Zune Desktop Theme - A Warning

Tags: Miscellaneous Debris

Monday, January 8, 2007 11:09:00 AM

 

A few days ago, Microsoft released a new Desktop Theme for Windows XP named the "Zune Desktop Theme" – even though it looks a lot like Vista, all in black and orange. It fits in with Office 2007's Black skin, so I gleefully installed it.

Everything was fine for a few days until the first time I had to reboot (rather than Standby/Hibernate) – late last night. From that moment on, my Windows Explorer would crash every time you tried to do anything. Windows loaded? Explorer crashed. Tried to open a folder? Expolrer crashed. Save As from Word? You guessed it.

Took me a while to put two and two together since there were a few days between the two, but the solution is to:

a) Uninstall the Zune Desktop Theme.

b) Choose a different desktop theme (Luna, for instance).

c) Reboot.

This solved the problem for me. Even though I'd gotten used to the gloomy Vista-ish look, I won't be reinstalling it any time soon. Your experience might be different, but beware. If you're feeling curious or suicidal, here's the download link:

Zune XP Desktop Theme

33 Comments

  • anonymous said

    not true man.. been using this zune theme for a few months now and never had any problem with it. the problem that you are having might be caused by something else. i dont think that a desktop theme can create such nuisance. im not a pro-microsft or loyalist guy.. just telling you my experience with the zune desktop theme. works fine on my pc and looks good too

  • man said

    no... you are wrong. Zune is good looking and is working good in my system. Something you have to look for in your system and put it right. okay? Dont spread this rumor. Please go and delete ur comment there.

  • santiago said

    hey it works right out of the box with me, no crashes even with video editing software and video editing software doesnt like themes a lot. PS. if you are like me who hates windows live messenger and uses windows messenger 5.1 it perfectly adapts to the theme i give it a 10/10 luna themes look to bright for me

  • John said

    I've been using it for weeks now and it works really well and not to mention looks very good. It's just a DESKTOP them, maybe you have a virus or something

  • Spooky89 said

    i have to say that i know what might be causing him that problem. i think he downloaded the "Royale" one thinking it was the Zune one...similar thing happened to me when i downloaded the Royale theme. when i removed it and installed the Zune one, it worked perfectly.

  • Avner Kashtan said

    Wow, this is the most comments I've ever had for ANY post. People feel very strongly about this. Fact is, installing the Zune theme (not the old Royale Noir, but the official Zune theme) caused my Explorer to crash. Removing it fixed it. Was it because my computer's installation was already problematic? Probably. It worked fine on other machines, including my current one. Will I take down this post? No. The fact that it works fine for 90% of the people doesn't change the possibility it could help the lone percentages that do get bitten by it.

  • Satisfied User said

    I've got the Zune black theme on 2 laptops and 6 desktops and it's never had a problem. Idevelop in VS2005, use Photoshop CS2, lot's of hoggish apps...but nver a bobble.

  • Satisfied User said

    I've got the Zune black theme on 2 laptops and 6 desktops and it's never had a problem. I develop in VS2005, use Photoshop CS2, lot's of hoggish apps...but nver a bobble.

  • Ben said

    I used the Zune Desktop theme on my laptop a few days last week. After those three days, when I opened the start menu by clicking on start and started to navigate by moving the cursor over the navigators, my laptop suddenly froze and stopped responding. (A Windows XP Home Edition laptop) Then I shut it down by pressing the power button, and then start it again. Minutes later, I uninstalled the theme.

  • me said

    okay i haven't installed it yet but from the sounds of it im sacred to do so and my parents are to ,should or should i not (please reply soon)

  • Belle said

    I've been using the Zune theme for almost 5 months now but I never had a roblem. Works great with my PC and with 6 other PCs owned by my friends as well.

  • HK_CK said

    Yes, that's true; there hasn't ever been any single issue with my system since I installed this ZUNE theme; I wish Zune itself offers some more themes of that sort; because Microsoft never ever comes across with any such things as cool options. So, Zune rocks; it's good as for your explorer crash and error; try pasting a screenshot of it somewhere; or mail it to me at :- nidharsh@yahoo.com; I'M a tech. representative for a geek squad co.; I would offer you whatever help I could for free. Regards, from :- HK_CK; India.

  • josh said

    Ok. My whole school has this zune black theme installed and NOTHING IS WRONG WITH THE COMPUTERS EXCEPT FOR THE FACT THAT THEY BLOCK EVERY SINGLE SITE. but no issues with the theme.

  • martin said

    That's probably nothing wrong with the theme, just a coincidence I believe. I've been using Zune Desktop Theme for quite a while both at home and at work - and never experienced anything wrong.

  • Visitor said

    Theme is great I wouldn't count your one computer having problems as 10% of the populous with the zone theme. I would say maybe out of the millions of people using it, your one computer with troubles might be 0.00000000001% of the computers with troubles. Please don't spread lies.

  • Judderman said

    Zune is fine have been running for ages and no probs...and as for fer puter not opening websites....find a way to bypass yer schools proxy server ;)

  • Matt said

    I use this on every computer I ever use, at work and home. Thats 4 computers. One XP home, the rest XP pro. All work 100% fine. I don't see how it could cause anyproblems unless perhaps you download it from a place that is not trust-worthy... I wish there was one that is just all black. Even though Royale Noire claims to be all black, it appears more dark blue on my machine... Zune is the only black one. I just wish zune was ALL black...

  • GatmanxXx said

    Well everyone seems to say its a good progarm and has been getting comments on it for abouta year it looks like so i downloaded it from here looks good but i want to turn everything black like my msn messenger and the backgrounds on web pages and the toolbar on web pages that would be neat if u could tell me that. Please email me at: gatman_031284@hotmail.com Jason

  • ACE-KING.STUMBLEUPON.COM said

    I too had windows explorer problems after installing the Zune theme on 4 windows xp machines but I feel the problems were unrelated and more likely to be connected to a hotfix or update issue. My problem was related to the shell32.dll with explorer crashing then drwatson crashing. It would be helpful if the poster could have posted some technical details or error reports. My problem related to clicking on folders followed by windows explorer crashing. I will try to create the problem to see if Zune was responsible but I think it unlikely. The Zune theme is one of the more attractive themes and for now I would rate it as safe. Regards ace-king.stumbleupon.com

  • Cliff D'Anno said

    Ok, i own 7 desktops and 2 macs, i run all OS's known by man, the zune theme is on 3 of my windows dsktps, the theme been running like a charm for months on my Pentium4 and my AthlonXP2000 BUT on my Pentium Dual-Core I got the Explorer Crash about 5 mins after reboot, all 3 comps on XP pro sp2 from the same CD. Aint that a bitch. so im installing vista on that dual-core see what happens.

  • Madidus said

    Got the same problem an hour or so after installing. Windows chose to shut down explorer. I saw this even before I installed so I thought "alright". Seems like a problem with the dual core.

  • Ago said

    Sounds like what happens when Zune or Royale themes are installed on a 64 bit version of Windows XP... That version of the OS HATES these themes, and screws up until you uninstall them; but on 32 bit, its perfectly fine.

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