Manually patching Internet Explorer for Classic Theme

Hi bront, welcome to WinClassic.

Don't worry about asking a noob question if you can't find an answer anywhere.

So if I remember correctly, ClassicTheme.exe patches the manifest of Internet Explorer's executable file. So to do this manually, open up iexplore.exe with a resource editor (such as Resource Hacker) and replace the contents of the manifest resource with this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<!-- Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation -->
<!-- Note: This manifest needs to be kept in sync with iexplore.exe.manifest -->
<assembly xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" manifestVersion="1.0">

   <assemblyIdentity version="5.1.0.0"
      processorArchitecture="*"
      name="Microsoft.InternetExplorer"
      type="win32"/>
   
   <description>Internet Explorer</description>
   <application xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3">
       <windowsSettings>
           <dpiAware xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/SMI/2005/WindowsSettings">true/pm</dpiAware>
       </windowsSettings>
   </application>
   <compatibility xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:compatibility.v1">
       <application>
           <!--This Id value indicates the application supports Windows Vista/Server 2008 functionality -->
           <supportedOS Id="{e2011457-1546-43c5-a5fe-008deee3d3f0}"/>
           <!--This Id value indicates the application supports Windows 7/Server 2008 R2 functionality-->
           <supportedOS Id="{35138b9a-5d96-4fbd-8e2d-a2440225f93a}"/>
           <!--This Id value indicates the application supports Windows 8/Server 2012 functionality-->
           <supportedOS Id="{4a2f28e3-53b9-4441-ba9c-d69d4a4a6e38}"/>
           <!-- This Id value indicates the application supports Windows Blue/Server 2012 R2 functionality-->            
           <supportedOS Id="{1f676c76-80e1-4239-95bb-83d0f6d0da78}"/>
           <!-- This Id value indicates the application supports Windows Threshold functionality-->            
           <supportedOS Id="{8e0f7a12-bfb3-4fe8-b9a5-48fd50a15a9a}"/>
       </application>
     </compatibility>
     <file name="dwmapi.dll" />
</assembly>



If that doesn't work, try throwing the DWM DLLs into the Internet Explorer folder.