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I was looking to theme my PC in an XP style but nowhere can I find a reliable way to replace my icons (i.e. Recycle Bin, Hard Drive, CD icons) with XP's. I was curious as to whether I could perhaps create an XP VM, pull the shell32 off it and replace my W7's. Alternatively, are there other avenues I could try?

Remona Minett
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2 Answers2

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No, you can't do that.

Shell32.dll is a core file of the operating system which provides the functionality needed to make the shell works (although it's a simplification the shell is more or less Desktop + Start menu + Windows Explorer). Yes, it has a lot of icons but only because that icons are used by the shell so they are stored the same place.

So changing that file would affect a very important part of Windows that need to be synchronized with the rest of files of the OS, even using another file from the same version of Windows but with a different Service Pack applied would make the operating system unbootable.

Anyway, nowadays you couldn't even try that because starting with Windows 2000) Microsoft added Windows File Protection (WFP/SFP), which maintain a copy of the core operating system files and if it detects that one of those files have been replaced it replaces it again from the backup copy.

mashuptwice
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Alberto Martinez
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To expand upon Alberto's answer, Windows/System File protection was added in Windows ME.

From Wikipedia - Windows File Protection:

Windows File Protection (WFP), a sub-system included in Microsoft Windows operating systems of the Windows 2000 and Windows XP era, aims to prevent programs from replacing critical Windows system files. Protecting core system files mitigates problems such as DLL hell with programs and the operating system. Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 include WFP under the name of Windows File Protection; Windows Me includes it as System File Protection (SFP).

Greenonline
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