Classic Theme for Windows 10

Preview on YouTube: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O97VVly4Cdc)

A visual style which brings back the Classic Theme known from Windows 95 or NT to nowadays Version 10.

Table of Contents

• Installation
• Miscellaneous
• Known Bugs

Installation

**Remember**: You need administrator privileges for all steps!

1. ClassicTheme

Download the Classic Theme and extract its content to an arbitrary directory.

2. OldNewExplorer

Download and install OldNewExplorer, use the settings shown below.

3. Open-Shell

Download and install Open-Shell.
The ClassicTheme directory created in step 1 contains a folder called _open-shell.
Copy the subfolder Skins and its contents to the main directory of Open-Shell (usually %ProgramFiles%/Open-Shell).
Run the configuration program Open-Shell Menu Settings and afterwards Classic Explorer Settings, use the settings shown below.

4. StartIsBack

Download and install StartIsBack.
Copy the content of the _startisback folder, located in the ClassicTheme directory, to the main directory of StartIsBack (usually %ProgramFiles%/StartIsBack).
Run the configuration program StartIsBackCfg.exe, use the settings shown below.

5. UltraUXThemePatcher

UltraUXThemePatcher modifies your system files so that 3. party themes can be used.
Download and install UltraUXThemePatcher and restart your computer.
No further configuration is necessaary.

6. ClassicTheme

Copy the content of the subfolder corresponding to your Windows version to C:\Windows\Resources\Themes.
E.g. save the content of /ClassicTheme/Theme For Win10 Fall Creators Update 1709/Show Commandbar into C:\Windows\Resources\Themes.

7. Windows settings

• Go into All Settings > Personalization > Colors.
• Under Choose your default Windows mode, select Light.
• Uncheck Automatically pick an accent color from my background.
• Under Show accent color on the following surfaces, unselect the Start, taskbar, and action center, and Title bars and window borders check boxes.
• Go into All Settings > Personalization > Themes and select the classic theme you want.

8. Thin Borders

Run the REG file within the _Thin Borders subfolder of your ClassicTheme direcory.
It'll ask for confirmation, accept it. The folder also contains another registry script to restore default border size.
Sign out and sign back in to activate your new window border width.

Miscellaneous

• First icon of task bar hides behind start button
• Background color gets lost / Sleep Mode changes colors
• In case you miss the classic blue wallpaper try the RGB color code 59-110-165 (3B6EA5) or 0-128-128 (008080). If you need for some reason the classic grey tone try RGB color codes 200-205-212 (C8CDD4) resp. 212-208-200 (D4D0C8).

Known Bugs

See the issues section for known bugs.