Appatic

Windows XP has always been the Windows OS with the craziest and biggest  diversity of Windows Themes available.  Well, if you are willing to hack your install and sacrifice some resources of course.  But when it comes to Official Windows XP Themes?. You are pretty much stuck with the 3 default ones. 

However, it is possible to get 4 other Official Windows XP themes. In this post I will show you the  Windows XP Royale Noir Theme.

The Windows XP Royale Noir theme is part two of a duo of Themes, as they not only come together but share the same files.  That is because this duo of themes was not fully finished. The themes are finished in look and behavior, but they were not packaged individually for actual release. This only means that they don’t come with a .Theme control file (so, installing it require a minute more of steps, that the other official XP themes). But even then, they are as good for everyday use, as the ones that come by default in your windows XP install.

Why this duo of themes are not fully finished and bundled is the source of several rumored (not confirmed) but plausible backstories. The most popular ones being that they were first going to be part of Windows XP SP2, but they didn’t made the cut (or Microsoft changed its mind) and the second one is, that they were meant to be added to a XP Plus pack update that never was.  And finally there is also a third, somewhat popular belief, that they were made for the second version of Windows XP Tablet Edition 2005  and Windows Media Center Edition 2005 respectively.

So who knows which one is the right story or if any of them is anywhere close to be true at all.  Up to now, the true and confirmed backstory behind these Official XP themes, has yet to surface.

The Windows XP Royale Noir Theme is a Black Theme with a added brushed glow that gives it a solid and elegant feel. This kind of look would then be fully exploited in Windows Vista with the addition of a more modern  metallic glow. In my opinion is the kind of theme that you can use and it just looks good with any kind of desktop background. I totally recommend it, as it is the XP Theme I used since it was first uncovered until I migrated to  And since it is Microsoft made, you don’t have to worry at all about applying a hack or sacrificing resources to use it. So if you like it, give it a go.

                                 (the start button only goes green when you hover it and click it, otherwise is also black)

Install It

In order to use this theme, you only need to follow 10 simple steps:

• 1.-Download The Theme ZIP, (check for the link at bottom of this post)
• 2.-Extract the ZIP contents into  c:\windows\resources\theme
• 3.-Now check the Windows themes folder for the Royale Noir Folder you just extracted there,
• 4.-Open it and execute the Luna.MSStyles file,
• 5.-Your Windows XP theme should now be changed to the Royale style.

Now lets change it to the Royale Noir style:

• 6.-Go to your desktop view and right-click in a free open area,
• 7.-Click on Display Properties,
• 8.-Click on the Appearance tab in Display Properties,

• 9.-Make sure the color scheme dropdown is set at Royale Noir.
• 10.-Click the Apply button and then OK if it is finally set.

You are now done, enjoy!

Linkage

Windows XP Royale Noir Theme                                         <— Download Page

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This post is part of a series of posts, the other related posts in this series are:

Windows XP Embedded Official Theme

Windows XP Royale Official Theme

Windows XP Official Zune Theme

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