How To Install Windows Desktop Theme Pack
Apr 11, 2017 Windows saves the theme to a.desktopthemepack file, which you then can share with other people. After you send them the.desktopthemepack file, they just have to doubpe-click it to install it on their PC. The theme then appears as an option in the Themes pane, just like themes. How to Install OS X Yosemite Theme on Windows. Over the years, the developers of Transformation Packs has made it easier to install their themes. And today, their installer packs handles everything that need to be installed, patched and configured. So the theme will instantly be ready after install. The only hassle is you might need to restart.
A theme is a combination of desktop background pictures, Window colors, sound scheme and a screensaver. Windows 7 introduces a new file format (.themepack) which is basically a .cab file that can contain images, audio files for sound scheme, mouse cursors, icons and the .theme file itself. This file format was introduced so that it’s easier to share themes to other Windows 7 systems. Another format with .deskthemepack extension was introduced in Windows 8, which can also be used for this tutorial. Instructions in this post works in Windows 7, 8 and Windows 10 systems as well.
When a .themepack or .deskthemepack file is run, it extracts the contents automatically to the following folder:
Free Microsoft Desktop Themes For Windows 10
Aerosoft bergamo x rar. %localappdata%MicrosoftWindowsThemes
As you see, it’s stored within the user profile folder, and the theme is available only for that user, and listed under 'My Themes' in Personalization applet.
If another user in the same computer needs this theme, they need to run the theme pack file again, from their user account. This article tells you how to make available a Desktop Theme for all users in a computer, so that there are no redundant copies of theme files in the system.
Install a Theme For All User Accounts
I’ll how you how to install a desktop theme for all users. For illustration purposes, we’ll use the following themes as samples, and make them available in the Personalization page for ALL user accounts.
- HappinessFactory (Coca-Cola) Theme
- Fruit Ninja Theme (this would be in Page 2 of the article)
Before starting, uncheck the 'Hide extensions for known file types' setting in Folder Options – View tab. (REF Show or hide file name extensions)
HappinessFactory
Download the Happiness Factory theme from Microsoft and save to Desktop. Rename Happiness Factory_Windows7.themepack to Happiness Factory_Windows7.cab.
Create a folder on your Desktop, and name it as HappinessFactory.
Double-click the file Happiness Factory_Windows7.cab to view its contents. Select all files, right-click and choose Extract…
Select the HappinessFactory folder and click Extract
Click Save. Do this for every file.
Double-click HappinessFactory folder, and create a sub-folder named DesktopBackground
Move all the JPG images to the DesktopBackground folder.
Open the .theme file (Happiness.theme) using Notepad, and input the correct paths for the wallpaper, desktop slideshow, screensaver, brand logo and other resources.
Updating the Brand Logo image path:
We’ll change that to:
Originally the Wallpaper path was as in the image below.
We’ll change that to the following absolute path, as we’re eventually going to place the theme under the C:WindowsResourcesThemes folder.
Then scroll down to the [Slideshow] section, and delete the ImagesRootPIDL entry.
Update the location for the ImagesRootPath accordingly (as below)
Save the .theme file and close Notepad.
Move the folder HappinessFactory from your Desktop to C:WindowsResourcesThemes
Click Continue when you see the User Account Control prompt. You may have to type the administrator password if prompted.
Now move the file Happiness.theme from the HappinessFactory folder to its parent folder, which is C:WindowsResourcesThemes
Right-click on your desktop, and choose Personalize.
The Happiness Factory Theme is now listed under Installed Themes, which is accessible for all users in the system.
Check Page 2 of this article to see another example, using the colorful Fruit Ninja Theme!
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About the author
Ramesh Srinivasan founded Winhelponline.com back in 2005. He is passionate about Microsoft technologies and he has been a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for 10 consecutive years from 2003 to 2012.
Windows 7 used the .themepack file extension for its themes, whereas Windows uses a new file extension .deskthemepack. While you can apply Windows 7 themes on Windows 8, Windows 8 cannot be applied on Windows 7.
This is because Windows 8 adds additional support for multiple monitors with a single large wallpaper; and where the images are small, different images are displayed on each desktop. Moreover, themes in Windows 8 now support automatic color change for the windows, based on the primary color of the wallpaper displayed.
In such instances, large panoramic images will automatically extend across both displays of a dual-monitor setup if both monitors have the same resolution settings. If the displays are different sizes or have different resolution settings, a different image will appear in each monitor.
You can also use these panoramic themes on single monitor setups, but only the center part of the image will be visible.
Create Windows 8 theme
This apart, the way to create a theme is the same. One additional option exists where you need to select the thumbnail to auto-change the windows border colors. You now no longer need to use a 3rd party software to cycle or match the windows border colors. If you don’t want your windows borders to auto-change, select the color you want.
Install Windows 8 theme
Simply use this usual method to create a Windows 7 themepack, and save the theme for sharing. Once you have done that, simply double-click on the theme to install it on your Windows 7.
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