Is your “themes service” not starting? If it’s not, some of your Windows 7 system files might be corrupt or your registry settings are wrong. If you need help to fix your themes service, read this tutorial.
Themes Service Could Not Start
There are many errors that you could possibly run into:
Windows could not start the Themes service on Local Computer.
Here are a couple other problems:
- Error 126: The specified module could not be found.
- Error 2: The system cannot find the file specified.
- Error 1313: A specified privilege does not exist.
Fix Themes Service via System Scan
To fix the themes service we will first do a system check and see if any of your system files are corrupt.
1. StepOpen an elevated command prompt
2. StepEnter “sfc.exe /scannow” (without the quotes) and hit enter.
Sfc.exe might require you to reboot.
Fix Themes Service via Registry
1. StepOpen the registry and go to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\Themes]
2. StepSelect the registry folder “Themes” and click on “File” and then “Export”. Make sure “Selected Branch” is checked, enter a name and backup your registry keys.
3. Step Now that we have a backup, open up the notepad and insert the following text:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\Themes]
“Start”=dword:00000002
“DisplayName”=”@%SystemRoot%\\System32\\themeservice.dll,-8192”
“ErrorControl”=dword:00000001
“Group”=”ProfSvc_Group”
“ImagePath”=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,\
74,00,25,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,73,\
00,76,00,63,00,68,00,6f,00,73,00,74,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,20,00,2d,00,\
6b,00,20,00,6e,00,65,00,74,00,73,00,76,00,63,00,73,00,00,00
“Type”=dword:00000020
“Description”=”@%SystemRoot%\\System32\\themeservice.dll,-8193”
“ObjectName”=”LocalSystem”
“RequiredPrivileges”=hex(7):53,00,65,00,41,00,73,00,73,00,69,00,67,00,6e,00,50,\
00,72,00,69,00,6d,00,61,00,72,00,79,00,54,00,6f,00,6b,00,65,00,6e,00,50,00,\
72,00,69,00,76,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,67,00,65,00,00,00,53,00,65,00,44,00,65,\
00,62,00,75,00,67,00,50,00,72,00,69,00,76,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,67,00,65,00,\
00,00,53,00,65,00,49,00,6d,00,70,00,65,00,72,00,73,00,6f,00,6e,00,61,00,74,\
00,65,00,50,00,72,00,69,00,76,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,67,00,65,00,00,00,00,00
“FailureActions”=hex:80,51,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,14,00,00,\
00,01,00,00,00,60,ea,00,00,01,00,00,00,60,ea,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\Themes\Parameters]
“ServiceDllUnloadOnStop”=dword:00000001
“ServiceMain”=”ThemeServiceMain”
“ServiceDll”=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,\
00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,\
74,00,68,00,65,00,6d,00,65,00,73,00,65,00,72,00,76,00,69,00,63,00,65,00,2e,\
00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,00,00
4. Step Save it as a .reg file (simply add the extension .reg) and then execute it to add the keys to your registry. This will set the required registry keys that are needed to run the Windows 7 themes service. (only works on Windows 7!).
Optionally, you can also download our registry file and execute it:
Hopefully this will help you to solve the problem and start the themes service again. If you run into any other errors, feel free to leave a comment.