Running Firefox with Windows Whistler 2419

[boxmaker]

Recently when cleaning up my hard disc, I found an old ISO of Whistler build 2419 and decided to install it. I also decided that I need an alternative browser, and what else could that be than Firefox...

Sadly, Firefox installs alright, but crashes upon execution. It will only run when visual styles are globally disabled. This is not an option for me, because without watercolor, I wouldn't use Whistler at all.

Whistler (2419) does offer a compatiblity mode, but is does not offer the option of individually disabling visual styles for a single application.

The following patch will make Firefox run while keeping visual styles active for the rest of Whistler:
Tested using Firefox 2.0.0.6

1. Install Firefox
1. Locate firefox.exe and open it using a hex editor of your choice
2. Search for the character sequence "uxtheme.dll" (without quotes)
3. Change the string (for example to "xxtheme.dll")
4. Save firefox.exe


Result: Firefox cannot find uxtheme.dll (because it looks for xxtheme.dll). Thus, it will not try to call any further theme API functions that caused it to crash because of API changes between Whistler and final XP.

You can now browse the internet securely with your favourite, up-to-date browser...