How to Install Windows XP Theme for Windows 7

Microsoft is going to terminate their support for Windows XP soon, so many of XP users would be forced to switch to Windows 7 or Windows 8. If you have switched to Windows 7 and still miss the good old Windows XP looks, then you can always install the Windows XP theme in Windows 7. It will not change the way Windows 7 works, but it will only make it look like Windows XP. Here is how you can install Windows XP theme in Windows 7:

How to Install Windows XP Theme for Windows 7

First of all you have to download the Universal Theme Patcher from https://code.google.com/p/universalthemepatcher/. This program would patch your Windows 7 theme related files so that you can install third party unsigned themes. Without this step, you can install only Microsoft released themes on your PC. After patching the required files, you will have to restart Windows.

How to Install Windows XP Theme for Windows 7

After restarting Windows, you are ready to install any third party thems on your Windows 7 PC. Now you can download the Windows XP themes for Windows 7 from the following links:

Extract the contents of the downloaded RAR file to a folder. You would find a sub-folder themes. Copy and paste all the contents of the themes folder to the %WINDIR%\Resources\Themes folder. Typically, it is C:\Windows\Resources\Themes folder for most of the users. There is a patched Explorer.exe too to imitate Windows XP File Explorer but you can skip it.

Once you have copied the files, you can right-click on the desktop and select Personalize from the context menu. This would open up the Personalization window from where you can select themes and wallpapers for your Windows. If you have installed the Luna theme, you would see two new themes under the Installed Themes category – Luna Aero and Luna. Click on any of these themes and they would be activated. The Luna Aero theme has Windows 7 style minimize, maximize, close buttons for windows. The Luna theme has complete Windows XP like look including the minimize and maximize buttons. The same is true for the Silver XP themes.

How to Install Windows XP Theme for Windows 7

So if you are missing good old Windows XP, do not feel down anymore. If you want to have the Windows XP look in the Windows 7, then you can easily install the XP Luna Blue and the XP Silver themes in your Windows 7 PC using the above instructions.

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