Cool blue XP theme

By James Kendrick | Thursday, October 9, 2008 | 8:07 AM CT | 12 comments | Tweet This

I’m a sucker for good themes to make my Windows XP systems look all pretty. That’s why I have been using the Zune theme. Lifehacker has pointed to a dark blue theme that is very nice that was done for Windows Embedded systems that can be applied to XP (wallpaper not included):

You can download the Embedded theme here.

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Comments (12)

I prefer Royale Noir myself, another one of those themes that works perfectly with XP without any hacks.

Joe — 2:40 AM on October 9, 2008 Reply
Royale (light blue) & Royale Noir (dark blue) are both officially from MS. actually Royale was originally created for the Tablet XP OS. the last i had heard these 2 plus Zune were the only themes ever officially done for XP by MS.

i havent installed the 1 James just showed but it looks very much like Royale.

FancyBoyPinkPuffies — 2:52 AM on October 9, 2008 Reply
Thanks for this, I`m a big fan of the zune theme myself, its got some of vistas shininess without its unnecessary change, but I have been using it for a year and a half and I think its time for change.

seclachi — 4:34 AM on October 9, 2008 Reply
Thanks for this, I`m a big fan of the zune theme myself, its got some of vistas shininess without its unnecessary change, but I have been using it for a year and a half and I think its time for change.

seclachi — 4:34 AM on October 9, 2008 Reply
I still prefer the Zune theme, but I do like the Embedded’s dark blue and the fact that it ditches the green start button for something less obnoxious.

Royale, btw, is actually part of Media Center. It’s never been available on the tablets I’ve used. Royale Noir is typically a bluer version of the Zune theme (it was a pre-development version if I recall).

GoodThings2Life — 6:13 AM on October 9, 2008 Reply
My favorite on my EEE PC 900 is a grey and black one :

Royale remixed

Here for a full look

http://oddbasket.deviantart.com/art/Royale-Remixed-44294818

Here to download

I’m sure some of you will install it.

http://oddbasket.deviantart.com/art/Royale-Remixed-44294818

Lorie Ghamy — 8:41 AM on October 9, 2008 Reply
This theme looks great with my blue Acer Aspire One. Thanks for the link.

Phil — 9:58 AM on October 9, 2008 Reply
This is a NICE theme – Microsoft should have released XP back in 2001 with this. For the record, I’m gonna stick with the back Zune theme, it goes better with the back Aquatint theme I have for Firefox. But I will be setting up all my new XP machines with this cool blue theme as standard.

Luscious — 10:39 AM on October 9, 2008 Reply
Is that wallpaper avilable anywhere?

Computer Pimp — 4:41 PM on October 9, 2008 Reply
Thanks. I’ve switched to this one from Royal. The main reason I prefer Embedded is the blue start button.

MarkP — 12:43 AM on October 10, 2008 Reply
Thanks for posting, James. I love it!

Tax Man — 4:39 AM on October 10, 2008 Reply
The wallpaper is from: http://wvs.topleftpixel.com/08/08/18/

I use the same wallpaper on all my PCs

Riyad Chowdhury — 2:50 AM on April 21, 2009 Reply