Theme Settings

How to Change the Desktop Theme in Vista​

information   Information
A Desktop Theme is a collection of visual elements and sounds for your computer desktop. These elements consists of the appearance of menus, icons, wallpapers, screen savers, fonts, some computer sounds, mouse pointers, and etc. This will show you how to change, save, or delete a theme.
Note   Note
Vista only includes these two desktop themes: Windows Vista and Windows Classic. However, you can save any desktop theme you setup as a custom theme to save. Each user account can create and save their own custom desktop theme. See step 4 below for how to save a theme. See the related links for how to change each element in a desktop theme.
Tip   Tip

FILE EXTENSION: .theme


FOLDER LOCATION: C:\Windows\Resources\Themes
warning   Warning
There does not seem to many if any Vista themes currently available to download that you can use without having to hack system files to be able to use them. If you know of a website that does have free themes that you can use without hacking, then please post a link to it below.



Here's How:
1. Right click on a empty area of your desktop and click on Personalize. (See screenshot below)​
Right_Click.jpg​
​

2. Click on Theme. (See screenshot below)​
Theme.jpg​
​

3. Here are the Theme Settings :​
Settings1.jpgSettings2.jpg​
​

4. To Save the Current Theme​
NOTE: This is helpful if you want to save all of the changes you made to the desktop theme so you can add it back later if needed.​
A) Click on the Save as button. (See screenshots above)​
​
B) Select where you want to save the theme by clicking on Browse Folders. (See screenshot below)​
​
C) Type in a name for the theme and click on the Save button.​
​
D) Click on Apply and OK.​
​
​
Save_As.jpg​
​


5. To Change a Theme ​
NOTE: This would be a .theme file that you downloaded off the internet or one that you saved from step 3 above.​
A) Click on the Theme: drop down menu and select a theme or click Browse to get one from another location. (See screenshot from step 3 above)​
​
B) Navigate to the location of the .theme file and click on the Open button. (See screenshot below)​
​
C) Click on Apply and OK.​
​
​
Browse.jpg​
​


6. To Delete a Theme ​
NOTE: You cannot delete the default Windows Vista and Windows Classic themes, only the ones you added or saved.​
A) Select a theme under the Theme: drop down menu. (See screenshots from step 3 above)​
​
B) Click on the Delete button.​
​
C) Click on Apply and OK.​
​

That's it,
Shawn



Related Tutorials

 

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Click to expand...
Am I missing something, but when I try to load a new theme it only changes to windows classic, which looks horrible. I can' get the new theme to work.

I have Vista Ultimate x64 so do I need to do something special in order to get custom themes working?
 

My Computer

System One

Hello Termis,

Vista only comes with the Windows Classic and the default Windows Vista theme. Unless you made changes to your desktop and saved it as a theme in step 4, or downloaded a .theme, you will not have any other options. :(

I do not know of any sites yet that have .theme files available for download.

So your not missing anything. ;)

Hope this helps,
Shawn
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2, 4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2, 8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system, Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam, HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn, APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI, Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
Brink said:
Hello Termis,

Vista only comes with the Windows Classic and the default Windows Vista theme. Unless you made changes to your desktop and saved it as a theme in step 4, or downloaded a .theme, you will not have any other options. :(

I do not know of any sites yet that have .theme files available for download.

So your not missing anything. ;)

Hope this helps,
Shawn
Click to expand...

Brink, thanks for the answer but I found out myself what I should do. I needed to download custom dll's and replace them in system32. Then you can download .themes from across the internet , like deviant art, and copy them into resources/themes folder and then pick them in your themes menu.

Here's the link where I found the instructions:

deviantART Forum: How do I change my vista theme???Is it necessary to have some sort of program to do it??

Vista themes can be downloaded for example from here:

Free Windows Vista Themes
 

My Computer

System One

Nice tip Termis. Thank you for sharing.

Shawn
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2, 4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2, 8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system, Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam, HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn, APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI, Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
You can get Windows Classic themes from the website: ThemeWorld. Choose a theme in the Desktop Themes category list, find the one you want to download and save the theme in C:\Windows\Resources\Themes; right-click on Desktop, click Personalize -> Theme, click the installed theme from the drop-down arrow and click OK. Now you're ready to go.

You can get Windows Vista themes from this website: My Vista Themes. Some themes contain both Windows Aero and Windows Vista Basic and some contain Windows Vista Basic itself.

Yours sincerely,
Michael
 

My Computer

System One

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