Luna royale theme of windows xp

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

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

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

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

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

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

See also

• Features new to Windows XP
• Windows Aero

External links

• Windows XP visual styles at Wikipedia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Windows XP visual styles are customizations of the graphical user interface of Windows XP. «Luna», «Royale», «Zune», and «Embedded» are codenames of the official visual styles designed for Windows XP by Microsoft.^[1] Since Windows XP, themes include the choice of visual styles as well.^[2] By default, «Luna» is preinstalled on Windows XP Home and Professional editions, «Royale» is preinstalled on Windows XP Media Center Edition and «Embedded» is preinstalled on Windows Embedded Standard 2009 and Windows Embedded POSReady 2009. In addition to the preinstalled visual styles, Microsoft has released additional ones for download. Third parties have also released visual styles, though these require modification of core Windows components to work. Visual styles are compatible with all Windows XP editions except Starter Edition.

Compared to Desktop Themes in previous versions of Windows such as Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me, the new visual styles have a greater emphasis on the graphical appeal of the operating system, using saturated colors^[3] and bitmaps^[4] throughout the interface, with rounded corners for windows.^[5][6]

The visual styles API was substantially expanded in Windows Vista and later. Nevertheless, the API remained heavily underdocumented.^[7]

Luna[edit]

«Luna» (the Moon in Latin and various other languages) is the codename for the default visual style of Windows XP. Officially known as «Windows XP style», it is available in three color schemes: blue (default), olive green, and silver.^[6][8] Critics who did not like the theme characterized it as a «Fisher-Price interface».^[9][10] The Luna theme was also present in all pre-reset Windows Vista (Longhorn) builds, but was absent from all post-reset builds starting with build 5098 (apart from very early «Omega-13» post-reset builds 3790, 5000, 5001, 5048 and 5049).

Luna Beta[edit]

Luna Beta is an earlier version of the Luna theme that was included in beta builds from builds 2428 to 2465, and later appeared in the leaked source code of Windows XP in September 2020. Officially known as «Whistler style», it is mostly similar to the final Luna theme, with some slight differences (such as the scrollbar being brighter). This theme is unofficially available as a separate theme made by enthusiasts.

Windows Classic[edit]

Officially titled «Windows Classic style», this is the built-in look and feel that was also used in previous versions of Windows. It is used when the theme service is disabled and in certain other scenarios, such as Win32 console windows or booting the system in Safe mode. Classic style widgets are also used for applications that are not theming-aware even though theming is enabled. It is less CPU-intensive and offers better performance,^[11] due to which it is also used by default on Windows Server 2003 through 2008 R2.

Compared to other visual styles, it supports greater color and font customization options. Windows XP includes 22 preset color schemes for the classic style. Four of them^[12] are optimized for the visually impaired. «Windows Standard» scheme was the default color scheme of Windows ME and Windows 2000 and appeared on Windows Vista and Windows 7 although in the latter, it was renamed «Windows Classic». A slightly darker variant of the Standard scheme, called «Windows Classic», was the default color scheme of Windows 98 (albeit with a dark blue desktop background instead of green, much like the pre-release versions of Windows 2000) and appeared on Windows Vista but not Windows 7.^[13][6] Other schemes appeared in the previous versions of Windows. The style was removed from Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8, however, it still exists internally for backward compatibility purposes.^{[citation needed]}

Royale[edit]

Royale (also known as Energy Blue and Media Center style) was originally designed for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, and was ported to Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005.^[14] It is accompanied by a new wallpaper (inspired by Windows XP Bliss). It presents a relucent, vivid and faux-reflective color scheme with intense blue and green colors.

Royale was originally made available in December 2004. On April 7, 2005, Microsoft New Zealand^[15] had made the Royale theme and the wallpapers for the New Zealand theme available for download^[16] 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.^[17]

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,^[18] but the installer only installed it on Windows XP Tablet PC Edition devices, for which it was licensed.

Royale Noir[edit]

Royale Noir looks like a darkened version of Royale, 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.^[19]

Zune[edit]

A few weeks after Royale Noir was leaked, Zune was officially released in a theme package to accompany the release of Microsoft’s new Zune media player. In terms of style, Zune resembles Royale and Royale Noir, particularly the latter. It displays a brown to light shadow style and is the first publicly released visual style for Windows XP to include a differently colored Start button from the green XP.^[20][21]

Embedded[edit]

Windows Embedded Standard 2009 and Windows Embedded POSReady 2009 came with a dedicated visual style called Embedded. It is similar to Royale, featuring a mix of dark blue colors.

Watercolor[edit]

Codenamed «Business» and «Professional», and officially known as «Watercolor button style», Watercolor is a placeholder theme present in pre-release builds prior to Beta 2 as well as the leaked source code of Windows XP in September 2020. The theme more closely resembles Windows Classic, featuring sharp edges and similar window proportions. It features a primarily blue and white style with mostly flat shading and retains certain UI elements from the Classic theme style. This theme is unofficially available as a separate theme made by enthusiasts.

Mallard[edit]

Officially known as «Sample Test Visual Style», Mallard is a theme that was designed as a decoy to show to the public during Beta 2’s development while designers privately worked on Luna.^[22] It was present in certain builds given out to testers, all of which eventually leaked onto the internet, and later appeared in the leaked source code of Windows XP in September 2020. It features two color schemes, Chartreuse Mongoose, which features a primarily green and orange style, and Blue Lagoon (internally referred to as Paler), which uses a teal and purple style, though both themes feature an orange start button with a green notification area. This theme is unofficially available as a separate theme made by enthusiasts.

Candy[edit]

Candy is an unannounced and unreleased theme which was found in the leaked source code of Windows XP in September 2020. It was made between builds 2250 and 2257, according to the metadata of the files in the theme. Candy seems to be an imitation of the Aqua theme found in earlier versions of Mac OS X (10.0 to 10.6).^[23] According to publicly available screenshots, only some UI elements, such as buttons, scroll bars, and the Start menu, had been redesigned to look like Mac OS X’s, while others used the Classic theme style.

Third-party visual styles[edit]

Windows only loads a visual style that bears a valid Microsoft digital certificate.^[24] 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.^[25][26] 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).^[27]

Application support[edit]

Third-party applications can be configured to work with visual styles. By default, the title bar and the window borders of Windows Forms-based applications are rendered using the user’s preferred visual style, while the rest of the application’s graphical user interface (GUI) is rendered in the Classic style.^[28] This is because these two different parts of the GUI are rendered using two different software libraries: the title bar and the window borders («non-client area» or «user controls») use Windows USER, and the remaining controls («client area» or «common controls») use version 5.8 of the Common Controls Library.^[29] Version 6.0 of the Common Controls Library contains both the user controls and the common controls, and developers may configure the application’s user interface to be displayed in the user’s currently-selected visual style by forcing it to be rendered using version 6.0 of the library.^[30][31]

See also[edit]

• Windows Aero
• WinCustomize
• WindowBlinds
• StyleXP
• Features new to Windows XP
• Theme (computing)

References[edit]

We here at AskVG love Windows customization and we regularly share awesome themes, skins, boot screens and other eye candy stuff for Windows users.

Most of our readers including us are using Windows 7 at the moment and we have posted many Windows 7 themes in past which can be found in our exclusive Themes and Wallpapers section.

There are many Windows 7 users who still love the Luna or Royale Blue theme or dark Zune theme present in Windows XP:

Download Royale Blue, Noir, Zune and Embedded Themes for Windows XP

The good thing is that almost all these classic Windows XP themes have been ported to Windows 7 and Windows 7 users can enjoy these ported themes in their system.

After getting frequent emails containing request for a Windows XP theme for Windows 7, today we decided to put all these themes together in a single topic for your convenience.

So today in this article, we are going to list all Windows XP themes which have been successfully ported to Windows 7. So lets share the themes without wasting time:

If you are using Windows 7 but miss the good old blue “Luna” theme of XP, here is something interesting for you.

Following is an excellent theme for Windows 7 users which will help you in transforming Windows 7 into Windows XP as shown in following screenshot:

This theme really makes Windows 7 look-like Windows XP. The theme looks great and provides same XP feeling in Windows 7.

You can download this theme using following link:

Download Windows XP “Luna” Theme for Windows 7

Also check out following Windows 8 Metro style Luna theme for Windows 7:

Download Windows 8 Metro UI Inspired Windows XP “Luna” Theme for Windows 7

Windows XP “Royale Blue” Theme for Windows 7

“Royale Blue” theme is one of the most famous themes for Windows XP. It was an official Windows XP theme from Microsoft which was introduced in Windows XP Media Center Edition.

If you want to use it in Windows 7, you can download it using following link:

Download Windows XP “Royale Blue” Theme for Windows 7

Windows XP “Zune” Theme for Windows 7

“Zune” theme was also officially released by Microsoft for Windows XP users. It was created by Microsoft to promote its Zune player. This theme was based on “Royale Blue” theme.

You can get the same theme for Windows 7 using following link:

Download Windows XP “Zune” Theme for Windows 7

Download Windows XP “Luna”, “Royale Blue” and “Zune” Remix Themes for Windows 7

One AskVG reader “djeos546” created remix versions of Luna, Royale Blue and Zune themes for Windows 7. He combined the ported XP themes with our exclusive Windows 7 theme “AeroVG Se7en” and the output was really impressive.

You can download these remix versions from following link:

Download Windows XP Royale Blue, Luna and Zune Remix Themes for Windows 7

If you also like Windows XP themes, you should definitely give a try to the above mentioned themes. Feel free to share your feedback about these themes in your comment.

NOTE: Go through following tutorial which describes how to use 3rd party themes in Windows 7:

How to Install & Use 3rd Party (Custom) Themes in Windows 7?

Also don’t forget to check out our exclusive gallery page to find awesome themes, skins, wallpapers and icon packs for Windows, Yahoo! Messenger and mobile phones:

AskVG Gallery

Also check:

Download Windows XP Luna, Royale Blue and Zune Themes for Windows 8/8.1

Download Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8/8.1 and Longhorn Themes for Windows 10