I lost my Windows theme... apparently

[Cassel]

I have Windows 7 Professional on my desktop. No problem. Today, we had a power failure and when the power came back up, my theme on the computer was different. When I look at the Personalization, the Basic Windows 7 is greyed out. I know it is just a theme and does not affect the functionalities, but I don't like that and wonder why it is happening, and how i can get my familiar theme back.

Any idea?

[Midknyte]

It sounds like a video driver issue. Did you check the video resolution settings? Did you check the Device Manager to make sure the video card is working properly? Have you rebooted the computer again?

[Cassel]

Did you check the video resolution settings?

Where do I check that?

Did you check the Device Manager to make sure the video card is working properly?

Can you point me to where I check that?

Have you rebooted the computer again?

Yup, I did and still have that "no theme", but now i get this message in a bubble:

Failed to connect to a windows service.
Windows could not connect to the System Event Notification
Service service. This problem prevents standard users from
logging on to the system.
As an administrative user, you can review the System Event
Log for details about why the service didn't respond

I logged in as admin and the theme is correct.

Where do i check that System Event Log?

[Midknyte]

Right-click on the Desktop > Screen Resolution
Make sure it's the correct resolution for your monitor

Start > Control Panel > Device Manager
Check the Display Adapter section

Where do i check that System Event Log?

In Event Viewer.
https://www.howtogeek.com/123646/htg...ou-can-use-it/

[Cassel]

Does it matter if i check that as a regular user or an admin?

[Midknyte]

I'd use the admin account.

As an administrative user, you can review the System Event
Log for details about why the service didn't respond

[Cassel]

Screen Resolution was as it was always before.

Start > Control Panel > Device Manager
Check the Display Adapter section -
I see this - AMD Radeon HD 7700 Series

As for the Event manager, I see this one (which happens just at the time of the power failure after which the theme had changed)
Error 4/18/2018 8:05:10 AM Service Control Manager 7026 None
The following boot-start or system-start driver(s) failed to load:
ESProtectionDriver

This is what I see logged in as an administrator. No idea if it would make a difference if logged as a regular user.

[Midknyte]

Hmm. That's not a lot to go on.

You could try this:
1 Right click on the Computer button and click on Properties.
2 Click on the Advanced System settings link in the left blue pane
3 Under the Advanced tab and Performance section, click on the Settings button.
4 You will now see the Visual Effects settings to select
5 check button Let windows choose what's best for my computer

[Cassel]

That is what it is set already (but that is as admin, would it change if i log as regular user?)

[Midknyte]

I think the settings for each account would be different, unless you set some kind of group policy.

Edit: Ah, I take that back. I was thinking of the Theme, not the Visual Effects. The Visual Effects setting should apply to all users. Double-checking on a VM right now.

[Cassel]

OK i went and logged in as regular user and the exact same radio button is checked in the Visual Effects.

[Midknyte]

What theme are you using now? Did you try changing to another theme and then changing back to Basic?

I know it is just a theme and does not affect the functionalities

Actually, it's better to use an Aero theme. Those will offload some of the processing to the GPU, instead of the CPU.

[Cassel]

In the list of themes available, only the "Basic and High Contrast Themes" are available EXCEPT the Windows 7 Basic. What is displayed is the Windows Classic. I switched to the High Contrast #1 and the Windows 7 Basic is still not available.

And if i check the same thing when logged in as admin, all the themes are available.

[Midknyte]

Hmm. That's a strange one. Can you do a System Restore to a previous point?

I wonder if that theme is blocked somehow? You can check if a group policy was enabled.
http://www.dell.com/support/article/...dows-7?lang=en

[jdc2000]

Is the Themes Service running?

Possibly useful links:

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/...me-grayed.html

https://social.technet.microsoft.com...orum=w7itproui

http://www.dell.com/support/article/...dows-7?lang=en