Windows Classic Look Theme in Windows 10

Looking to have classic theme at work.

Going to try the method of msfn, thanks for the info about the context menu ! There is the task manager issue to deal with also.

OK tried the exe file in Windows8classic zip file. Logged-off and ON, and lost taskbar.

Tried the exe "Apply classic now" and new applications start in classic. Not the best and it is still not as in the screenshot.

Going to try this:

Use this

@echo off
FOR /F "delims=^T" %%G IN ('Handle ThemeSection') do set output=%%G
FOR /F "tokens=6" %%G IN ('echo %output%') DO set handleid=%%G
FOR /F "tokens=3" %%G IN ('echo %output%') DO set pid=%%G
echo %handleid%
echo %pid%
Handle -c %handleid% -p %pid% -y
or this script
@ECHO OFF
SETLOCAL ENABLEEXTENSIONS
FOR /F "tokens=3,6 delims=: " %%A IN ('Handle ThemeSection') DO (
ECHO handleid=%%B
ECHO Pid=%%A
Handle -c %%B -p %%A -y
)
or, alternatively a one-liner:
@FOR /F "tokens=3,6 delims=: " %%A IN ('Handle ThemeSection') DO Handle -c %%B -p %%A -y

Haven't time to read the entire thread - but I was very lucky.... I set the win10pro install to use my win7 settings (asked me about that somewhere, don't remember where now), and my desktop and taskbar were identical (after I replaced the windows graphic with the one I always use - a seasonal one) to every windows installation I've had since 3.0 (yeah, been using windows a LONG time....)

I've bookmarked this thread in case upgrading my laptop isn't that easy.

Interesting, please provide a screenshot

A screenshot of my desktop? Sure, but I'm not sure how that's going to help you! As you see, I have two monitors, the one on the left is set as "primary". And obviously this is my winter wallpaper.

This is not really the classic theme, just the same theme as before, but not classic.

Eh, it's the theme I've used as classic since 1985. I change the graphic, but the rest is just black and grey, always has been. I think in win3 I used one of the prebuilt "high contrast" themes, then replaced the colors for highlighting etc. with greys. Anyway, this is what win7 looked like too, and I didn't do anything special AFAIK - I think I had the option to keep my settings, and that's all I remember about the install - because by the time it got done, I had to figure out how to NOT let win10 auto update, so that's what I was concentrating on.

Truthfully, as far as "classic theme" goes, it never appealed to me (though I do get that some people would rather have it for work of course - which makes sense) so even if win10 had insisted on something icky (to me), I'd have figured out how to go back to what I have anyway.

I was mostly posting because I wondered if my install thing was possible for anyone else - just tell win10's install to retain the previous version's settings.

Thanks, but your theme is not in gray, right? Open an Explorer Window, is it gray or whitish ?

Application windows (like File Explorer and browser, Excel, etc) are white with grey title bars.

The taskbar context menu problem has been solved:
[Tip] Get Rid of Dark Context Menu in Windows 10 Taskbar - AskVG