Uninstalling Themes on S60 3rd Edition

There comes a time when removing a theme isn't quite as easy as it should be.  Sometimes you can find it in the App Manager and just install it.  But other occassions are a bit more tricky than simple.

I thought I had posted this tip courtesy of female mobilist, Rita Khoury, but I guess I didn't.  So thanks to Rita, here are the instructions for removing that tricky theme. 

1. Connect your phone to the pc using the data cable
2. Select "Data Transfer" mode (for other phone models, it's the option where the mobile is like a usb)
3. Make sure your pc has SHOW HIDDEN FILES AND FOLDERS on (if you don't know how to, choose Tools > Folder Options > View > Show hidden files and folders)
4. On the computer go to My Computer > Removable Disk (the memory card) > Private (it's a hidden folder) > 10207114 > Import
5. Now you'll have a number of folders with barbarian names, like "dc60815d47351ce2" and others. Each folder corresponds to one theme.
6. Open each folder and you'll see in the contents 4 files: a settings file, a .mbm file, a .mif file and a .skn file. The 4 files have in their title the theme name. For instance, in my dc60815d47351ce2 folder, i have the following Pink_Seaflower_3250.mbm, Pink_Seaflower_3250.mif and Pink_Seaflower_3250.skn which means that the dc60815d47351ce2 folder is the one of the Pink Seaflower theme (by Babi)
7. When u come across a theme that you want to delete, go back to the Import folder and delete the whole theme folder. Like if I want to delete the pink seaflower theme, I would delete the whole dc60815d47351ce2 folder
8. Safely remove your phone
9. Enjoy your emptied theme gallery :D

*For other phones, the parent folder "10207114" may be different (I think). You just have to find the folder that contains an "Import" sub-folder.

Checkout this Uninstall themes guide

Comments

[Baby Girl]

A few months back I found this proceedure on howard forums. It saved me. I was going out of my mind trying to delete a few themes. This is one thing I hate about S60v3.

[dani]

did i miss the n95 review?

[zandini]

You can uninstall themes just like any other applications... Use Application Manager (App. Mgr.) to uninstall. For me, it is under "Menu->Settings->App. Mgr.". Scroll to the theme, and press "C" button to delete.

[praneet]

For the N95, the procedure may be a bit different..often the free themes that are available for download are not meant for symbian 9.1 or something may be wrong with the .sis file, so it does not appear in the app manager list. furthermore, most themes, after being installed in the n95, appear in the import folder under barbaric names (as mentioned above), but inside these barbaric folders they are called themepackage.mbm, themepackage.skn and themepackage.mif. so there is no way to tell which one is which.

the only workaround to this is to install a theme, check it out immediately and if it needs to be removed you can simply arrange the barbaric folders by 'date modified' and delete the last folder..also sometimes these folders contain only one file and the remaining are in a folder of the exact same barbaric name in the memory card under resources > skins...so that should be deleted as well.

the drawback to this procedure is that its almost impossible to delete any specific theme that you may have installed before, simply because u cannot tell one themepackage.skn from another.

[karam]

i love u darla,,,saved me a ton with this tip...but i cannot reinstall the same theme????

[Dee]

this only works if the themes are installed on the memory card right?

[enjel]

Thanks for the tip, Darla; but how about some of the themes that only display a generic "themepackage.mif" name? The folders have their unique letter/number identity but the mif names are all the same. Sorry, does that make sense?

[Flynn]

Enjel,

1 you can use soft ware: ultraedit or winhex to open file themepackage.skn, you can find the theme name there. enjoy it!

2 and use the tool "unsis" to unpackage the theme file, then copy the folder unpackaged to the card's folder My Computer > Removable Disk (the memory card) > Private (it's a hidden folder) > 10207114 > Import, you can install as many themes as you like.

3 usd mbm wizard, you can open themepackage.mbm file to replace the wallaper you like. when mbm wizard open the mbm file, it will make a temperary folder in its root, where containes most pictures, use acdsee or photoshop to open the second picute with number ****1.bmp，edit it or replace it, then save it. go back to mbm tool, save the mbm file you opened. then copy the folder to card as point 2.

enjoy it!

[harbin]

you could download mbm wizard from symbian-freak and view those themepackage.mbm files and that way you`ll know wich is wich just like i did tonight with my 3250

[Palmy]

Thanks Darla for the info. The themes disappeared from the Theme list after removing the folders. However, now I can't install those themes that I previously installed to and deleted from the SD card. Any idea what I can do?

[Kate]

Hi there DARLA!! Thanks a lot for the info on removing themes using the amazing import folder..It helped me a lot!!.

[dave]

thanks for this post i was struggling till i read it

[Sergio Silva]

Finally some one that can help me!!I´ve tried 100000 foruns and then...in this one i have the answer!!.thankx!!..kisses from Portugal

[Piechol]

Hey guys,
I have a Nokia E51 and I don't have this private folder :( Does anyone have some other ideas?

[architect]

gr8...thank you so so much....!! keep it up...cheers..!!

[Grain]

From Up:
"Thanks Darla for the info. The themes disappeared from the Theme list after removing the folders. However, now I can't install those themes that I previously installed to and deleted from the SD card. Any idea what I can do?"

That's happening here too in my E61. And more, there are themes that I had previousy installed and they desapperead and there aren't the correspondig folders under "import" folder.

Something is written somewhere else.... :|

[Arun Shekar]

Hi Darla Mac, thanks a ton, i used the method you have specified to delete themes which do not appear in application manager and i could fix them. Thanks again.

[Marco]

OMG... you are my savior =)

thanks a bunch! no more "Untrusted software found on memory card"

thanx!