How to Create and Install Themes in Windows 10?

You will easily get bored when using computer for many years. One easy way to keep you fresh is regularly rotating the theme of your computer to make it looks different. The default Windows 10 comes up with limited number of themes. But you can download and install themes from the Microsoft Store as well as from third party developers. It is also possible to create a custom theme with your favorite photos.

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Change Theme in Windows 10

Right click on the desktop and choose ‘Personalize’ option. Navigate to ‘Themes’ section. Here you will see the current theme on you PC and the list of available themes on your computer.

Simply click on any of the available theme to apply that theme on you computer. Remember based on your theme settings, the feel and look of the windows will change. So choose the theme makes you comfortable and convenient for working.

Install New Theme in Windows 10

As mentioned, Windows 10 offers three themes – Windows, Windows 10 and Flowers. This is frankly nothing. If you want to search for a new theme, click on ‘Get more themes in Microsoft Store’ or ‘Get more themes in the Store’ link under ‘Apply a theme’. This will take you to the Microsoft Store showing hundreds of free and paid themes.

Select any of the free theme by clicking on it. You will see the complete details of the selected theme like rating, description, availability and screenshots. Click on ‘Get’ button and wait until it downloads successfully. Make sure you are logged-in with your Microsoft account.

After completion of the download, click on ‘Launch’ button. This will add the downloaded theme under ‘Settings > Themes > Apply a theme’ section. As a last step, just click on the theme to apply on your PC.

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Create Your Own Theme in Windows 10

If you are not interested to look for someone’s work then don’t worry. You can create your own custom theme and use on your computer. Basically a Windows 10 theme is nothing but a collection of photos along with custom background, colors, sounds and cursors. You can add a bunch of photos and with these settings, your own theme is ready to use.

Simply click on the ‘Use custom theme’ button under ‘Themes’ section of the Personalization settings.

Then click on ‘Save theme’ and provide a name to your theme. The new theme will immediately available under the ‘Apply a theme’ section along with default and downloaded themes.

Customizing Custom Theme

You can customize background, colors, sounds and mouse cursor properties of any theme. You can find these options below the theme image preview.

Customize Background

Clicking on the ‘Background’ will take you to the ‘Background’ tab. Under ‘Background’ drop-down options, select the ‘Slideshow’. This will allow you to create a slideshow theme with your own pictures.

• Click on ‘Browse’ button under ‘Choose albums for your slideshow’. Here, you need to select a folder in which you have your theme photos.
• Under ‘Change picture every’, select the suitable time for it. This means for how much time should your background image change.
• Turn ‘On’ the ‘Shuffle’ option if you don’t want all the photos to appear in sequence.
• Themes consume the battery of your laptop. You can turn ‘On’ the option ‘Allow slideshow when on battery power’.
• Choose the perfect size options for your images like the fit, stretch, fill, tile, center, span.
• To preview your changes, click on ‘Go to Themes’ link. Or, use the side-menu to go to the ‘Themes’ panel.
• Click on the ‘Save theme’ button to save the current slideshow of photos as a theme.
• You can apply this theme in future anytime by clicking on the theme under ‘Apply a theme’ section. For changing the background images, you can always switch to the background tab to manage photos according to your requirements.

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Customizing Colors

• Similar to background, colors tab allow you to change the colors of your Windows 10 custom theme. Enable transparency effects, change the accent of the start menu, title bars, taskbar etc. You can also change the theme to light or dark under ‘Colors’ tab.

If you have noticed, when you change the settings under Background or Colors tab then Windows 10 will automatically consider it as a custom theme under ‘Themes’ tab. So you need to switch between these tabs for customizing the background / color properties.

Sound Settings

Click on the ‘Sounds’ option under the theme preview image under ‘Themes tab. Here you can select the sound scheme and configure sound for each action in Windows 10.

Mouse Properties Settings

The last option is to customize the mouse and touchpad properties by clicking on ‘Mouse cursor’ option. You can change the pointer color, cursor images, configure mouse buttons and calibrate touchpad.