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Classic theme on Windows 8

Windows 8 on ThinkPads
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Splitwirez
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Re: Classic theme on Windows 8

#511 Post by Splitwirez » Thu Mar 31, 2016 12:33 pm

windows.nt.win32 wrote:Well if you've actually made some progress porting the Longhorn explorer, I would be interested in seeing that. It does sound interesting, and hey, maybe we will go somewhere with that. Who knows. That does sound interesting at the very least. If you feel like you're getting somewhere with that, then by all means continue doing it. I'd love to see it, even if we don't end up using it in the long run.
Here's what I have so far: http://www.mediafire.com/download/p28al ... r_WIP1.zip
It still doesn't actually work per se, but I've managed to get it to read copies of the original Longhorn DLLs in its own folder, rather than the non-4074 ones in most computers' system32 folders, and cut down all the errors relating to it not finding stuff in those 4074 DLLs for some reason...though I fear the error it now produces may be a result of how I got around the other errors D:

I'm officially at a loss as to how to progress with this. If you have any ideas, give me a shout, or try them yourself.

windows.nt.win32 wrote:If most of Longhorn's shell was developed through shell extensions, it could me interesting to look into porting them (or at the very least recreating them). Like I've said before, I'm all for giving everyone plenty of options, even if I won't use all of them personally.
I'm not sure exactly how much, but I know that just about everything on 4074's Explorer Window title bars (nav buttons, breadcrumbs bar, favorites and search buttons, etc.) is added via toolbars, which can be disabled via the right-click context menu on the title bar .-.
(A toolbar is a type of shell extension, correct? .-.-. )

And I agree, drowning users in settings, options, and other ways to customize stuff is the best approach. There is no justification for removing an option unless it was only used for a now-removed feature!!

Powerplayer
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Re: Classic theme on Windows 8

#512 Post by Powerplayer » Thu Mar 31, 2016 10:22 pm

Splitwirez wrote:
windows.nt.win32 wrote:Well if you've actually made some progress porting the Longhorn explorer, I would be interested in seeing that. It does sound interesting, and hey, maybe we will go somewhere with that. Who knows. That does sound interesting at the very least. If you feel like you're getting somewhere with that, then by all means continue doing it. I'd love to see it, even if we don't end up using it in the long run.
Here's what I have so far: http://www.mediafire.com/download/p28al ... r_WIP1.zip
Might i suggest to make a hybrid of newshell and longhorn?

http://toastytech.com/guis/misc4.html

the unique with newshell is that it is DESIGNED to replace a shell ... Just dont forget to make x64 version too ;)

Or the opensource Calmira UI https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calmira these are real shells not fake explorer.exe using crap like aston cause if somebody ports that to modern OS we will be free from all metro abominations

Splitwirez
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Re: Classic theme on Windows 8

#513 Post by Splitwirez » Fri Apr 01, 2016 10:40 am

Powerplayer wrote:
Splitwirez wrote: Here's what I have so far: http://www.mediafire.com/download/p28al ... r_WIP1.zip
Might i suggest to make a hybrid of newshell and longhorn?

http://toastytech.com/guis/misc4.html

the unique with newshell is that it is DESIGNED to replace a shell ... Just dont forget to make x64 version too ;)

Or the opensource Calmira UI https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calmira these are real shells not fake explorer.exe using crap like aston cause if somebody ports that to modern OS we will be free from all metro abominations
Err...I think it's a better idea to atleast try to get the Longhorn explorer to run at all before we start trying to manipulate it to our own desires... .-.

Bakuchris
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Re: Classic theme on Windows 8

#514 Post by Bakuchris » Sat Apr 02, 2016 2:20 am

The Classic theme application also breaks Windows Explorer on Windows 10, It seems annoying I can't do much unless I use a alternative explorer like Explorer+++.

Powerplayer
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Re: Classic theme on Windows 8

#515 Post by Powerplayer » Sat Apr 02, 2016 3:24 am

Splitwirez wrote:,
Err...I think it's a better idea to atleast try to get the Longhorn explorer to run at all before we start trying to manipulate it to our own desires... .-.
valid point i just thought it would be easier to get it functional with a little help from other windows files like newshell ...

On a more serious note i tried to get vista gui over to windows 10 but i dont know what i did wrong i copied the explorer.exe shell32.dll the theme files and ofcause shellstyle.dll and its .mui counterpart it starts on a black screen with a mouse cursor.
Maybe it will load up if i put in the proper files , and maybe longhorn will work with some vista stuff added because longhorn seems to hang because documents and settings folder is replaced by users they lazyfixed that lin vista by adding a shortcut to it

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Re: Classic theme on Windows 8

#516 Post by Anixx » Mon Apr 04, 2016 4:53 am

Bakuchris wrote:Just the taskbar has problems, explorer won't launch but everything else works fine. Its not a big problem. :D

The Windows XP explorer runs really good, but you cannot add quick shortcuts to the bar. Vista is better with the icons near the clock part, and the ReactOS explorer is the best so far and runs great.
What do you mean when saying XP cannot add shortcuts? And what do you mean when saying Vista is better with the clock icons?

Anixx
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Re: Classic theme on Windows 8

#517 Post by Anixx » Mon Apr 04, 2016 10:18 am

I found a way to disable the Live Folders. Disable the "Typed Data Thumbnail Handler" shell extension with ShellExView utility. After I had done this, folders are shown as folder icons while pictures, videos and pdf files are shown as thumbnais. Also folders are shown as thumbnails when large icons view is enabled.

http://storage5.static.itmages.ru/i/16/ ... 9b6e2d.png

MOD warning:
that picture is too big, please read the Forum Rules!
Don't try and put another one in again.

Splitwirez
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Re: Classic theme on Windows 8

#518 Post by Splitwirez » Mon Apr 04, 2016 12:40 pm

Anixx wrote:
Bakuchris wrote:Just the taskbar has problems, explorer won't launch but everything else works fine. Its not a big problem. :D

The Windows XP explorer runs really good, but you cannot add quick shortcuts to the bar. Vista is better with the icons near the clock part, and the ReactOS explorer is the best so far and runs great.
What do you mean when saying XP cannot add shortcuts? And what do you mean when saying Vista is better with the clock icons?
By "XP cannot add shortcuts", (s)he means that adding Quick Launch icons to Windows XP's explorer's Quick Launch doesn't work on Windows 10, and by "Vista is better with the clock icons" (s)he means Vista's explorer displays tray icons correctly on Windows 10, while Windows XP's explorer does not.


-------------------------------------------



Has anyone here heard of "Styler"? For those who haven't, it's an old Windows XP customization tool, designed to aid in managing Visual Styles, themes, and wallpapers. Also, it inclides a toolbar, which aims to mimic the explorer window chrome from Windows Longhorn/Vista, though its layout is customizable to the point of near-infinite possibilities. I have no idea if that toolbar works on Windows 8.1 or 10, but for the moment it seems impossible to find out, as the application crashes before it has a chance to enable the toolbar, seemingly due to the Theme/Visual Style management features not being compatible with Windows 8.1 ... :/

But there's still a chance the toolbar may be functional. We just need a way to extract it from the rest of the application and install it on its own. I suspect it may be of use to us, or atleast provide some foundation for something more flexible than the stock explorer. If you want to get an idea of what it can do, just look around on DeviantArt, or even in a Google image search.

You can get it here: http://www.crystalxp.net/galerie/en.id. ... -tools.htm

Anyone have any ideas on how to salvage the toolbar?

Anixx
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Re: Classic theme on Windows 8

#519 Post by Anixx » Mon Apr 04, 2016 12:56 pm

adding Quick Launch icons to Windows XP's explorer's Quick Launch doesn't work on Windows 10
Does it work in Vista's Explorer?

Splitwirez
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Re: Classic theme on Windows 8

#520 Post by Splitwirez » Mon Apr 04, 2016 2:13 pm

Anixx wrote:
adding Quick Launch icons to Windows XP's explorer's Quick Launch doesn't work on Windows 10
Does it work in Vista's Explorer?
I have no idea ._.

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Re: Classic theme on Windows 8

#521 Post by Bakuchris » Mon Apr 04, 2016 5:04 pm

With the Vista Explorer you cannot add a quick launch, right clicking on the bar does nothing when I try it on Windows 8.1 or Windows 10. Also the start menu button is broken on the Vista bar as I guess its looking for resources in my real Windows folder directory.

P.S. Also The Windows XP Explorer works better and you can actually change some settings on the bar, also the start menu works but the links to control panel or my computer don't work (they are looking for resources in .dll files I think.) and the run button works fine in the start menu, they only problem is no desktop and you have to use a alternative explorer like Explorer++, Also right clicking on the start menu bar will give you a menu with no text, so you will need to know where to click.

Splitwirez
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Re: Classic theme on Windows 8

#522 Post by Splitwirez » Mon Apr 04, 2016 5:23 pm

Bakuchris wrote:With the Vista Explorer you cannot add a quick launch, right clicking on the bar does nothing when I try it on Windows 8.1 or Windows 10. Also the start menu button is broken on the Vista bar as I guess its looking for resources in my real Windows folder directory.

P.S. Also The Windows XP Explorer works better and you can actually change some settings on the bar, also the start menu works but the links to control panel or my computer don't work (they are looking for resources in .dll files I think.) and the run button works fine in the start menu, they only problem is no desktop and you have to use a alternative explorer like Explorer++, Also right clicking on the start menu bar will give you a menu with no text, so you will need to know where to click.
I thought Vista's explorer accepted most taskbar settings configured in XP's...

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Re: Classic theme on Windows 8

#523 Post by Bakuchris » Mon Apr 04, 2016 6:53 pm

Oh I just mean when I right click on the Vista explorer task bar on Windows 8.1 or Windows 10, I get no task bar settings for the explorer or any pop up menu.

Splitwirez
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Re: Classic theme on Windows 8

#524 Post by Splitwirez » Mon Apr 04, 2016 8:38 pm

Bakuchris wrote:Oh I just mean when I right click on the Vista explorer task bar on Windows 8.1 or Windows 10, I get no task bar settings for the explorer or any pop up menu.
I know. I'm saying that some of the XP explorer settings carry over, so you can set what you want in XP explorer, then switch over to Vista explorer .________.

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Re: Classic theme on Windows 8

#525 Post by Bakuchris » Mon Apr 04, 2016 10:39 pm

Oh I understand now.

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Re: Classic theme on Windows 8

#526 Post by Anixx » Tue Apr 05, 2016 6:37 am

Bakuchris wrote:Oh I just mean when I right click on the Vista explorer task bar on Windows 8.1 or Windows 10, I get no task bar settings for the explorer or any pop up menu.
Have you tried Windows 8.1 Explorer under Windows 10?

Splitwirez
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Re: Classic theme on Windows 8

#527 Post by Splitwirez » Tue Apr 05, 2016 1:35 pm

Anixx wrote:
Bakuchris wrote:Oh I just mean when I right click on the Vista explorer task bar on Windows 8.1 or Windows 10, I get no task bar settings for the explorer or any pop up menu.
Have you tried Windows 8.1 Explorer under Windows 10?
Nothing post-Vista runs on Windows 7 or newer for some reason. You really think we'd willingly opt for XP/Vista taskbar over 7? :lol:

(Actually some of us might, come to think of it... ._. )

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Re: Classic theme on Windows 8

#528 Post by Powerplayer » Wed Apr 06, 2016 1:01 am

Splitwirez wrote:
Anixx wrote:
Have you tried Windows 8.1 Explorer under Windows 10?
Nothing post-Vista runs on Windows 7 or newer for some reason. You really think we'd willingly opt for XP/Vista taskbar over 7? :lol:

(Actually some of us might, come to think of it... ._. )
Vista start menu do not need classicshell it already has programs documents settings search run which is similar for its predecessor longhorn the beauty of those shells are that they are not locked down to signing drm which helps out a great deal in modding terms. win8-10 enter drm if its unsigned you get black screen in other words we need somebody to make a tweak like ex7forwin8 that microsoft blocked from working

Splitwirez
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Re: Classic theme on Windows 8

#529 Post by Splitwirez » Thu Apr 07, 2016 6:23 am

Powerplayer wrote:
Splitwirez wrote: Nothing post-Vista runs on Windows 7 or newer for some reason. You really think we'd willingly opt for XP/Vista taskbar over 7? :lol:

(Actually some of us might, come to think of it... ._. )
Vista start menu do not need classicshell it already has programs documents settings search run which is similar for its predecessor longhorn the beauty of those shells are that they are not locked down to signing drm which helps out a great deal in modding terms. win8-10 enter drm if its unsigned you get black screen in other words we need somebody to make a tweak like ex7forwin8 that microsoft blocked from working
Speaking of Longhorn Start Menus... :lol:

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Re: Classic theme on Windows 8

#530 Post by Bakuchris » Fri Apr 08, 2016 5:13 am

I dont want to go off topic, but I can run the Firewall settings application from Windows Vista on Windows 8.1 and 10, though it appears to be broken clicking on the links in the program. Also when I launch the Command prompt from Vista, the copyrights are different at the top windows and it appears its running the old Command Prompt.

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Re: Classic theme on Windows 8

#531 Post by Bakuchris » Mon Apr 11, 2016 5:26 pm

I just got the Windows Vista explorer to work, I had to extract the en-US folder from the Windows folder, now I got properties for the bar, and I can enable the quick launch on the Vista bar. still when I right click I get a menu with no text, it's annoying but if you know where to click you can enable things.

P.S. The start menu button does nothing at all, but now it's displayed.

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Re: Classic theme on Windows 8

#532 Post by Anixx » Tue Apr 12, 2016 6:47 am

Bakuchris wrote:I just got the Windows Vista explorer to work, I had to extract the en-US folder from the Windows folder, now I got properties for the bar, and I can enable the quick launch on the Vista bar. still when I right click I get a menu with no text, it's annoying but if you know where to click you can enable things.

P.S. The start menu button does nothing at all, but now it's displayed.
Have you tried Classic Shell on it?

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Re: Classic theme on Windows 8

#533 Post by Anixx » Tue Apr 12, 2016 6:48 am

Early Classic Shell supported Vista.

Splitwirez
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Re: Classic theme on Windows 8

#534 Post by Splitwirez » Tue Apr 12, 2016 7:14 am

Anixx wrote:Early Classic Shell supported Vista.
Yeah. That ended with Classic Shell 4.x, correct?
In any case, it took some resource hacking, but I eventually managed to hack Classic Shell 3.6.8's installer to slide through Windows 10's detection...only for it to have no effect on Vista's explorer. I know it ran, though - it affected 10's explorer, and Task Manager showed that it was still running when I tried Vista's explorer.

So then I tried ViStart. But oh wait, apparently that's Malware, So Windows Defender removed it for me.

I then turned my sights onto Windows Defender. Tried to stop the services. Greyed out. Tried to delete their executables. Access denied. Tried to rename their executables. Access Denied. Tried a takeown + ICACLS combo on them. Acess denied.

So now I opened another command prompt as administrator. Tried deleting their executables as admin. Access denied. Tried renaming the executable as admin. Access denied. Tried a takeown+ ICACLS combo as admin. Acces denied.

At this point, I may as well have gone Super Saiyan, but instead I just did the digital equivalent. Downloaded PSTools, used PSExec to open a command prompt window...as the Local System account. Del NisSrv.exe? ACCESS DENIED. Ren NisSrv.exe NisShutUp.bkp? ACCESS DENIED. Takeown /f NisSrv.exe + ICACLS NisSrv.exe /grant Splitwirez:(D, WDAC)? ACCESS...DENIED.

Fortunately, there's one last option to try: Rather than eliminating the executables, I plan to redirect the services to attempt to launch some nonexistent executable via regedit. And if that (somehow) doesn't work either, I'll look into using regedit to disable the services entirely. And if that fails...then I'll just have to delete the registry keys.

And if that fails too, then we may need to figure out what account/privilege level owns those files. Whatever it is, it's above the system account.

kensiko
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Re: Classic theme on Windows 8

#535 Post by kensiko » Tue Apr 12, 2016 7:37 am

Delete it from another OS (live bootable)

Splitwirez
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Re: Classic theme on Windows 8

#536 Post by Splitwirez » Tue Apr 12, 2016 11:24 am

kensiko wrote:Delete it from another OS (live bootable)
Will do.

(This is one of those times when I'm really glad I only have Windows 10 in a Virtual Machine XD )

windows.nt.win32
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Re: Classic theme on Windows 8

#537 Post by windows.nt.win32 » Tue Apr 12, 2016 6:58 pm

Can't you just add an exclusion in the Windows Defender settings?

Splitwirez
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Re: Classic theme on Windows 8

#538 Post by Splitwirez » Tue Apr 12, 2016 9:08 pm

windows.nt.win32 wrote:Can't you just add an exclusion in the Windows Defender settings?
Apparently not...I can't even download the installer in order to do so. It isn't just blocking it, it wipes it on download completion T__T

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Re: Classic theme on Windows 8

#539 Post by windows.nt.win32 » Tue Apr 12, 2016 9:35 pm

Wow, that's frustrating. I seem to remember there being a way to turn off active monitoring or something, that might let you download the file and then add an exclusion.

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Re: Classic theme on Windows 8

#540 Post by Bakuchris » Wed Apr 13, 2016 5:38 am

I got vistart running on my computer, but when I click on the button nothing happens when I run the vista explorer on Windows 10. Also the button keeps going on weird places on the start menu.

Startmenu X seems to work, I tested it, but you need to start the start menu from the system tray or from a button you can add,

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