riverar / uxstyle

GNU General Public License v3.0
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UxStyle

Important Note

UxStyle is now in read-only mode and will not be updated. There are known compatibility issues with Windows 10 Creators Update (and above) that have will not be resolved due to lack of interest, use, and time.

About

UxStyle is a bit of software that relaxes Windows theme signature requirements to enable third-party customization. Specifically, UxStyle consists of a tiny system service and a kernel driver that are loaded into memory where they hang out until reboot. No file system changes are made.

(First introduced on March 19, 2009.)

Operating System Support

Building

Required software

Note about code signing

Starting with Windows Vista, the kernel-mode code signing policy controls whether a kernel-mode driver will be loaded. The signing requirements depend on the version of the Windows operating system and on whether the driver is being signed for public release or by a development team during the development and test of a driver.

More information can be found via the resources below:

Legacy Windows users: Pay particular attention to the hashing algorithm used in your code signing certificate. Windows 7 and below do not support the loading of kernel drivers signed with newer SHA-2-based certificates.

More information can be found in Microsoft Security Advisory 2880823.

Fuzzy step-by-step

  1. Open UxStyle.sln and start a Batch Build for the following project configurations:

    • UnsignedThemes (x64, Release)
    • UnsignedThemes (x86, Release)
    • UxPatch (x86, Win 8 Release)
    • UxPatch (x64, Win 8 Release)
  2. Manually sign build artifacts:

    • \bin\x86\Release\UnsignedThemes.exe
    • \bin\x64\Release\UnsignedThemes.exe
    • \bin\driver\x86\uxstyle.sys
    • \bin\driver\amd64\uxstyle.sys
  3. Return to Visual Studio and Batch Build the following project configurations:

    • Installer (x64, Release)
    • Installer (x86, Release)
  4. (optional) Manually sign build artifacts:

    • \bin\x86\Release\Installer.msi
    • \bin\x64\Release\Installer.msi
  5. Return to Visual Studio and build Bundle (x86, Release).

  6. Manually sign build artifact \bin\bundle\Release\UxStyle_Bundle.exe