now all light grey and boxy looking. I tried to
> uninstall it and it would not revert back to the stardard Windows XP look.

uxtheme.dll is already part of Windows XP. It is part of the install of
Windows XP. So uxtheme.dll is provided by Microsoft. I doubt they
design the theme manager's function library to support anyone else's
theme (unless that 3rd party them actually uses the same methods in this
DLL as does Microsoft).

So just WHERE did you get this "other" copy of uxtheme.dll? Sure
doesn't sound like you got it from Microsoft. If you didn't get it from
Microsoft (and for Windows XP) then you had better replace that suspect
program.

Read:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms997646.aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa940385.aspx

If you simply copied a file over another one, there is no system restore
point generating unless YOU created one beforehand.

Since this is a system protected file, replacing it can be tricky.
First get your Windows XP install CD and check the uxtheme.dl_ file is
available. You'll need to use the extract.exe program to extract the
compressed file within:

extract.exe <d:>\i386\uxtheme.dl_ <altpath>\uxtheme.dll

where <altpath> is some temp folder where you save the extracted file.
Then use Microsoft's "inuse" utility to replace the current uxtheme.dll
file with the one you just extracted, or use SysInternals' "movefile":

MS inuse utility:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927229

SysInternals (now owned by Microsoft) movefile:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s.../bb897556.aspx

These add a pendmove registry entry that is effected on the next reboot,
so make sure your extracted file is still around to move it into the
destination folder (C:\Windows\system32).

What it sounds like you did was to disable themes altogether. That
means no themes get applied and the GUI reverts to a classic Windows
skin. Go into the NT services applet (services.msc) and check if the
Themes service is running. Also check if it set to Automatic start on
Windows startup. If the Themes service is not running, see if you can
start it. However, it probably requires a reboot to effect this service
change (to effect a change in theme for the GUI) and why you need to
ensure the service is set to Automatic startup.

You never did mention of yet rebooting your host after replacing the
theme manager file (uxtheme.dll). So have you?

"VanguardLH" <V@nguard.LH> wrote in message
news:ggdft5$deu$1@news.motzarella.org...
> Shaun wrote:
>
>> I had downloaded uxTheme.dll from the internet and put it into my Windows
>> directory and then rebooted because it says on the internet that this
>> will
>> allow me to use non microsoft themes.
>>
>> My task bar with the START button, quick lanch icons, running programs
>> icons, and clock is now all light grey and boxy looking. I tried to
>> uninstall it and it would not revert back to the stardard Windows XP
>> look.
>
> uxtheme.dll is already part of Windows XP. It is part of the install of
> Windows XP. So uxtheme.dll is provided by Microsoft. I doubt they
> design the theme manager's function library to support anyone else's
> theme (unless that 3rd party them actually uses the same methods in this
> DLL as does Microsoft).
>
> So just WHERE did you get this "other" copy of uxtheme.dll? Sure
> doesn't sound like you got it from Microsoft. If you didn't get it from
> Microsoft (and for Windows XP) then you had better replace that suspect
> program.
>
Hello,
I know it's been a few days, but I hope you get this. Here is where I
downloaded the "patched" version of uxtheme.dll
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Desktop...P2-Final.shtml

Now, unfortunatly for me I un- rared it and put the file in the C:\windows
directory instead of the C:\windows\system32 folder.
I've tried all sorts of things to fix this. I did a windows repair using my
XP pro disk, then loaded the MS updates. That didn't do it, so I found my
copy of BART, followed your instructions below and extracted uxtheme.dll
from the windows xp disk and tried to replace the "patched" uxtheme.dll with
the programs you mentioned, but I couldn't get either of them to work for
me. I checked version numbers and found that that file has been updated with
MS updates. So using BART I copied the uxtheme.dll from c:\windows\system32
into c:\windows. My task bar still looks the same as it did before I
started messing around to fix it.
I've also tried using and paying for "Taskbar repair tools plus" and it
didn't help either.

Shaun

BTW: Now that I know that uxtheme.dll is only suppose to be it the
c:\windows\system32 directory. I going to use BART to remove it from the
c:\windows directory.


> Read:
> http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms997646.aspx
> http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa940385.aspx
>
> If you simply copied a file over another one, there is no system restore
> point generating unless YOU created one beforehand.
>
> Since this is a system protected file, replacing it can be tricky.
> First get your Windows XP install CD and check the uxtheme.dl_ file is
> available. You'll need to use the extract.exe program to extract the
> compressed file within:
>
> extract.exe <d:>\i386\uxtheme.dl_ <altpath>\uxtheme.dll
>
> where <altpath> is some temp folder where you save the extracted file.
> Then use Microsoft's "inuse" utility to replace the current uxtheme.dll
> file with the one you just extracted, or use SysInternals' "movefile":
>
> MS inuse utility:
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927229
>
> SysInternals (now owned by Microsoft) movefile:
> http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s.../bb897556.aspx
>
> These add a pendmove registry entry that is effected on the next reboot,
> so make sure your extracted file is still around to move it into the
> destination folder (C:\Windows\system32).
>
> What it sounds like you did was to disable themes altogether. That
> means no themes get applied and the GUI reverts to a classic Windows
> skin. Go into the NT services applet (services.msc) and check if the
> Themes service is running. Also check if it set to Automatic start on
> Windows startup. If the Themes service is not running, see if you can
> start it. However, it probably requires a reboot to effect this service
> change (to effect a change in theme for the GUI) and why you need to
> ensure the service is set to Automatic startup.
>
> You never did mention of yet rebooting your host after replacing the
> theme manager file (uxtheme.dll). So have you?

Well I fixed it, finally after much messing around.

I used BART from Sysinternals. I Went into a command prompt and deleted
uxtheme.dll for my c:\windows directory. Then I went into
C:\windows\system32 and replaced the uxtheme.dll from one that I extracted
for the Windows XP pro disk, and now everything is back to normal.

thanks for everyones help

Shaun



"Shaun" <scepp@shaw.ca> wrote in message
news:unF4YdpUJHA.4472@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>
> "VanguardLH" <V@nguard.LH> wrote in message
> news:ggdft5$deu$1@news.motzarella.org...
>> Shaun wrote:
>>
>>> I had downloaded uxTheme.dll from the internet and put it into my
>>> Windows
>>> directory and then rebooted because it says on the internet that this
>>> will
>>> allow me to use non microsoft themes.
>>>
>>> My task bar with the START button, quick lanch icons, running programs
>>> icons, and clock is now all light grey and boxy looking. I tried to
>>> uninstall it and it would not revert back to the stardard Windows XP
>>> look.
>>
>> uxtheme.dll is already part of Windows XP. It is part of the install of
>> Windows XP. So uxtheme.dll is provided by Microsoft. I doubt they
>> design the theme manager's function library to support anyone else's
>> theme (unless that 3rd party them actually uses the same methods in this
>> DLL as does Microsoft).
>>
>> So just WHERE did you get this "other" copy of uxtheme.dll? Sure
>> doesn't sound like you got it from Microsoft. If you didn't get it from
>> Microsoft (and for Windows XP) then you had better replace that suspect
>> program.
>>
> Hello,
> I know it's been a few days, but I hope you get this. Here is where I
> downloaded the "patched" version of uxtheme.dll
> http://www.softpedia.com/get/Desktop...P2-Final.shtml
>
> Now, unfortunatly for me I un- rared it and put the file in the C:\windows
> directory instead of the C:\windows\system32 folder.
> I've tried all sorts of things to fix this. I did a windows repair using
> my XP pro disk, then loaded the MS updates. That didn't do it, so I found
> my copy of BART, followed your instructions below and extracted
> uxtheme.dll from the windows xp disk and tried to replace the "patched"
> uxtheme.dll with the programs you mentioned, but I couldn't get either of
> them to work for me. I checked version numbers and found that that file
> has been updated with MS updates. So using BART I copied the uxtheme.dll
> from c:\windows\system32 into c:\windows. My task bar still looks the
> same as it did before I started messing around to fix it.
> I've also tried using and paying for "Taskbar repair tools plus" and it
> didn't help either.
>
> Shaun
>
> BTW: Now that I know that uxtheme.dll is only suppose to be it the
> c:\windows\system32 directory. I going to use BART to remove it from the
> c:\windows directory.
>
>
>> Read:
>> http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms997646.aspx
>> http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa940385.aspx
>>
>> If you simply copied a file over another one, there is no system restore
>> point generating unless YOU created one beforehand.
>>
>> Since this is a system protected file, replacing it can be tricky.
>> First get your Windows XP install CD and check the uxtheme.dl_ file is
>> available. You'll need to use the extract.exe program to extract the
>> compressed file within:
>>
>> extract.exe <d:>\i386\uxtheme.dl_ <altpath>\uxtheme.dll
>>
>> where <altpath> is some temp folder where you save the extracted file.
>> Then use Microsoft's "inuse" utility to replace the current uxtheme.dll
>> file with the one you just extracted, or use SysInternals' "movefile":
>>
>> MS inuse utility:
>> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927229
>>
>> SysInternals (now owned by Microsoft) movefile:
>> http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s.../bb897556.aspx
>>
>> These add a pendmove registry entry that is effected on the next reboot,
>> so make sure your extracted file is still around to move it into the
>> destination folder (C:\Windows\system32).
>>
>> What it sounds like you did was to disable themes altogether. That
>> means no themes get applied and the GUI reverts to a classic Windows
>> skin. Go into the NT services applet (services.msc) and check if the
>> Themes service is running. Also check if it set to Automatic start on
>> Windows startup. If the Themes service is not running, see if you can
>> start it. However, it probably requires a reboot to effect this service
>> change (to effect a change in theme for the GUI) and why you need to
>> ensure the service is set to Automatic startup.
>>
>> You never did mention of yet rebooting your host after replacing the
>> theme manager file (uxtheme.dll). So have you?
>
>