If you don’t fancy the back story, skip directly to download.
Sometime after the launch of XP, somewhere in Redmond, someone on the Microsoft design team was in the progress of developing something for Media Center. It was believed to be too powerful for public consumption and forever archived in the servers at 1 Microsoft Way. Now, a young hobbit man by the name of W3bbo saw light of this unheard of theme, and traveled far and wide to uncover its mysteries. One theme to find. One theme to upload. One theme to rule them all.
Devoted Channel9 member W3bbo spotted an interesting theme on one of the “people_ready” television commercials airing in the Kingdoms. After some dedicated searching, he finally uncovered this mystery Windows XP theme by Microsoft. W3bbo writes,
During Royale’s development (the XP Media Center theme), the graphic artists also produced a black version of the skin, sans the overused “glass” effect. The result is an aesthetic black skin named “Royale Noir”, it even works with Office 2003.
Since the skin was never released (or reached final adjustments) there are a few issues with it: some of the colors don’t meet the overall “feel” (they’re too purple-ish compared to the greys of the bitmaps) and the inactive titlebars are a little too dark.
You’ll find it’s been signed by Microsoft and doesn’t require a custom UxTheme.dll in case there are any doubts as to its authenticity.
If you already have Royale installed, you’ll need to remove it as both of these skins share the same name.
This skin has not been released to anyone outside Microsoft, until now.
Without a doubt, XP Media Center’s Royale theme was a huge improvement over Luna. It updated the cliché beveled look-and-feel if XP to a contemporary glossy style, whilst keeping similar color schemes and layouts. In my opinion, it was the most usable non-standard XP theme available.
Royale Noir is an almost exact copy of Royale except with a dark purplish tint. If Royale was day, Royale Noir is night. No doubt about it, this is a ‘dark’ theme. If you’re the sort of person who likes bright and vivid colors, stay away from this theme.
As W3bbo pointed out, there are quite definitely issues with this theme due to its incompleteness. The most obvious being, the “Start” button’s hover and active states are unchanged from Royale, inconsistent with the purple tint surrounding. However, there is even a color scheme for Office 2003 so it will not default to the blue Luna colors.
Looking at it from the big picture, Royale Noir is a welcomed alternative to the extremely small collection of verified-by-Microsoft XP themes. However being incomplete, it is not recommended for the general consumers. Enthusiasts are welcomed to try it to stand out from the crowd, but even still, you’ll feel right at home with the familiar Luna/Royale style.
Download Royale Noir (.RAR) [232K]
Instructions to use:
- Extract files to “C:\windows\resources\themes\royale noir”
- Double click on “luna.msstyles”
- Select “Noir” from “Color Scheme”
Because this theme has been code-signed by Microsoft, No UXTheme.dll hack required.
As I emphasize again, I take no credit for this amazing find. W3bbo did an amazing job uncovering this mystery XP theme.
Comments for "Royale Noir: secret XP theme uncovered (download)"
Rowan Lewis
Thanks, Royal is good
What other signed themes are there?
Long Zheng
@Rowan: Errrrr, none?
Andre Da Costa
Its very similar to the black theme used in the Beta 5112 build of Vista minus the transparency.
Aaron
The Office “theme” is not really a theme, it’s just the grey look you get when you switch to Windows Classic.
_sahirs
Long, looking at all the attention being given by you (and others) to Vista’s themes, it seems like that’s the only thing newsworthy with Vista…
David Burela
I installed it on. Looks nice, but i prefer the Royale to Royale Noir, so kept it set at Royale
Thanks for this!!
GM
Hey great theme!
I already have a similar one in Windowblinds format named “Noir” that I downloaded from Wincustomize.com
ricktendo64
WOW thank you for this Im gonna go digg it dude… You Rock!
Thomas
It’s not too different from Luna Element, which I find very usable.
mike
I can’t get this theme to apply. I extract the files to a royale noir folder, and drag the folder to my themes folder and click on luna and nothing happens.
mike
Nevermind. Figured it out!
akmshun
Wow, this theme is cool.
Thank you for your work. m(_ _)m
coheed
can someone help me with this please. i did exactly what the instructions say (i’m not a noob at computers) and the option “Noir” is not coming up under the color scheme drop box. are there more specifics that the instructions did not go over? i would really like this cool theme, so any help would be appreciated
Long Zheng
@coheed: Do you see the “Royale” theme at least coming up?
Herbert N Swearengen III
I also thought this did not work when I first installed it. But then I discovered the trick.
Go to the Appearance tab and you will see that you have two choices under “Color Scheme.” Select Royale Noir.
It is also possible to rename the luna.msstyles file to royale.msstyles and use the *.theme files that came with the Royale download that was on Microsoft Download Center or the ones in Media Center Edition. It is probably also possible to just save your current theme. But take care to save it in %SystemDrive%\WINDOWS\Resources\Themes.
And Long thanks for allowing us to download this. I’ve been using Royale for almost a year, but having another color scheme is great. The only down side to me is the Start Button.
秋蟬
great!!
I really love these two styles!!
thanks for releaseing them!!
colbert
this must be a trick to coincide with the new James Bond movie - Casino Royale
weeelll
well dude it would be cool if it doesnt show the blue color also if it was all black then it would be a really nice theme now its like,, ok sowhat?
matúš vencúrik
hallo, great ! super ! gooood ! theme is Royal !
Joseph Grabko
This is f-ing SWEET! I love the whole noir artistic feel, in movies, and games like Max Payne, so this just takes the cake.
Now if someone would complete it…. like that pesky start button.
Brad
Very cool. I’ve been using Royal for awhile, and this is a great change. The only bummer is that the Office 2007 beta doesn’t take advantage of it (bad programers, BAD) but other then that it’s great.
Ben
Can’t get this to work, I install properly but once I click on the Luna.msstyle, the window pops up, I can select Royale Noir, but it displays nothing and throws an error message if I try to apply it :/
ThatsRoss
Reminds me of the Vista Transformation Pack but nice.
Mike
People experiencing problems with this are likely having the extracted luna.msstyles replaced by the System File Checker. SFC replaced the file on me in less than 5 seconds.
you can still apply the theme, but you have to be quick about it and run luna.msstyles immediately after extracting it, select the changes and apply them within that 5 seconds or you have to extract the file again.
YMMV
Solo
rar file? come on!
Azu
I installed it properly, etc., and it works correctly. Every time I turn on the computer, it reverts back to Windows Classic and I have to go back and click on luna.msstyle again. Has that happened to anyone else?
traveller
Great, finally a matching theme for my thinkpad!
Matt
i cant get it to work….i have the royale theme downloaded and i’ve already run it, but when i go to c:windows/resources/themes and go into royale all i see is the “windows visual style file” and the shell folder…i cant find the “luna.msstyles” file, also…since its a rar file, what do you use to open it?
any help would be appreceaited
Dave
In order to fix this, you’ll have to actually do some renaming after extracting. Extract it to “c:\windows\resources\themes\luna2″ and rename “luna.msstyles” in that folder to “luna2.msstyles”
It’ll work perfectly and even show up in the display properties dialog.
Alpesh Nakar
Hey dude!
Visit this page and if its not your cross post, then you are being ripped off
Seriously, i had read your post last night and right now I am reading this plagarised copy….
http://jeremyzz.com/2006/10/29/royale-noir-secret-xp-theme-uncovered/
He has even pointed to your url for download, but got it wrong …..
http://www.istartedsomething.com.nyud.net:8080/uploads/royale_noir.rar
Cheers!
Alpesh
Long Zheng
@Alpesh: I get too much of that to care anymore. Besides, anyone visiting those sites don’t get ‘real’ information. Another reason to look for the genuine istartedsomething badge.
Christen
I read on neowin forums some guys finished/fixed the Royale Noir theme a day after release, and it’s available for download. You will need to patch uxtheme.dll though because it’s edited and no longer Microsoft certified.
Check it out here:
http://forums.hardwarezone.com/showthread.php?t=1442816
Gaylord
For those who like the Royale Noir theme: check out the Zune Desktop Theme at http://www.zune.net/en-us/meetzune/device.htm (below, right).
Cahyo
this theme is really cool..
thanks!!
ADB
Complete roxage. I like how it works even without Media Center; I’ve been jealous of that theme for a while. Freaking Luna. >_>
Or maybe I’m just a moron and could have went out and downloaded Royale somewhere anyway. In any case, thanks W3bbo! Your website is fascinating!
TJS
i must be a little slow, don’t make fun of me, but when you refer to extracting the file, is that just downloading it to the /theme folder?
i’m gonna need a lot of help, i think this theme looks tight, just need a little help getting there
Felix
@TJS: Dude, download the one posted by Christen in the link above. It’s the fixed Royale Noir theme and it’s in a self-installer format. Remember to thank the guy that made it.
Brandon
I need help. Whenever I download the file, it opens in Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, and I can’t get it to extract. Can Someone help me please?
fabianX
I dont like start button because dont look smooth
Eric
If you’re having trouble opening the .rar file that this comes in, you can download the free program 7zip at http://7zip.org
Once you’ve downloaded and installed 7zip, you can right click on the .rar archive and extract it, and then click on luna.msstyles in the royale_noir directory (it should be in the same folder where you just extracted the .rar file)
Finally, now that it’s installed, right click on your desktop, click properties, go to the appearance tab, and select the color scheme “Royale Noir”
If, like me, you find the titlebars a little large, you can click on advanced, select “active title bar” from the dropdown menu, and change the font size to 20.
Joe
If you’re having trouble opening the .rar file that this comes in, you can download the free program 7zip at http://7zip.org
Once you’ve downloaded and installed 7zip, you can right click on the .rar archive and extract it, and then click on luna.msstyles in the royale_noir directory (it should be in the same folder where you just extracted the .rar file)
Finally, now that it’s installed, right click on your desktop, click properties, go to the appearance tab, and select the color scheme “Royale Noir”
If, like me, you find the titlebars a little large, you can click on advanced, select “active title bar” from the dropdown menu, and change the font size to 20.
Jeremy
Help!
This theme looks so kick-a*s but I can’t get it to work on my system. I extract it to the folder, and then double-click as instructed. Sure enough the display properties window comes up, but when I try to select “Royale Noir” and hit “apply”, I get this typically infuriating Windows error message:
The visual styles could not be applied. The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion.
What in the name of 1’s and 0’s does THAT mean?
-Jeremy
TJS
i just wanna say thanks for whoever found this awesome batman like theme, with a few modifications of my own, i love it!!!
clm
tune up utilities 2006 is better,more choices
Jugglez
I actually designed a skin quite similar to this for a program we are working on, without know about this skin. Damn you Microsoft, steal me ideas lol. Nah it wasnt really the same. Similar colour scheme was about it.
I like it though. But I may get a little sick of though after a while. Thanks for the link.
idl3mind
great i love it. i’ve always liked royale, but royale noir takes it
disaksen
Looks and sounds like an interesting theme. Will be installing to do some comparisons.
grimbus
Ha, i never even realized that the MCE my pc came with has a different look from my girl’s lappy’s regular xp. And i sometimes work on them both at the same time. I am somewhat colorblind…. Anyway, the two sure as hell look different now! Thanks, W3bbo.
DigitalSciGuy
Microsoft seems to have found the colour scheme appropriate for the launch of the Zune. If you go to Zune.net, you can find the new, finished Zune theme, which is exactly like Royale Noir except that the Start button is orange in the spirit of the Zune. Huzzah for official releases of alternative OS visual styles!
Lucy
Wow, it’s the very cool!!!
Burgazko
Theme is so great…
Thank A lot…
İ was looking for a theme like that…
İ love Vista Themes…
Burgazko
Johnny
I loved this theme, except the start button, so I moded it to use a blue button, and it never turns green, Very Nice
karionx
I dont like the start menu can you make it more better??
SS
I get the theme to apply when i click it through the .rar folder, i also extracted the folder to the Themes, but everytime i start the computer my settings go back to windows 2000 or something like that and my desktop changes to the classic XP one, how do i get it to stay the royal noir all the time?
1nfinity
i always can apply the skin onto my desktop, but whenever i shut my computer off or when i log off my account, it just doesnt work…[my computer has only one account...therefore i am the admin of my computer]how do i fix that?
Someone
Excellent find
white
oh tnx i like it and design personal theme for it see here http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/43244013/ i hope u enjoy it
Christen
Nice one, white! Finally, the Royale Noir theme is completely finished by oddbasket! Download it now!
http://forums.hardwarezone.com/showthread.php?p=20884845#post20884845
Enjoy!
iLikeThrowingRocks
I love this!
john
can some1 help me download this scheme for my laptop….
Henrik
Thank You
3rd screenshot from left(above)!
Hi & thanks
in 3rd screenshot above there is a tiny progress bar
beside searchbar in Ffox,there is an add-on named “download statusbar” that put something like this on status bar,anyone know what’s this,or how you put it there?
thanks in advance
Fireal
Ha! I knew it was u LZ!
Still flying the Z-10/Mi28/Cobra’s ;)?
ashish
wonderful….i was just looking for a black theme that will suit to my winamp black skin…and seew ht i have got…just amazing buddy hats off to u..!
Christen
It’s official! The best Royale Noir and Zune theme is now on dviantART!!
http://www.istartedsomething.com/20061029/royale-noir/
Thanks again to oddbasket for giving us this awesome theme!!
Christen
Oops! Silly me, I just pasted the URL of this page, didn’t I? LOL!!
Thumbs up fot the best Royale theme yet again!
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/44294818/
Kalt
Anyone thinking that the Zune theme and this Royale Noir theme are the same must have some kind of vision impairment. There are many notable differences…mostly being the shades/hues of the theme and the orange start menu bar. Zune = gray/black ; Royale Noir = blueish/gray/black
This theme rocks though…for sure. Thanks iss!
Sagar
it’s amazing
Shadows
How do you extract.
billy talent
there is also a great theme for opera web-browser in same colors named lix. go for it and hf
great thing this black edition
Vale
Why did you say that it’s not finished? Which parts are missing?
gollo
e una mierda
la wea mula conchetumare
Mason
Yea.. why is it unfinished? seems pretty finished to me. And best of all you can choose from the blue Royale and the new Zune theme from this Royale Noir theme. Definitely pretty awesome!
Tmind
I prefer the zune theme though…
goofy
It says on this site that Royale Noir has been updated and released
http://www.winaddons.com/royal-noir-146/
Ernie
Is this royale noir freeware?
goofy
@Ernie: Yes, it is freeware.
And the finished version which won Softpedia’s Pick 5/5 Award can be downloaded at:
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Desktop-Enhancements/Themes/Royale-Noir-T heme.shtml
Ernie
Thanks goofy.
matt
hey! i think it’s cool nut i can’t use it.
i tried extracting the .rar file and nothing happened.
clinger26
i seem to have trouble. i activate the theme but the windows, toolbar etc turn into windows classic. help please
Kyle
I really like this theme, however, i cant get it to be “permanent”. When i shut down my computer i have to MANUALLY reset to this theme… is there a way around this? I did follow the instructions correctly and I’m unsure as to why this is happening.. any one know a remedy?
Ted
I’ve tried both the Zune theme and the Royale theme, and everything seems to be fine except that when I browse/explore a data CD-R or data DVD-R, the icons for directories do not display the default/regular beige-colored windows folders, and instead have been replaced as Internet Explorer “e” icons. Does anyone else have this issue? I haven’t applied any other skins or themes to my system. It is the default Windows XP installation and all I am trying out are these 2 themes but they both seem to exhibit this same minor issue. Any help is appreciated.
Nito
this theme is so cool. man……W3bbo….YOU ROCK DUDE!!!
M.Ghurman Mirza
That is avery nice and cool theme its nice for me to use new look in my old package.
svenskan
hej hej svensken här :)snart påsk.KYCKLING
PureHate
I have taken an interest in this program but I dont know how to extract and carry out the nessisary steps for installing this program, someone help me. Btw Im useing this great transparency program called FocusAlpha available @ Majorgeeks.com I think it will look even cooler w/ this program. You guys should try it. ^_^ http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=5197
PureHate
Ahh I’v finally figued it out and it looks exelent I had to download the 7zip program in order to make this work and simply follow the given instructions and then click on the Luna icon. Here is a picture of what everything looks after i did it and used everything in combination with FocusAlpha http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g136/JoeV_the_1_and_only/untitled.jp g?t=1174876312
kang
how 2 use de theme??
douche
Its not working, when I down load it its a file thats not in a folder, and its by its self.
I sent it exactly where it said, and i tryed every other place i could possibly think of and its not showing up on color schemes.
I’ve never done this before but I am “computer savy”
NO OTHER SITES ARE ANY CLOSER TO HELPING
Is there any other program i need to have…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. this shit is so fucking anoying
Alireza Hosseini
Thank you
I wrote a subject in a Gregarious blog. I Recommended RoyaleNoir and this URL to my iranian friend.
doxdo.net/alireza121/p932
davdav
Love it!!!!!!
n0f3a6
itz gud ya…kep it up….:-) poda nayinte mone…maramakri…
CK
ya props for that, and its great i uninstalled that imatition royal noir hack. Too all you people that dunno how to use the file get winrar Doh
osama
this theme is so cool. man……W3bbo
Darts_Of_CCTV
Hey, I downloaded Royale Noir but I was not able to find the “luna.msstyles” file that you extract it from some one please help me thanks
poon
ehh got other themes?
abhay
hey…i downloaded the royale noir theme from here…..it got installed and stuff…and looked absolutely fab…but everytime i restart my comp…a diff theme comes other than the noir…..in the sense a xp modified theme appears….what do i do…..pls help guys…
oliy
hi dudes ive just downloaded the theme but i dont know how to change the theme to royale noir how do i ????????????
sk8erforlater
i still cant download it. can someone give me a direct link of the download thing or somthing?
Recromancer
I have to say this is the best. You are now #1 in the cool book.
Sam Morris
This theme is cool, it reminds me of a Stylexp theme I once used, but without needing that horrible program installed. The fact that it’s not permanent is annoying, but it’s a bit of a ‘hack’ theme anyway.
For those that are having trouble:
download WinRAR from http://www.rarlab.com and install it. This means you can open and extract the file. Extract the folder part (Shell) to c:\windows\resources\themes
and then simply double click on the luna.msstyles file from within winrar. Then go to the appearance tab of your display settings (right click on the desktop and then go properties) and select Royale, and underneath choose from either Royale Blue or Royale Noir.
lol
where can i dowload it??