Imagine a large white room with nothing more than a boring brown desk and a boring brown chair. That’s no fun, right? It’s sterile and seemingly siphons every creative drop from your soul. What you need is a work area that’s yours and feels comfortable just like home. We’ll show you how to use themes in Windows 10 so your PC’s virtual desktop isn’t boring and sterile.
You acquire Windows 10 themes in four ways: From the Microsoft Store, third-party websites, device manufacturers, and individuals who share their themes. Installing themes from the Microsoft Store is your safest bet while new desktops and laptops typically ship with a custom wallpaper (at the very least).
Our guide to using Windows 10 themes provides several ways to install, change, and even create custom themes. We also show you how to save custom themes as a file to share with friends and family. This guide is based on Windows 10 1809 (October 2018 Update) using Dark Mode.
From the desktop
This method takes the shortest route to theme management.
1. Right-click anywhere on the desktop and select Personalize in the resulting menu.
2. Select Themes.
3. Click on a theme currently installed on your PC. Window 10 will automatically load the theme.
4. Close the Settings app.
Related: How to enable dark mode in Windows 10, Office, and Microsoft Edge
Create a custom Windows 10 theme
Since we’re here, you’ll see an option to create a custom theme. Let’s start the process from the beginning if you want to create a custom theme later:
1. Right-click anywhere on the desktop and select Personalize in the resulting menu.
2. Select Themes.
3. Click Use custom theme.
4. Select Background to choose the images you want as wallpaper. For the Slideshow option, click the Browse button to use an image folder. Do the same for Picture mode only you will select a single image instead. The Solid color option provides 24 set swatches and an option click the “+” to create a custom color.
5. Select Color to change the interface color. Windows 10 provides 48 color swatches and an option to click the “+” to create a custom color. Here you can also choose where the accent color appears, toggle between Light and Dark app modes, and toggle transparency effects.
6. Select Sounds to change the Windows 10 sound scheme.
7. Select Mouse cursor to change the mouse cursor appearance.
8. Click Save Theme.
9. Name your theme in the pop-up window.
10. Click the Save button.
Share a custom Windows 10 theme
Again, since we’re here, let’s go over how you can share a custom theme by creating a file friends and family can install:
1. While remaining within the Themes section, click on your custom theme to make it active.
2. Right-click on your custom theme.
3. Select Save theme for sharing.
4. Select a location where you want to save the theme.
5. Enter a file name.
6. Click Save to create a .deskthemepack file.
Related: How to use notifications in Windows 10
Use the Settings app
1. Click Start and select the “gear” icon on the Start Menu. This opens the Settings app.
2. Select Personalization.
3. Select Themes.
4. On the right, scroll down to Apply a theme and click on a theme.
5. Windows 10 automatically applies the chosen theme. You can now close the Settings app.
Use the Control Panel
If your nostalgic soul just can’t let go of the old-school Control Panel, there’s a way to access the hidden Personalization panel we loved in Windows 7 and older:
1. Type Win + R to open the Run command.
2. In the pop-up box, enter this command:
explorer shell:::{ED834ED6-4B5A-4bfe-8F11-A626DCB6A921}
3. Select the theme you want to apply.
4. Close the window when done.
Related: How to split your screen in Windows 10
Use File Explorer
Use this method to install themes downloaded from third-party websites, or if you like taking the long, old-school scenic route. Here are two important locations where Windows 10 stores your themes:
- Default themes – C:\Windows\Resources\Themes
- Manually installed themes – %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Themes
1. Click the folder icon on the taskbar to open File Explorer.
2. Locate the destination where your downloaded theme resides, such as Downloads. If you want a default theme or one you manually installed, copy and paste one of the addresses listed above into File Explorer’s address field.
3. Double-click a *.theme file you want as the current theme. Windows 10 will open the Settings app Themes section as well.
Get a new theme
1. Click Start and select the “gear” icon on the Start Menu. This opens the Settings app.
2. Select Personalization.
3. Select Themes.
4. On the right, click Get more themes in the Store listed under Apply a theme.
5. In the Microsoft Store app, select a theme you want to install.
6. Click the Get (free) or Buy (paid) button.
7. Click Install if the process doesn’t begin automatically.
8. Click Apply to use the theme.
9. Close the Microsoft Store app.
Related: How to change your screen resolution in Windows 10
Use a high contrast theme
If you need a theme that’s merely black and white like the old days of MS-DOS, you can find these in a different part of the Settings app.
1. Click Start and select the “gear” icon on the Start Menu. This opens the Settings app.
2. Select Ease of Access.
3. Select High contrast on the left.
4. Toggle on Turn on high contrast (off by default).
5. On the Choose a theme drop-down menu, select one of the four pre-installed themes.
6. Customize the high contrast colors if needed.
7. Close the Settings app.
You can take the File Explorer route too by heading to C:\Windows\Resources\Ease of Access Themes and double-clicking on a *.theme file.
Finally, for Windows 10 power users, the operating system keeps track of the current theme at this location in the registry:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes
It’s listed as the CurrentTheme (REG_SZ) value.
That wraps up our guide on how to use themes in Windows 10. For additional tips and tricks, check out these guides:
- How to use the Mail app in Windows 10 to access Gmail, iCloud, and more
- How to scan and clean your drive in Windows 10
- How to text with iMessages in Windows 10