Classic Theme for Windows 10
Preview on YouTube: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O97VVly4Cdc)
A visual style which brings back the Classic Theme known from Windows 95 or NT to nowadays Version 10.
Table of Contents
Installation
**Remember**: You need administrator privileges for all steps!
1. ClassicTheme
Download the Classic Theme and extract its content to an arbitrary directory.
2. OldNewExplorer
Download and install OldNewExplorer, use the settings shown below.
3. Open-Shell
Download and install Open-Shell.
The ClassicTheme directory created in step 1 contains a folder called _open-shell
.
Copy the subfolder Skins
and its contents to the main directory of Open-Shell (usually %ProgramFiles%/Open-Shell
).
Run the configuration program Open-Shell Menu Settings
and afterwards Classic Explorer Settings
, use the settings shown below.
4. StartIsBack
Download and install StartIsBack.
Copy the content of the _startisback
folder, located in the ClassicTheme directory, to the main directory of StartIsBack (usually %ProgramFiles%/StartIsBack
).
Run the configuration program StartIsBackCfg.exe
, use the settings shown below.
5. UltraUXThemePatcher
UltraUXThemePatcher modifies your system files so that 3. party themes can be used.
Download and install UltraUXThemePatcher and restart your computer.
No further configuration is necessaary.
6. ClassicTheme
Copy the content of the subfolder corresponding to your Windows version to C:\Windows\Resources\Themes
.
E.g. save the content of /ClassicTheme/Theme For Win10 Fall Creators Update 1709/Show Commandbar
into C:\Windows\Resources\Themes
.
7. Windows settings
- Go into
All Settings > Personalization > Colors
. - Under
Choose your default Windows mode
, selectLight
. - Uncheck
Automatically pick an accent color from my background
. - Under
Show accent color on the following surfaces
, unselect theStart, taskbar, and action center
, andTitle bars and window borders
check boxes. - Go into
All Settings > Personalization > Themes
and select the classic theme you want.
8. Thin Borders
Run the REG file within the _Thin Borders
subfolder of your ClassicTheme direcory.
It'll ask for confirmation, accept it. The folder also contains another registry script to restore default border size.
Sign out and sign back in to activate your new window border width.
Miscellaneous
- First icon of task bar hides behind start button
- Background color gets lost / Sleep Mode changes colors
- In case you miss the classic blue wallpaper try the RGB color code
59-110-165 (3B6EA5)
or0-128-128 (008080)
. If you need for some reason the classic grey tone try RGB color codes200-205-212 (C8CDD4)
resp.212-208-200 (D4D0C8)
.
Known Bugs
See the issues section for known bugs.