UxStyle

Uxstyle for Windows is a small free utility that lets you apply third-party visual styles (themes) that Windows normally refuses to load. Windows only accepts themes signed by Microsoft, so custom desktop styles downloaded from the web usually cannot be applied. UxStyle relaxes this theme signature requirement in memory: it consists of a tiny system service and a kernel driver that are loaded into memory and stay there until reboot. No system files are modified on disk, which is the main difference from older methods that patched uxtheme.dll and other system files directly. After installation, unsigned .msstyles themes copied to the Windows themes folder can be selected in the regular personalization settings like any built-in theme. UxStyle is installed from Windows Installer packages for 32-bit and 64-bit systems, and it does not include any themes itself, so visual styles have to be downloaded separately from theme communities.

UxStyle was written by Rafael Rivera and first introduced in March 2009. It was later rebranded as UxStyle Community Edition and published on GitHub under the GPL license. The project is now in read-only mode and will not be updated: it supports Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 and 8.1, Windows Server 2003 to 2012 R2 and early Windows 10 preview builds, but it has known compatibility issues with Windows 10 Creators Update and later versions.

The main benefit of UxStyle is that it enables third-party Windows themes without patching or replacing any system files.

Features:

• Enables unsigned third-party Windows themes
• Works in memory without modifying system files
• Free and open source under the GPL license
• Separate installers for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows

In conclusion, UxStyle is a simple way to use custom visual styles on older Windows versions without patching system files, but it is no longer maintained and should not be used on current Windows 10 or Windows 11 builds.