[Windows Phone 7 Development and Hacking] LiFePo4:
All - I have seen different brief posts on how to do this but no clear method has been shown and none of the other methods worked for my HTC (there is a method for Samsung using an XAP but not phones in general). I have determined which files to modify in the Windows directory and what terms need changing. This method modifies your ROM files so do not do this if you are not comfortable (and I am not responsible for errors, crashes, bricks, etc - do this at your own risk).

You need WPDM/TouchXperience from Schaps

You need Heathcliffs WP7 Root Tools 0.9

You need to elevate TouchXperience priveleges in Root Tools

You need to know how to use these programs (I am not going to explain and assume the person following this knows)

You need to know which color accent number you are doing (it is numbered from 0-10 in the registry) and you need the HEX code for your color (FFYYYYYY)

MAKE A BACKUP BEFORE STARTING

1) From WPDM have your phone plugged in and connected

2) Go to Explore Files and Folders and navigate to the Windows folder

3) Locate four files that look like

00XX_ThemeResources.xaml

00XX_ThemeResources.xamlbin

01XX_ThemeResources.xaml

01XX_ThemeResources.xamlbin

where XX is your accent color number (00,01,...,10 - one of these)

4) Using WPDM, transfer these from phone to pc (choose some location you can work from)

5) Now go to the location you put these files and you will be editing them (using a text editor, so add .txt to the end to get them to open or edit them however if you have tools that can)

6) For the .xaml files, scroll down a ways and you will come to this line;

<!-- (color) -->

<Color x:Key="PhoneAccentColor">#FFYYYYYY</Color>

here (color) will have the name of the color you are working with and #FFYYYYYY will be the hex code of the original theme color. Change the YYYYYY to your custom color code (keep the #FF, just change the YYYYYY)

NOTE: Up to this point this method is similar to others mentioned in the forum; fine. But this did not work for me.

7) Save this file and close it. Rename back to original if you added the .txt for editing

9) Now, open the .xamlbin file. It will look like a bunch of greek/garbage; don't panic.

10) Scroll down and you will see a bunch of text spread out that is readable. You need to read through this and find the following sting of text buried in it;

P h o n e A c c e n t C o l o r	# F F Y Y Y Y Y

you will see the Y Y Y Y Y Y is the original theme color. Change these Y's to your custom color hex code but make sure to keep all the spaces present (just change each one carefully).

11) Save the file and close. Rename to original

12) Do this for both .xaml and .xamlbin files (so you will end up modifying 4 files total)

13) Now go back to WPDM (if you are still connected) or get back into it with your phone connected and get back to the Windows directory

14) This time we are going to transfer files from PC to Phone. Transfer each of these modified files back into your phone (you have to do one at a time).

15) Disconnect from WPDM, then manually change your phone theme to a different one and then back. I also powered off and on my phone.

Wa La - custom accent colors show up in third party apps! 