Vista Theme For Windows 10

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Sullivan Maurer

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Aug 3, 2024, 4:58:01 PM8/3/24

to keymattegua

I am using Windows Vista Business. I installed the Microsoft "critical updates" via the Windows Update tool on September 14, 2010. After rebooting, the theme seems to have changed to the "Windows Classic" style, and all of the options I've looked at in Personalization and and Themes don't allow me to change it back. I've been using the Windows Vista "look" for more than 2 years, along with the Aero transparent window features, and now they're gone! The "Themes" menu doesn't even list any other themes besides Windows Classic.

I know about System Restore, and will probably try that if my back really gets up against the wall, but before I get to that point does anyone know of something I might try to get my regular Vista UI back that doesn't involve reversing the windows updates, reintalling windows, or buying Windows 7?

I've discovered that when I go to "Performance Options", and view the "Visual Effects" tab, and select the "Custom" radio, I am unable to check either the "Enable Desktop Composition" and "Use Visual Styles on Windows and Buttons" checkboxes. When I check them and then click "OK", then reopen "Performance Options", they are unchecked again.

I had this same problem. No need to uninstall any updates, you just need to reboot your computer again, a second time (after the automatic reboot following the Windows Update), and you get your usual theme back.

It worked right away without restarting your machine nor uninstalling updates... I went to the "control panel" then clicked on "system and maintenance" then clicked on "performance information and tools" and finally clicked on the left pane option "adjust visual effects".

This saved me the trouble of a system restore and was relatively fast and pain free. Not many posts on this yet but hopefully MS will recognize the issue an re-issue the update as I am sure the hole still exists

Tweaking the settings won't work, well at least for me, cause I tried everything I've read so far online and nothing happened. The most surefire way of restoring your settings would be to uninstall all the updates that you downloaded before the changes were made. Then change your theme back to windows vista or aero. And voila! Your theme is back to normal.

Since @Mr. Fox showed an interest in these customization in a different thread and mentioned how others might also like to know, figured i'd write a little guide. Also figured this could be a combo thread for those who would like to show off their Windows specific themes/customizations and overlays etc.

A few years back Glass8+ was the goto solution to get somewhat of a aero effect on windows 10, however support for that stopped once v1909 came out and hasnt been updated since. It was only a few days ago i found out that Windowsblinds 10 from Stardock actually still gives the aero effect providing the right theme is used, despite the website stating it works on 20H2 or below. However im using LTSC 2021 which is based on 21H2, but your mileage may vary depending on which edition you use (not sure if home or pro 21H2 have any under the hood differences that might break compatibility).

Before installing that though id suggest installing Open Shell first and get that all set up, I tried installing windows blinds first and then open shell but it decided to freak out explorer requiring a restart.

I loved the ultimate extras that came with Vista, the games and dreamscene video wallpapers. Also the original windows games and even movie maker to some extent, old but gold i say. Heres both the link to the original microsoft games along with the Vista specific ulitmate games:

The last modification i did to my OS was to disable the lockscreen to give that win7/vista logon feel, however normally this results in a blurred logon background which looks awful but luckily that can be disabled while also keeping transparency enabled within the system itself. Doing this and setting the lockscreen background to a vista wallpaper gives quite a nice result i think, see for yourself:

Update: For those who want a more complete vista look (like myself) heres the Vista theme along with the custom start button needed. Ive also included a link to get the sidebar and to reactivate the quick launch toolbar.

Final Update: Thanks to a chance conversation with one of the guys who made the themes (Fytuf, who tweaked and modded them from the originals) I found out that there was two settings that i hadnt configured, which you may want to enable. Both require a reboot to work correctly. the vista screenshot above has been updated to reflect the new non acrylic blur appearance.

looks great ? as much as i liked startisback, open shell has so much customization to it that i think it was worth the switch. I did love the old Glass8 AeroGlass for 1809 but downside to that one if i remember right was it just changed the existing win10 border so they were still squared off. a theme mod was still required to get that classic 7/vista style. Least with windowsblinds its an all in one solution which cuts down on the running processes

Open Shell definitely has more customization options for anyone interested in that. I lean toward the minimalist approach and I like the crystal clear smoked tint on the menu and how easy it is to exact color match the taskbar and Start menu using StartIsBack. I also prefer the square corners. I think they look better than rounded, and the round corners was an immediate turn-off for me as a Winduhz 11 first impression. That said, all other aspects of the Windows 7 GUI are superior compared to newer OSes, save for the rounded corners.

ah fair enough, i personally love the rounded edges. I decided to go full vista effect for the time being, i rather like how it looks with the frosted glass effect. Ive updated the guide further for those who also want this effect, quick launch and sidebar and all ?

ive made a final update to the post, turns out Fytuf (the guy who refined both the win7 and vista themes) made me aware of two settings that further make the themes more authentic looking. Ive put them at the very bottom of the post.

ok now this is the final update i hope, did some tweaking to make things look more vista authentic and also changed the dreamscene software in the original post. Found a better alternative in the form of Lively Wallpaper, which not only is free and open source but supports simply dragging and dropping any video file in and away you go. It uses mpv which means for my use case (optimus laptop) i can tell it which gpu to run on.

Yes, I like having a tall start menu so I have less reason to scroll. I like being able to see more things at one time without having to scroll. I set my start menu length to be between 2/3 and 3/4 of the display height.

Great work @Azther, I love Windows 7 and Vista aesthetics. I personally think that Desktop OS peaked around Windows 7 era, and the beautiful effects it has. I plan to run Windows 7 Dualbooted with Windows 10 LTSC 2019 / 1809 for the time being so Glass8+, I may look into Windowsblinds later. Aero is just king of the hill !!

I think only very few nowadays care about the beauty of an Operating System @Mr. Fox is one who shares that feeling, glad to see few more who love that design and style. Ever since Apple abandoned Skeuomorphic design after Steve Jobs death, entire world shifted slowly to the death of UI to now degenerate art. Also note before Apple's refinement upto iOS 6, Palm Web OS did absolutely fantastic job in perfecting it. Google's Material did something unique but now it's horrible garbage Material You which is 100% trash.

Peak moments of Human Machine Interfaces - Windows Vista/7, Apple iOS 6, Palm Web OS, Sony Playstation 3 XMB, Xbox 360 Blades & Android M / 6.x, I think these days will never come back, the OS is now bland boring junk with zero personality copying from here and there and zero originality and passion, no respect for Computing more for garbage News propaganda and mindnumbing social media addictions.

You know this same thing spread to games too, back then we had fantastic Main Menus, Options, Fonts, HUD and what not a quick memory flash from what I can remember, these games are the ones which fit in that category that take the Immersion to stratospheric levels -> BioShock, Metro 2033, Red Dead Redemption, Far Cry 2 & 3, Assassin's Creed II, Assassin's Creed Unity, Watch_Dogs, Batman Arkham Trilogy, God of War III, , Ninja Gaiden II, Crysis 3. Only few good games still retain the depth of the design - PREY 2017, Dishonored, DOOM 2016 (sadly they abandoned all with DOOM Eternal for mainstream appeal). Now more and more games have that same bland big boxy ugly textures and design styles worse they have that mobile UI, this mobile cancer spread to OS design and functionality and even games as well.