Editing Msstyles Files

MSSTYLES is a Microsoft file format, that contains the bitmaps and metadata for the Windows XPskinning engine, first introduced in Windows Whistler Build 2250.^[1]

The engine, in its unmodified state, only fully applies .msstyles files that have been digitally signed by Microsoft, such as Luna or the Zune theme. The default Windows XP style is known as Luna, but additional custom-made styles are available on the Internet – however, few are digitally signed. Four other signed styles for Windows XP include Royale (Media Center Edition) (Energy Blue), Royale Noir, Windows Embedded Standard CTP Refresh, and the Zune Style.

Thanks for your reply. I am trying to edit a 3rd party theme called 7.5. I didn’t notice the.msstyles files, which I have adequate experience editing using Resource Hacker in my XP days. I just assumed that the.theme extension replaced.msstyles in Windows 7. To do this you will first need to import the.msstyles file so that you can edit its individual parts. In StyleBuilder you need to click on 'File' and then 'Import' in your menu bar (top). In the 'Import.msstyles' window you need to specify the location of the theme in the first field. MSSTYLES file extension Information that help open, edit, and convert.MSSTYLES file. When there is a problem with opening files with the extension.MSSTYLES you do not need to immediately use the services of the IT expert. In most cases, using the helpful suggestions of experts contained in our website as well as appropriate programs you can solve the problem with the.MSSTYLES file yourself. Various workarounds were developed over the years, usually boiling down to a complex 'DWM enable' batch file that actually repeatedly enables, disables and re-enables DWM, to trigger another bug that prevents loading resources from the active msstyles file, instead falling back to the resources embedded in desksrv.dll (which in TWIWMTB is also. With PE Explorer you can view, edit and repair the internal structures. PE files with the click of a button. A PE file (“portable executable”) is the native format of executable binaries (programs, dll's and drivers) for the Microsoft Windows. PE Explorer can handle a variety of different PE file types: EXE, DLL, SYS, MSSTYLES, CPL, OCX, BPL.

Unsigned styles can be used via various methods, by means of manually patching or replacing system files or automatically by one of the programs made for this purpose. These programs are usually called 'UxTheme patchers' from the name of the XP library that required patching, UxTheme.dll, despite that recent Windows versions require patches to different files. Many popular and freely distributed patchers can be found online, often using different ways to enable custom themes.

Windows Vista and later also use .msstyles files for skinning (like the Aero.msstyles file), however the format of these files is significantly different, so .msstyles files are not transferable between Windows Vista and Windows XP. This version of .msstyles file contains PNG images and metadata.

There is a manual way to replace three DLL files (uxtheme.dll, shsvcs.dll and themeui.dll) to use unsigned custom visual styles in Windows Vista.

File format[edit]

.msstyles files are 32 bit PE files, however they don't contain code or ordinary data. Instead they store all style information in resources. Microsoft provided styles contain PE version metadata, despite Explorer not displaying this data for .msstyles files in recent Windows versions. PE signing is not used, instead a custom signature is appended to the file.

Signature format[edit]