Tutorial: How to add your own themes to a HTC Windows Phone 7

A member over on the Xda-Developers forum has figured out a way to get access to the registry of any HTC device running Windows Phone 7. The method allows the user to write their own registry values over the top of some preconfigured ones, such as accent colors.

We've written up a handy guide on how to change the accent colors on your own Windows Phone 7 device, in case you hated the stock colors as much as we did. The registry editing part of this trick is thanks to xda-developers forum member "xboxmod" and we take no responsibility for this process in the odd event that it bricks your phone (Don't worry, it didn't break ours).

1. To get started, be sure to have the HTC Connection Setup application installed already. This can be found under "HTC Apps" in the marketplace. You'll also need a developer unlocked device, either using ChevronWP7 or the official developer unlock. Finally, install TouchXplorer onto your WP7.

2. Create three text files in notepad containing the registry keys found below. For this, we want to replace one of the existing themes -- pink -- with a nicer blue theme.

First file:

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ControlPanel\Themes\0\Accents]

"0"=dword:FF339933

"1"=dword:FFE51400

"2"=dword:FF1BA1E2

"3"=dword:FFF09609

"5"=dword:FF0066FF

"6"=dword:FF292a30

"7"=dword:FF8CBF26

"8"=dword:FF00ABA9

"9"=dword:FFA200FF

"10"=dword:FFFF0097

Second File:

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ControlPanel\Themes\1\Accents]

"0"=dword:FF339933

"1"=dword:FFE51400

"2"=dword:FF1BA1E2

"3"=dword:FFF09609

"5"=dword:FF0066FF

"6"=dword:FF292a30

"7"=dword:FF8CBF26

"8"=dword:FF00ABA9

"9"=dword:FFA200FF

"10"=dword:FFFF0097

Third file:

REGEDIT 4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ControlPanel\Themes\AccentsDisplayName\0409]

"0"="Green" ;

"1"="Red" ;

"2"="Blue" ;

"3"="Orange" ;

"5"="Pink" ;

"6"="Brown" ;

"7"="Lime" ;

"8"="Teal" ;

"9"="Purple" ;

"10"="Magenta" ;

The value contained in bold in the first two files is the hexadecimal value of the color we want to change it to. You can pick anything you like. The third file is simply the label in the theme picker dialog, you don't have to change this if you don't want to.

Save these notepad files with a ".rgu" extension.

2. Use the tool found in this RAR file called "rgu-2-xml.exe" to convert one of the files for deployment.

3. Rename the file the tool creates to CustClear.provxml

4. Use the second tool found in the rar -- XBMOD.Files.Deployer.exe -- to create an XAP file to deploy to the phone.

5. Deploy the XAP to the phone using the developer tools.

6. Run the application, then, run TouchXplorer and navigate to "My Ringtones" which is found inside "My documents." Copy the file which is found here.

7. Paste the file into the \Windows directory. Overwrite if necessary.

8. Run HTC Connection setup. The theme is now added. Ensure you repeat the entire process for each registry file, otherwise you may experience issues with the theme, as it requires all the registry keys to be changed before selecting the theme.

Enjoy your new themes!

Method and tools credit: WP7MOD