Right click on toolbar icons present graphical glitch

Question

I can't post a photo because I am too new.

The window that pops up on right click for the toolbar icons in win8 is blue and the pin to task bar and close application icons are larger. AMD drivers are up to date.

Answer 1

I have seen this happening when UxTheme patch was installed on Windows 8.1. (It's the patch you need to use unofficial Windows themes.)

Official Microsoft themes weren't affected.

Getting rid of UxTheme patch can be hard, though - the last time I tried simply uninstalling it made system completely unusable. If you're fine with patch sitting there unused, then just leave it alone, but it can cause some issues (eg. prevent you from upgrading to Windows 10).

To upgrade (relatively) safely:

• Make sure System restore is enabled
• Have a Windows DVD or a bootable Windows flash disk at hand
• Make sure your backups are complete and up to date
• Ideally, make an image of bootable partition with Clonezilla or something like that (Acronis True Image works well too)

The procedure that worked for me:

1. Extract install.wim or install.esd file from Windows media (you have to use the same edition you have, for example Windows 8.1 Pro x64 will work only with Windows 8.1 Pro x64 files).
2. If you have the install.esd file, convert it to install.wim.
3. Extract the .xml file from install.wim, then find the right entry for your Windows edition (one ISO can contain multiple editions, choose the right one). You can use 7-Zip to extract files from WIMs.

4. Inside install.wim open a folder corresponding to your edition (if there was only one edition, there will be only one folder called 0). Navigate to Windows\system32 directory and extract following files to some folder (eg. on your desktop):

   • uxtheme.dll
   • themeui.dll
   • themeservice.dll

   If you have 64-bit edition of Windows, then extract these files from Windows\SysWOW64 too, so that you have 6 files in total. Don't mix them up.

5. Switch theme to one provided by Microsoft.
6. Open C:\Windows\Resources\Themes and delete all non-Microsoft themes (aero.theme and theme[number].theme are Microsoft ones) and their corresponding folders.
7. Uninstall UxTheme patch just like you'd uninstall any other program. Don't reboot.
8. Open command prompt as Administrator (press Win, type cmd, press Ctrl+Shift+Enter) and type this command: dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth Then press Enter and wait until it completes. It will take few minutes. It may give you some errors.

9. Reboot, but this time from Windows media (DVD/flash drive). Open command prompt (by clicking Repair computer on the first screen). Remember those three (or six on x64) files you have extracted from install.wim? Replace your actual files with these. Remember to place system32 ones in C:\Windows\system32 and SysWOW64 ones in C:\Windows\SysWOW64. Note that disk letters may not line up with what you see in Windows, for example C: often becomes D: in installer command line - in that case use D:. Command like this should do, adjust paths: (and call it twice for x64)

   copy C:\Users\your_username\Desktop\system32\* C:\Windows\system32
   

10. Cross your fingers and try to boot into Windows. Hopefully it will work.

If you see just a black screen with blinking cursor after rebooting, then something went wrong. Boot from Windows media (DVD/flash drive), then start System restore from there. There should be a restore point from before you uninstalled UxTheme patch, restore it.