Change the default theme for newly install XP

In this tutorial I am going to tell you that how you can change the default theme on fresh installation of WINDOWS XP !

Confused ?? Let me tell you in detail, whenever we install WINDOWS XP we get green color theme known as "LUNA",click here for screenshot.
Now here I am going to tell you how you can change the default XP theme to your own customized theme.So whenever you install a new copy of WINDOWS XP your own theme will be displayed and not the default (LUNA) one !!

So lets start :



Step 1

>>Insert XP CD into your CD ROM and copy all its data to your hard disk in a folder name GAGANXP

Step 2 (Creating .theme file)

>>First download the theme you want for your WINDOWS XP default theme.
You can download this theme as an example.

>>After downloading the above theme read this tutorial on how to install it.

>>You can change Cursors,Icons,Sounds and wallpapers also.

Note : Read this tutorial on how to change

• How to change Icons
• How to change Cursors
  

>>After you are done right click on the desktop and select properties and you will see the following window.



>>Click the Save As button, and save your theme and name it gagan.theme.


Step 3 (Copying the file to GAGANXP folder)

>>(This is a confusing part so please read itcarefully)After making gagan.theme file make a New Folder in GAGANXP folder naming $OEM$.Open this folder and make a new folder in this folder naming $$ and a new folder in $$ folder naming Resources, and at last make Themes folder in Resources folder.

For clearence see this screenshot of my XP CD.


click on the image to enlarge

After making these 4 folders namely ($OEM$\$$\Resources\Themes) copy the gagan.theme file and paste it into Themes folder made at last.

See this screenshot for help :


click on the image to enlarge

Actually the %systemdrive%\Windows\ (your Windows directory) is equivalent to \$OEM$\$$\.

Step 4 (Editing WINNT.SIF file)

>>I told you about WINNT.SIF file in past,click here to read about WINNT.SIF file.

Now you are familiar with what is WINNT.SIF,how to edit it and where is it stored.
Now we have to edit it again.Open the GAGANXP folder made in Step 1 and open I386 folder and search for file WINNT.SIF,right click on it and open it with notepad and add the following lines to it at last.

[Shell]
CustomDefaultThemeFile = "%WinDir%\Resources\Themes\gagan.theme"

See this screenshot for help :


click on the image to enlarge

After making the changes save this file and write your CD and make it bootable.
Click here to read this tutorial on how to make bootable CD.

Now when you install WINDOWS XP with this CD you will get gagan.theme as default theme and not the LUNA.theme

Posted in: Tricks,Windows XP,XP Tweaks