How to Change the Theme in Windows 10
In Windows, you can use themes to help make your desktop feel a little more personal. Themes change the desktop background, colors, sounds, screen saver, and pointers on your PC all at once, and you can switch between themes as often as you like.
There are four types of themes.
• My Themes - Themes that you've created, made changes to, saved, downloaded, or synced (roamed themes) from your Microsoft account. Any time you change a theme, the new settings appear here as an unsaved theme. These themes are saved in the folder below.
%LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Themes
• Windows Default Themes - Windows themes you can use to personalize your PC. Most of them include a desktop background slide show. These themes are saved in the folder below.
C:\Windows\Resources\Themes
• Installed Themes - Themes that were created by your PC manufacturer or other non-Microsoft providers.
• High Contrast Themes - Themes that use a small palette of contrasting colors to make items on your screen easier to see and improves readability. The High Contrast themes don't include automatic window border colors or desktop background slide shows. These themes are saved in the folder below.
C:\Windows\Resources\Ease of Access Themes
Starting with Windows 10 build 18282, Microsoft added a new Windows Light theme. If selected, it will change your PC to be light themed.
Your current theme is referenced as the CurrentTheme string value for the key below in Registry Editor.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes
This tutorial will show you how to select a theme to change the desktop background, color, sounds, and screen saver all at once for your account in Window 10.
You will need to activate Windows before you will be able to personalize your PC.
To download free themes from Microsoft, see:
How to Download and Install Themes from Microsoft Store in Windows 10
Desktop Themes - Microsoft Support
Contents
- Option One: To Change Your Theme in Settings
- Option Two: To Change Your Theme in Control Panel
1 Open Settings, and click/tap on the Personalization icon.
2 Click/tap on Themes on the left side, click/tap on a theme you want to switch to under Change theme on the right side. (see screenshot below)
You can click/tap on the Get more themes in Microsoft Store link to install themes from the Microsoft Store.
1 Open Run (Win+R).
2 Copy and paste the command below into Run, and click/tap on OK to open Personalization in the Control Panel.
shell:::{ED834ED6-4B5A-4bfe-8F11-A626DCB6A921}
3 Click/tap on a theme you want to switch to from My Themes, Windows Default Themes, or High Contrast Themes. (see screenshot below)
If you click/tap on the Get more themes online link, it'll take you to Desktop Themes | Microsoft Support where you can download more themes to use.
That's it,
Shawn Brink
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