Title: Custom themes do not work
Last modified: August 19, 2016

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# Custom themes do not work

 *  [petrre](https://wordpress.org/support/users/petrre/)
 * (@petrre)
 * [17 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-themes-do-not-work/)
 * I have downloaded several free WordPress themes by different designers and transferred
   them to server under wp-content/themes folder. Files seem to be ok in this folder.
   When I go to WordPress admin panel I notice on dashboard that all the windows
   of these themes are blank white although there are text under these windows so
   I can recognize them. When I activate this blank empty window of a theme and 
   then visit the site, there is no graphics and colors are distorted. What is the
   reason for this failure and how can I get rid off this? (I have installed WordPress
   by using Fantastico and also reinstalled it, so there should be nothing wrong
   in WordPress installation itself).

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

 *  [Ben Sutcliffe](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bsutcliffe/)
 * (@bsutcliffe)
 * [17 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-themes-do-not-work/#post-1053143)
 * Make sure that you are uploading the entire theme (all files and images) to `
   wp-content/themes/themename`. Check that the folders uploaded, such as images/
   also have the files (ie. all the images) uploaded too.
 *  Thread Starter [petrre](https://wordpress.org/support/users/petrre/)
 * (@petrre)
 * [17 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-themes-do-not-work/#post-1053348)
 * Thanks for your reply. It is obvious that there are themes which are not compatible
   with WordPress 2.7.1. On the other hand, there are also a lot of themes with 
   no installation instructions. However, I managed to solve this problem quite 
   easily. I found the Theme Test Drive plugin, which installs zip file from an 
   URL. This plugin installed a new theme succesfully.

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

The topic ‘Custom themes do not work’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [installation](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/installation/)
 * [Instructions](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/instructions/)

 * In: [Installing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/installation/)
 * 2 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [petrre](https://wordpress.org/support/users/petrre/)
 * Last activity: [17 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-themes-do-not-work/#post-1053348)
 * Status: not resolved

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