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Windows XP themes are customizations of the graphical user interface of the Windows XP operating system. Luna, Royale, Zune, and Embedded are official themes designed for Windows XP by Microsoft. Since Windows XP, themes include "visual styles". By default, the Luna theme is preinstalled on Windows XP Home / Professional, the Royale (Energy Blue) theme is preinstalled on Windows XP Media Center Edition and the Embedded theme is preinstalled on Windows XP Embedded. All of the themes are compatible with all Windows XP editions. Compared to previous versions of Windows, the new scheme has a larger emphasis on the graphical appeal of the operating system, using bitmaps throughout the interface with rounded edges on each window. Since Luna's introduction, the scheme has been supplemented in Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 with Royale, and Royale Noir, a Zune-derived edition of the Royale scheme.

Luna[]

Luna (meaning Moon in Spanish, Bulgarian, Slovene, Serbian, Romanian, Russian, Latin, and Italian) is the codename for the default visual theme of Windows XP.

Officially known as Windows XP style, the theme is available in three color schemes: Blue (default) (codenamed NormalColor), Olive Green (codenamed Homestead), and Silver (codenamed Metallic). The code names for these color themes can be observed in the file paths.

Windows Classic[]

Windows XP Classic

Classic grey theme

The "Windows classic style" theme is also available in Windows Vista and Windows 7 but must be enabled by the user. Users accustomed to older Windows versions such as Windows 2000 or Windows 98 may find it more comfortable to use. In addition to turning off visualizations, this option also offers relatively better performance and greater color and font customization options. The classic theme is also used for Safe mode and Win32 console windows in Windows XP.

Royale[]

Windows XP Royale

Energy Blue desktop, featuring the new Royale theme.

Royale (also known as "Media Center style" and the blue color scheme is also known as "Energy Blue") is a GUI art concept produced by Microsoft and introduced in 2004 only in Windows Media Center desktops and Windows XP Tablet PC Edition Tablet PCs.

It is composed of a new wallpaper (inspired by Bliss), a desktop theme and skins. The new Energy Bliss wallpaper is heavily inspired by the original Bliss but now is generated artificially with computer graphics (CG) rendering.

The concept presents a brilliant, relucent, vivid and faux-reflective color scheme with intense blue and green colors, somewhat reminiscent of the default blue Microsoft Office 2003 theme. Parts of the theme also compliment with the look of Windows Media Player 10 and Windows Media Center. The theme also foreshadows the look of Windows Vista, released two years later.

Availability[]

The Energy Blue theme was originally made available in December 2004. On April 7, 2005, Microsoft New Zealand[1] had made the Royale theme and the wallpapers for the New Zealand theme available for download[2] for all editions of XP through Windows Genuine Advantage on its website but no longer exists in 2019. Because of the freeware nature of this package, it had also been available on software download websites, such as Softpedia at one time.[3]

Microsoft did also release a Windows Media Player visualization and skin at one time. The skin was released in Experience Pack for Tablet PC and was available for free,[4] but the installer only installed it on Windows XP Tablet PC Edition devices, for which it was licensed.

Royale Noir[]

Windows XP Royale Noir

Royale Noir theme desktop.

The Royale Noir theme looks like a darkened version of Energy Blue, having a blackish and bluish to purple tint. Royale Noir has a black start button, which changes to green when the mouse hovers over it.

As Royale Noir was leaked and not finalized by Microsoft, it has been noted for some imperfections.

In 2006, oddbasket developed a finalized version of the theme known as Royale Remixed. A common misconception is that Royale Noir and Royale Remixed are the same theme.

Zune theme[]

Windows XP Zune

Zune theme desktop, featuring the new orange start button.

A few weeks after Royale Noir was leaked, Zune was officially released as a new desktop theme to accompany the release of Microsoft's new Zune media player. Just like Royale Noir, Zune appears to be based on the Energy Blue theme. Zune displayed a brown to light shadow style. The Zune theme was the first to include a different color start button from the green XP one or the original grey one from the Classic theme.

It is not known whether or not Royale Noir was a beta for Zune.

Embedded theme[]

Windows XP Embedded

Embedded theme desktop, a darkened version of Energy Blue.

The Embedded theme was taken from “Windows Embedded Standard CTP Refresh” edition. It is similar to Energy Blue, featuring a mix of dark blue colors combined with a new wallpaper.

Third-party themes[]

Windows only loads a visual style that bears a valid Microsoft digital certificate.[5] As such, third-party visual styles can only be used if one of the Windows files called uxtheme.dll is altered to allow unsigned visual styles.[6][7] Microsoft is aware of such a practice and suggests obtaining a newer revision of the patched uxtheme.dll file in case problems occur after Microsoft's own updates to the file have been applied (typically through an OS service pack).[8]

References[]

  1. "Desktop Backgrounds for Windows Genuine Windows download". Microsoft. Archived from the original on 2006-02-07. 
  2. "Royale Theme". Microsoft. Archived from the original on 2005-11-28. 
  3. "Royale Theme". Archived from the original on 2006-04-07. 
  4. Kendrick, James (2005-07-23). "I hate Outlook with the Energy Blue theme". Gigaom. GigaOmniMedia. Archived from the original on 2014-06-20. Retrieved 2014-06-20. 
  5. Orlowski, Andrew (2001-02-16). "Compatibility woes derail Windows XP Visual Styles". The Register (Situation Publishing). Retrieved 2014-06-16. 
  6. Jijau, Dragos (2007-01-18). ""Hack" Windows XP Visual Styles". SoftNews NET. Softpedia. Retrieved 2014-06-16. 
  7. Fitzpatrick, Jason (2008-09-30). "How to Use Custom Windows Visual Styles". Lifehacker. Gawker Media. Retrieved 2014-06-16. 
  8. "Third-party themes programs may not work as expected after you install Windows XP Service Pack 3". Microsoft Support. 2008-05-06. Retrieved 2012-04-30. 

See also[]

External links[]

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Wikipedia (article: Windows XP visual styles )
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