Windows XP default theme missing!
Sometimes the default theme of Windows XP will be missing from the Themes tab in Desktop Properties, and there will be only Classic them in the drop down list. This is one of the common problems I have seen ;-).
To recover the default XP theme (also called as Luna theme), the following solutions can be used:-
1 Start the Themes Service: Go to Start > Run and type services.msc and press Enter key to open the Services window. Here, navigate to Themes service, and right-click on it and select Properties, and make sure that the Start Up type is set to Automatic. And if the service is stopped, click the Start button to start it.
2 Locate the Luna.theme file manually: Right click on the desktop and choose Properties. On the Themes tab, choose the Browse... option. Next browse and locate the file C:\Windows\Resources\Themes\Luna.theme and apply this as theme.
3 Luna.theme file not present: If Luna.theme file itself is not present, then it has to be restored back. Download this Zip file from Kelly’s Korner, and then extract the contents of this file to C:\Windows directory. Then, apply this theme as given in previous step.
4 Registry fix: If the above steps do not solve the problem, then there is a chance of changes in the default Registry values related to Themes. Download this Registry fix from Kelly’s Korner, and merge it with the Registry. Restart the computer to make the changes to take effect.
posted by swatkat at 10:40 PM
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183 Comments:
Man, that was helpful. This was driving me nuts lately.
Nice one mate!
dude, great job!
Yeah! Works for me!!
thank you thank you thank you!
that was helpful!
There should be more your kind of people who can make difficult things so easy for me! :P
have a nice day!
omg, thank you! thank you!
Okay why in anybody's name would you have to start a SERVICE to see a theme. Thank you
Solved my problems with the desktop.
Thanks.
Solved my problems with the desktop.
Thanks.
Damn that was bugging me for ages thanks alot dude :D
Thanks. I totally deleted it on mistake and had no idea how to get it back.
Mike from the Isle of Man sends muchos gratious. My grey taskbar was driving me NUTS!! Your help was invaluable.
Mike.
Thanks very much for that info. Having a few issues like the theme changing and the sound not working and it is all linking back to the Services!
Any idea as to why this happens?
Glad to hear that the post was helpful.
Thanks for visiting.
this was so helpful! this problem has been annoying me for awhile!
I have a problem. I used the zip file, sine mine was missing. And it didn't quite fix it, so i used the registry merge, and now i'm stuck in classic windows. and when i right click my desktop and go to properties, and then themes, and try to select xp theme, it tells me unable to load access is denied. and if i go to appearence, the button is greyed out. Please help.
u r my hero!!!!!!!!! thanks soooooooooo much. i was so worried about this problem but now it's all okay cuz of you :)
Jey Thanks a lot man, i didn't know what to do, and there's when you appeared, so man you are like a superman!! in this moment
Thanks for this. I couldn't figure out why XP themes were disabled. Was looking for other, more complicated, causes than a disabled service :P
Hey I need help on this???? I tried everything to start my windows themes but when i try to start the themes it says: Error 126: the specified module could not be found. :( wat do i do? plzz help me....its drivin me crazyyyyyyy thankz
Pleaseeee helpppp!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh my God thank you! Somehow the Themes Service got stopped. All I could think was "**** What do I do?!". Thank you SOOO much.
I downloaded the file and found very useful. Tons of thanks!
Thanks! Realy needed this. :)
Your comments were very helpful. thanks a ton.
Simple and concise - thanks saved driving me nuts!
Look I really really appreciate this more then you will know, Thank You not only for the help but for the distribution of that file Resources/
Luner Thanks man
thank you very much man!
thanks a lot!!!!!!! this really helps.... :)
tnx a lot.. you rock!!!
-reignydeyz
Thanx dude, it was really helpful.
thanks for help! I don't know why it happened, but thanks to you I am back to normal
Useful one, this information is not available widely. Thanks for putting it here.
Thanks man !!!!! iT waz helpful.......
UHHHHM please email me. I got a trouble. when I downloaded the registry fix, everytime I reboot my PC it goes back to Windows Classic. Please email me: original_kyo@yahoo.com.ph
aagh! please help! i tried using xp style but it isn't working!
I have the same problem like someone on the comment..
i already put the themes in the ressources and use the registry, then i can use the luna theme again..
but the problem is when i restart my computer, it will go back into classic mode, i have to change it manually in the themes (every time i restart the computer..)
is there any solution to this?
email me, mtm_00@hotmail.com
Thanks!! That too, was driving my crazy!
As everybody in this blog already confirmed. your approach and recipe was extremely helpfull. thanks for the post!
Come on, I was changed to Windows Classic Theme.You really helped me to get XP back in my life!!!
Thanks man ... This 1 totallly helped me to get my xp theme back....
rohit
yes man I'm very thankful to u
nice going mate :)
Step 3 worked for me, thanks bud!
WOOOOOOW!!!!!!!!THAAAAAAAANX U VERY MUCH!!!!
Like everyone on here I thank you. It work for me right away.
I wish there was a place like this for every problem out there.
Douglas
It doesnt work i did it well and an error says:An exeption occured while trying to run ":\WIDNOWS\system32\shell32.dll,control_RunDLL
\file:"C:\WINDOWS\Resources\Themes\Luna.theme""
If u know how to fix it please post it here
Thanks
Thanks Swatkat. Would you believe it!! I found a solution before reading your reply, after all the days of searching. Apparently it was becuase I had Terminal Services disabled in Services. One click and it restored my "switch users" function and at the same time allowe me to keep the xp theme on, which was previously not saving every time I logged off.
I'm glad my question prompted help from you for so many people. This is my first time on this forum and I'm impressed. I will be back in a while to ask some more questions as I still have faults in my registry settings, I hope you will still be there.
Great, wish I'd looked here earlier!!
Cheers
Thanks...
Thanks alot man, that really helped me!
omg your amazing, this was killing me
wow this really worked!!!!!!!
THX
....
Great information..my PC get healed..
Thanxs
thank you thank you thank you...finally..something that worked..solved my problem in a flash...thanks again
plz send me the solution to the problem
" when i restart my computer, it goes back into classic mode, i have to change it manually in the themes (every time i restart the computer..)"
thx!
This really helps. Thanks. My XP theme is back AGAIN... ^_^
Thanks so much, I thought I was never going to fix it!
rocks... thanks dear
Thank you so much :)
The classic theme was driving me crazy... Thatnk god I found your tut on the net... =]
It is still running and i have done all of the above and it is still classic looking, what do i do now?
thank you very much""helped a lot""
I just wanana say, that is a legend life saver, ive trawlled all over to try and find replacement themes and had so much rubbish thrown at me when i came upon this, a perfect guide to a pc fix.
big thanks, wish there was more people like you.
Cheers
James
Thanks
thank you very much i thought my computer had been attacked by virus but your second step saved me!!
REALLY THANK YOU!
THANK YOU SOOO DAMN MUCH! i was about to freakin restore my whole computter because this wasnt working
but now i read this and this is perfect :D
thanks a bunch mann :D
THANK THANK THANK THANK THANK YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
Big thanks.
I still have a icons problem! how to make them default?
Very simple solution. Good job. Thanks...
Great work... Really helpful. Thanks.
OMG!!! I am a perfectionist and messed my icons up on my "start" bar. It was making me pull my hair out.
THANKS A MILLION!!!!
Thanks, it's helpful ~
OMG! thank youuuuuuuu. geniussss!
Thanks for the head up! U've helped a lot of us! Kudos!
I'm from Malaysia of South East Asia. Thanks dude, this has solve my problem. TQ very much. Best regards.
thnxx alot you are very helpful for me n for others thnxx alot if u need any help thn contact i will be helpful for u thnxx alot!!!
dude thanx!! I had no idea that i had to use "services.msc". This was so helpful, my anti virus software deleted my theme and then i started the service, well, thanx!!!!
Thanks a lot. :)
thank u soooooooooooo much
This comment has been removed by the author.
WOW, this was awesome, thanks!!
THANKS A LOT
IT HELPED ME MUCH
THANKS
Yay worked for me :)))))
Thanks!
Thank you! Thank you so much!
I had my computer reimaged because of darn spyware. When I got it back, the xp theme was gone and classic was driving me nuts!
Again, thank you so much!
thanks!!!
thanks man
hey thanks,it's a really helpful.
i downloaded the file but when i went to properties it was showing an error that the vu=isual stlyes could not be loaded.please help. my e-mail id is gokusupersane99@gmail.com
This comment has been removed by the author.
that was really helpful.. thanks a ton..
thanks man, very helpfull !!
hey thanks a lot...The 1st solution itself was 2 gud 4 me...was wondering wat to do
Thank you so much!!!!!!! I accidentally messed up my theme, and spent hours searching for a way to fix it. Thanks to you it is back to normal.
Thank you so much!
It's so good!
I have been looking for this answer for weeks.
Regards
Well done! Thanks!!!
THANKSSSSSSSSSS!!!!
I was almost pissed when I some patch messed up my theme.
You gotta be kiddging! This is fantastic,at last I found it! Thanks to you :D
thanks :D
I can't thank you enough Swatkat, I just did a reinstall of XP SP3 and right of the bat my theme was stuck on classic with no other options.
I realized I had corrupt files and got hold of a new uxthemes.dll and replaced the old one, but that only got me half way there.
I then looked for ages to see if I could get hold of the original contents of the Windows Resources folder.
That's when I came across your great site and downloaded your file Resorces.zip, then I simply moved your new files straight into my Resources folder and deleted the older files then went to Display Properties and selected Windows XP in the tab and bobs yor uncle everything is back to normal. :-)
Thanks once again Swatkat, you've saved me from a whole lot of work. :-)
Cheers,
Glenn
this is very helpful dear...
Thank you from north west Spain.
Thank u so much. That was easy and effective.Thnx
GR8! I like to you very much!
Thank you!
I was having a hard tie finding it's theme...
thanks
thanks dude ! ^_^
this help me a lot !
:)
Thanks for solving said problem :)
IT'S TOTALLY WORKED 100%
Great work!! 100% did work...bless you
thank u so so so so much that really really help!! thank u thank u
its not working for me,when i apply the theme,it says that the theme service was not running while it was running the whole time!plz help!!!
thanks man, very nice job :)
Thanks a lot! U r great!
Awsome Man....Awsome..Great... I loved the fastest way... Thanks for reminding the way...
Ur blog Rocks!!!!
THAnks a LOT man..
thanks looked all over and finally found your site THANKS xp is back!
Gosh, what a life saver! Thank you very, very much!
THANKS A TON BUDDY!!!!! I WAS GOING NUTS SOLVING THIS!!!! MY XP LOOK WAS CHANGED TO T BLODDY LOOK OF WINDOWS 98 ....WHICH GOT SOLVED AS SOON I APPLIED THE luna THEME...THNKS....TC
This has been extremely helpful. Much appreciated.
First 3 steps doesn't worked, i tried to do step 4, but i can't download the registry fix :O
That was very helpful;)
I wand to install windows 7 theme, but it was not so nice as i thought.
If there wouldn't be your solution,i would be dead from my father:-))
Thank you! Step one fixed my problem right away!
Awesome. THANKS!
You're a star thanks a lot
thanks :D :D :D!!!!
THANNKKKK YOU :DD
thanks a lot :D
thankyou for helping, but my problem isn't in the themes tab, yes its in display properties but not under the themes tab. its in the appearance tab, i havn't tried step 3 or 4 on this yet but before I download anything I want you to check out these links first to see if you can help me, hope you can I almost wanna throw this comp out the window to the street:(
http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/xpdesktop/thread/fb4fc1be-eeaf-4cd6-accb-3d78461cd137
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/newsgroups/reader.mspx?&lang=en&cr=US&guid=&sloc=en-us&dg=microsoft.public.windowsxp.customize&p=1&tid=420d5fc9-7b47-44c4-b981-6a1da243bfda&mid=420d5fc9-7b47-44c4-b981-6a1da243bfda
thanks!
thanks, great ...
really man... thanks a whole lot...
Thank You! This helped. =)
thank you my desktop was annoying till I read your post
that was really helpfull
-Kishore
thank you very much
thnxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Very good solution.
Thaxs Very Much DUDE
thank you so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks!
THANK YOU VERY MUCH BRO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LOVE YOU
Thank you very much!!! Thank god i could solve the problem before my Boss noticed ;-)
Thank you man.
thank you very much dude...
thnxxx man it worked for me ..
:D
How to merge with the registry
thanx man
this was really useful
thanks ,I was able to restore windows xp theme
Thanks very much. Imformation provided was very helpful continue the good work.
Bro u really helped me thanx for helping ne.......
Step#1 fixed the problem! thank you!
thanks very much! Very helpful!
You're awesome!!! thanks!!
thank you, thank you, thank you !
Thanks a ton mate!
You made my day. Thanks.
You havn't got a clue,how thankful I am!My Lenovo R61 got back after formatting at an IBM lab,with this problem.When I asked their help,they simply said no.At Microsoft-they didn't know how to fix it! So thank you once again!!!!!
Ami,Israel
DUDE! I needed that to make my Windows Server 2003 look cooler. I couldn't find any other site man. Thanks loads and have a nice day!
ur solution solved my problem thanks dude
Thank you very much !!!
saved my day..
research well done!
yes yes yes its work for me :)
thanks so much :)
Thanks man. Nice one
Please one more post about that.I wonder how you got so good. This is really a fascinating blog, lots of stuff that I can get into. One thing I just want to say is that your Blog is so perfect
i have a problem that i use every step and it is not working because my display properties are not opening. if u have any suggestion then please email me my email address is hamzach01@gmail.com
i have a problem that my display properties are not opening. if u have any suggestion than email me on 'hamzach01@gmail.com '
This comment has been removed by the author.
finally someone who gave me a real fix instead of telling me to just go to properties and change the color.
Wow! You are a wizard. It worked immediately! And to think that I was skeptic about it! This thing was driving me crazy. THANK YOU so much! You are my best friend now. I wish everything regarding computer would be that easy. ;)Take care!
Thank you so much! I called two help centers..no help at all. I did what you said and fixed in minutes!
This is a long way down your blog.. but I hope you read it...You are a prince among men. "luna" I didn't know it was called that vanished and I have spent 3 hours trying everything to repair it...WHY did it vanish...thank you
thanq man!!!
I was reformatting my friends old lappy and came accross this problem. By using your guide it got fix. thank you :)
If it weren't for you my friend I would be spending my last few hours at work searching for a new job. I will never try to spruce up the desktop at work again. Thank you so much!
thank you very much you owe me anything
god bless you:)
Yes!! Thank you!!
wow,really it works for me...thaks a lot.i m alos having problem with sound.can u help me?
OooooooWSOME Man.....m thnakful to u....
thanks a lot.... it worked for windows server 2003 also!!!!!1
Thank you :)
hey i got a problem..
i downloaded from kellys korner and then i applied it. it is working at that time. but when i restart my computer its not working..
please help me.....
hey i got a problem..
i downloaded from kellys korner and then i applied it. it is working at that time. but when i restart my computer its not working and the windows classic theme is back..
please help me....
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