Change Windows 7 Theme when Group Policy is applied

Just a quick entry to work around the old high contrast issue in Windows 7.

Users can normally apply it but can't revert it back when group policy is locking it down.

Open a command prompt as admin and run the following - the blue can be edited accordingly.  You may need the admin password but if you're an admin needing this for helpdesk reasons that shouldn't be an issue.

rundll32.exe %SystemRoot%\system32\shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL %SystemRoot%\system32\desk.cpl desk,@Themes /Action:OpenTheme /file:"C:\Windows\Resources\Themes\aero.theme"

Changing Themes on a locked down machine

A user recently contacted me as she had inadvertantly activated "High Contrast" so her screen was black with purple task bars.  After having a bit of fun with her explaining this was Microsofts Halloween Theme that kicks in every year during Halloween week I thought I should come clean.

As her machine was locked down with group policy I couldn't revert back to the standard theme using the normal methods so I came across this useful little script thanks to user "Misfortune" on the Windows 7 Forums

If you open up an admin command prompt and run this you should be able to revert it back.  You can replace "Classic.Theme" with other options if you look in the file path you should be able to see the other themes...

rundll32.exe %SystemRoot%\system32\shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL %SystemRoot%\system32\desk.cpl desk,@Themes /Action:OpenTheme /file:"C:\Windows\Resources\Ease of Access Themes\classic.theme"