Installing the “Energy Blue” theme on a computer running Windows XP Professional

Microsoft has released the “Energy Blue” theme (used in Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005) for tablet PC users. The theme provides new colours, new effects and a new wallpaper, which according to Microsoft “will give your Tablet a fresh, updated appearance”.

The normal setup mechanism will not allow the update to install on non-Tablet PCs, but as hinted by the Windows IT Pro magazine network WinInfo Daily Update, it is still possible to install the theme on a PC running Windows XP Professional. To do this:

1. Use a third-party extraction utility (e.g. WinZip) to extract the files within the downloaded file (WindowsXP-TabletPC-EnergyBlueTheme-x86-ENU.exe) to a temporary folder.
2. Once extracted, copy the files as follows, creating folders as necessary (once all files are copied, the temporary folder created in step 1 may be deleted):
   • royale.theme -> %systemroot%\Resources\Themes
   • royal.msstyles -> %systemroot%\Resources\Themes\Royale
   • shellstyle.dll -> %systemroot%\Resources\Themes\Royale\Shell\Homestead
   • shellstyle.dll -> %systemroot%\Resources\Themes\Royale\Shell\Metallic
   • shellstyle.dll -> %systemroot%\Resources\Themes\Royale\Shell\NormalColor
   • shellstyle.dll -> %systemroot%\Resources\Themes\Royale\Shell\Royale
   • energybliss.jpg -> shellstyle.dll -> %systemroot%\Resources\Themes\Royale\Wallpaper
3. Within the Display Properties select the Energy Blue theme from the drop-down selection on the Themes page. A new Color Scheme called Royale will also be available on the Appearance page.