My Colors Themes Help

Activation

from WinCustomize Forums

OK guys. Here's the thing.

I was trying to load a MyColors theme which I paid for, via Theme Manager (they're all listed in there), and I get an error wanting me to install MyColors in order to activate.

 

OK, we know MyColors won't work on 64 bit Windows 7.

 

So, how do I use skins I paid for, via Theme Manager, if they won't activate.

 

Now, the rest of the story.

 

In trying to load these skins with Theme Manager, which I thought was the way to do it now, I hosed my system and had to restore from a backup.

After trying to load these skins, I was helping Wiz with a problem he had and I noticed that my Control Panel was blank. So I rebooted. Or tried to....but I couldn't get past the logon screen and it was a black screen with Windows 7 Ultimate and a restart/shutdown button. That's it.

It wouldn't go any further than the logon screen.

Not even in safe mode.

So, I had to restore a backup.

Is there no way to use these paid skins anymore?

 

Vintage

University Of Tennessee

Sins Of A Solar Empire

Pirate

RIP 2007

Mustang

Camaro

Camoflage

Music

Harley Davidson

and more.....

 

42,300 views 29 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top

i use mine all the time but not with theme manager i apply the blind,the icons, and the gadgets all separately..window blinds,icon packager and desktopx takes an extra minute not a problem.... win 7 x64 i love all my vintage themes!

Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top

How do you do it? Extraction?

 

Galactic Civilizations IV
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Jim, this is what I use for extracting stuff like this. It can damn near extract anything including .exe files and Microsoft theme files very easily. A while back I needed something to extract my Office 10 files and it worked perfect. Good tool to have in your arsenal! http://www.legroom.net/software/uniextract#download

Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top

7Zip does it for me. But it still asks for activation.

Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Jim i do use 7 zip for the .mycolors file or the .suite file,then i put the windowblind folder or file in the windowblind directory and the icons in the iconpackager folder ect. a beautiful thing works perfect...

i really do like all of those vintage themes thats why i asked about the old gadgets with the x64 issue like the r.i.p. ect and you replied about updating them thanks for trying btw..

Ed :D

Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Doubled

Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting RedneckDude, reply 4
7Zip does it for me. But it still asks for activation.

Sure, but if you ever have need to extract an exe, Uniextract is the way to go. I haven't found anything it cannot extract. Just trying to be helpful. I have serial #s listed for the Mycolor stuff on the store page. :meow:

Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Change the extention to .zip. ie: Dragon.MyColors to Dragon.zip.

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Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top

As far as I know though you do have to have MyColors installed, and leave it installed, to load the WB portion of the themes though.  And as far as I know you also do have to do the initial activation through MyColors.

Can you even get MyColors installed on the 64bit at all, just enough to do the initial activation and leave it?  Then ya, do the extracting and apply pieces etc.

Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting Frankief, reply 7

Quoting RedneckDude, reply 47Zip does it for me. But it still asks for activation.

Sure, but if you ever have need to extract an exe, Uniextract is the way to go. I haven't found anything it cannot extract. Just trying to be helpful. I have serial #s listed for the Mycolor stuff on the store page.

 

Frankief thats a great program thank you for that!!

Ed..

Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting DaveRI, reply 9
As far as I know though you do have to have MyColors installed, and leave it installed, to load the WB portion of the themes though.  And as far as I know you also do have to do the initial activation through MyColors.

Can you even get MyColors installed on the 64bit at all, just enough to do the initial activation and leave it?  Then ya, do the extracting and apply pieces etc.

Yes, but then my PC wouldn't boot past the logon screen, as in the OP.

 

I know Wiz had the same problem upon installing MyColors on Win 7 64 bit. It screwed up his system royally. Took him hours to get it fixed.

Reply #12 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting DaveRI, reply 9
As far as I know though you do have to have MyColors installed, and leave it installed, to load the WB portion of the themes though.

It was my understanding that we could load MyColors themes with Theme Manager, but when I did, my system got hosed. The skin's graphics were encoded too.

Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top

So, I hope someone from support will see this thread and respond.

 

These are paid skins I'd like to use.

Reply #14 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting Jaroepz, reply 1
i use mine all the time but not with theme manager i apply the blind,the icons, and the gadgets all separately..window blinds,icon packager and desktopx takes an extra minute not a problem.... win 7 x64 i love all my vintage themes!

Jaroepz you seem to have done something right.  What exactly did you do in terms of installing MyColors or ThemeManager?

Reply #15 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting RedneckDude, reply 12

Quoting DaveRI, reply 9As far as I know though you do have to have MyColors installed, and leave it installed, to load the WB portion of the themes though.

It was my understanding that we could load MyColors themes with Theme Manager, but when I did, my system got hosed. The skin's graphics were encoded too.

 

Quoting DaveRI, reply 14

Quoting Jaroepz, reply 1i use mine all the time but not with theme manager i apply the blind,the icons, and the gadgets all separately..window blinds,icon packager and desktopx takes an extra minute not a problem.... win 7 x64 i love all my vintage themes!

Jaroepz you seem to have done something right.  What exactly did you do in terms of installing MyColors or ThemeManager?

The skins graphics are corrupted because they are encrypted! once the serial # is put in and activated the graphics are fine. the my colors program and theme manager install perfect on win 7 ultimate x64 i have done it at least 4 times since oct. of 2009 when i first got my win7 disc,i do this stuff on a spare computer with the same hardware ect, to try different programs and to make sure all is good before it goes on my main computer (i know OCD )UR RIGHT..lol but i spend countless hours on all this crap just learning all the pros and cons of programs.. so let the program go out and download the files(the mycolors files) they should all Que up and install then put the serial #'s one at a time all is good! can't imagine a small program like that taken down the the whole boot process to screw the system up like that WOW i cant make that happen! 

my system is not new btw, i built it in 2010.. win 7 ultimate sp1 intel q6800 2.93ghz 8gig ddr2 800,Nvidia geforce gtx 650 ti  2 750 gig WD 

i hope that helps... sorry if i rambled, if i can help in any way please let me know

Ed..

Reply #16 from WinCustomize Forums Top

OCD - perfect for such an issue, details are everything ;)

Do you go in a particular sequence, such as

Install MyColors

Activate themes

Install ThemeManager

Install Windowblinds etc

?

Reply #17 from WinCustomize Forums Top

@DaveRI....Windowblinds,Iconpackager,DesktopX,MyColors, Theme manager,activate themes and thats about it 

also i never apply themes from theme manager on x64 system screws up all the graphics i think it has something to do with the DWM part of graphics..but you have to make sure themes are installed through mycolors and activated before you apply them from there respective programs ie windowblinds iconpackager ect..  

:beer:

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Reply #18 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Thanks Jaroepz, I thought it might be choking on installing the older over the newer, but I guess not ...

Doesn't seem like you're doing anything special other than avoiding application through Theme Manager.

:beer:

Reply #19 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Installing MyColors on Win 7 64 bit caused me and Wiz some major problems.

Reply #20 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting DaveRI, reply 18
Thanks Jaroepz, I thought it might be choking on installing the older over the newer, but I guess not ...

Doesn't seem like you're doing anything special other than avoiding application through Theme Manager.

your very welcome, doesnt seem like it was too helpful tho..

Correct

Reply #21 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting RedneckDude, reply 19
Installing MyColors on Win 7 64 bit caused me and Wiz some major problems.

RND What did it really do as far as major probs

Reply #22 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I had WB's installed, installed MyColors, rebooted and then the fun started. It took much longer than usual to boot and when it did, WB's and icons were wacked.  DWM wouldn't run, missing titlebars, bad graphics and blank white icons in places. Ok, I thought, I'll add the rest of the themes (all free) and try a different one. None would apply. I rebooted again and got a solid black screen, waited 3-4 minutes and hit reset and it did startup repair.

The MC UI showed all the themes as activated but the graphics were still encrypted in WB config and applied the same way. MyColors wouldn't even reapply Aero as when I tried to reapply Aero the rig froze up again. another looong reboot and I uninstalled the whole mess.I fixed the blank icons with the reg key fix and went into WB config and deleted all the encrypted crap. I didn't try Theme Mangler because I don't have it installed as it's not known for its reliability.

 Extracting the WB obviously wouldn't work as the MC themes failed to activate properly and remained encrypted. The Icons would be fine but half of the weather gadgets and clocks never did work right even when MC was supported.

That was a lot of effort to try to use a handful of free themes. I'll pass. End of story.

Reply #23 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting Wizard1956, reply 22
I had WB's installed, installed MyColors, rebooted and then the fun started. It took much longer than usual to boot and when it did, WB's and icons were wacked.  DWM wouldn't run, missing titlebars, bad graphics and blank white icons in places. Ok, I thought, I'll add the rest of the themes (all free) and try a different one. None would apply. I rebooted again and got a solid black screen, waited 3-4 minutes and hit reset and it did startup repair.

The MC UI showed all the themes as activated but the graphics were still encrypted in WB config and applied the same way. MyColors wouldn't even reapply Aero as when I tried to reapply Aero the rig froze up again. another looong reboot and I uninstalled the whole mess.I fixed the blank icons with the reg key fix and went into WB config and deleted all the encrypted crap. I didn't try Theme Mangler because I don't have it installed as it's not known for its reliability.

 Extracting the WB obviously wouldn't work as the MC themes failed to activate properly and remained encrypted. The Icons would be fine but half of the weather gadgets and clocks never did work right even when MC was supported.

That was a lot of effort to try to use a handful of free themes. I'll pass. End of story.

Geez Wizard.. damn i dont blame ya!! 1 bit holy S**t waaay too much..

i remember the clocks didnt work on 64 bit systems RND told me back in october

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

88t

Reply #24 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting Wizard1956, reply 22
I had WB's installed, installed MyColors, rebooted and then the fun started. It took much longer than usual to boot and when it did, WB's and icons were wacked.

MyColors has a version of WB in each theme... the wacking was probably conflicts between the earlier versions (files) of WB and the latest on your machine...

Reply #25 from WinCustomize Forums Top

One of my favorite themes is Encounter but I won't install mycolors in order to decrypt the suite.  When I strip the wba out of the executable it installs but is scrambled and unusable.  At one time it was said that decrypted versions would be made available to subscribers but that ain't happened.  So it goes.  It'd be nice to have a usable version of the Encounter wba.