How to Integrate Custom 3rd Party Themes in Windows Setup ISO?
If you are a Windows XP, MCE or Server 2003 user and use 3rd party themes like our VistaVG or SevenVG in your Windows, many times you might have wondered how to include these 3rd party themes in Windows setup so that Windows can automatically install and apply the theme whenever you install Windows.
Now no need to wonder. Just follow these simple steps and you’ll be able to include your desired themes in Windows setup ISO:
1. First copy your Windows Setup files from the setup disc to your hard disk.
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2. Suppose you copied the whole setup to D:\Setup folder. Now open Setup folder.
3. You’ll see a few folders like I386, etc. Create a new folder $OEM$. Remember it should be created in the same folder which contains I386 folder.
4. Open $OEM$ folder and create another new folder $$ inside it.
5. Open $$ folder and create another new folder Resources inside it.
6. Open Resources folder and create another new folder Themes inside it.
7. So the final path will be:
D:\Setup\$OEM$\$$\Resources\Themes
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8. Now copy your desired theme’s folder and .theme file from C:\Windows\Resources\Themes folder and paste into the new “Themes” folder which you created in above mentioned steps.
9. Now go to “I386” folder in the Setup and look for file “WINNT.SIF” file. Open it in Notepad and paste following lines at the end:
[Shell]
CustomDefaultThemeFile = “%WinDir%\Resources\Themes\VistaVG Ultimate.theme”
NOTE: We have taken “VistaVG Ultimate” theme in our tutorial, if you want to include any other theme, then replace “VistaVG Ultimate” string with your desired theme name.
10. Save the file and you have done. Now you can create new Setup disc using this customized Windows setup.
how if i copy iso image of xp cd n then replace system files to get windows 7 look and then burn that customize iso image to cd…..
will that xp work….??????????
how to include apps like sidebar or vistaswitcher in xp setup….?????????
in the 9th step,
Is there any space or not after ‘ = ‘ sign ?
if we want to use more than two themes, then how to add the line inside winnt.sif file
^^ You can put any number of themes in setup CD. There is no need to put their information in SIF file. The SIF file contains information for default/current Windows theme only.
I dont catch ya point.. I mean to say that i want to integrate the following themes.. (i) Blackmesa, (ii)ChaNinja style, (iii) Vista Glass(iv) Ubuntu Light for XP about 10 to 15 wallpapers….
If this line should be added in the WINNT.SIF, what about the rest of the themes. Theme No.(ii) (iii) & (iv)
For Example…
[Shell]
CustomDefaultThemeFile = “%WinDir%\Resources\Themes\ Black mesa.theme”
Adding the lines:
[Shell]
CustomDefaultThemeFile = “%WinDir%\Resources\Themes\ Black mesa.theme”
Means that “Black mesa.theme” will be use as the default theme.
@Lana so there is no need to add the others in the file. As far as I’ve understood 🙂
oke,, that means i can add many themes as i want, the only things is that
whatever the themes names are added in the lines will be as default themes, am i correct?
what about the wallpaper??? i want to add 10 to 15 wallpapers made by myself/????
^^ Yes. Regarding wallpapers, put them inside “$OEM$\$$\Web” folder.
^^ You can try following:
https://www.askvg.com/rt-seven-lite-tool-to-customize-and-tweak-windows-7-setup-iso/