I installed service pack 3 and stylexp stopped working. I downloaded star skin and it wont work either. Nothing will let me use my themes.

Yeah I don't think they've upgraded it to work with SP3 yet. But mean time you can go grab the new Multi-patcher. It will re-patch your uxtheme.dll file so Windows can load third-party themes again. It supports SP3 and you can then apply your themes and styles the manual way. Just go into your C:\Windows\Resources\Themes folder and find and double-click your theme's .theme or .msstyles file. That will load it up in Display Preferences so you can apply it.

The file isn't found...using the link that you provided...

Oops... My bad. Had just updated it and must have broken the link. Fixed now. Try again and it should work now.

I got a message.. The file C:\Windows\system32\dllcache\uxtheme.dll is not a valid previous version and could not be upgraded.

That is a hidden backup of the uxtheme.dll file. The 'live' copy is in c:\Windows\system32. I'm guessing that the backup was patched by StyleXP. When you run Multi-Patcher, it patches your live copy and any backups, including that one.

The error message should be okay to ignore. After a reboot, can you load up your themes now?

Thanks for replying back!! No, I have rebooted and my themes are not working, not even manually.

I got it working.. I looked for uxtheme.dll in my system and renamed it. Then applied the patch and rebooted.. THANKS

what did you rename the file to?

I dont remember what I renamed it to.. I just added a letter or something. It doesnt really matter.. just so long as the computer doesnt find it when it searches

thanks for the reply! but it works with out renaming it. i am happy i have themes again