Make Win7 look like Win10

[knoober]

I know what you are thinking but I never said I didnt like how Win10 looks As a matter of fact I like the color scheme/icons/window borders etc, of the default UI. And because of that I have made a small hobby out of making other OS's dress up as Win10 and I hunted up this little gem. Its got a quirk that I cant seem to get around though. Non admin users have to reset the theme at every login. Its a livable problem but Id still like to find a way around it. Here is what Ive tried so far:

start> run> gpedit.msc> user configuration> Administrative templates>Control Panel>Personalization > disable all options

start> run> gpedit.msc> user configuration> Administrative templates>Control Panel>Personalization > enable load a specific theme

start> run> gpedit.msc> user configuration> Administrative templates>Control Panel>Personalization > force a specific visual style

but there doesnt seem to be any love in gpedit for this problem. Are there any other options? Does anyone know how to effect these changes "by hand" so I dont have to depend on a third party? Thanks in advance

 

[Alaric]

Does it run at start up? If it only happens to non admin users, have you tried giving the program admin rights?

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Um..... Classic Shell.

 

[knoober]

Does it run at start up? If it only happens to non admin users, have you tried giving the program admin rights?

It is not a program in that sense. You run the exe once and all the themes/icons are added. On a non admin account the theme service (or whatever it calls itself) in Windows runs automatically at logon even though it shouldn't. When this service runs it throws the theme out of balance (really all it does is change the taskbar color from blue to black). After that happens you must reapply the theme through the Personalization menu... Which opens at every login for non-admin users.

I know that is a little hard to follow so ill try to summarize briefly :

1) works perfectly for admin user. 0 problems for a 1 user system

2) at login for a standard user, the theme chooser opens automatically and messes things up, but will allow you to reset back to fully working Win10 theme... Until next login, at which point it messes everything up again and needs to be reset again.

I think i might drop an email to the developer but I am hoping to have any of the easy/obvious stuff crossed off the list first

Edit: i thought classic shell goes the other way? Makes Win10/8 look like 7? Is there a similarly between these 2 things on a coding level or something?

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Only one way to find out... install it and see.

 

[Alaric]

The only thing I can think of is uninstall it, and select "Run as Administrator" from the right click menu when you run the installer again. Or ATMINSIDE's suggestion.

 

[knoober]

The only thing I can think of is uninstall it, and select "Run as Administrator" from the right click menu when you run the installer again. Or ATMINSIDE's suggestion.

Thanks. Tried it an no such luck.

Only one way to find out... install it and see.

I guess I just thought you were saying this was a clone of some sort to Classic Shell. Kind of like the way Firefox and Waterfox are similar. If thats not what you were saying... ,y link goes alot further than Classic Shell. You have an option to install the Charms Bar (or not if you dont like it. Metro is also an option), there is a "Cortana-like search bar" (damned useless IMO, but it must exist for a reason and is also optional). The log on screen is also replaced, but I have one that I like better anyway.

As I said I am mainly after a cosmetic change because I can do moth of the other stuff by hand any way, but I ran across this particular one while I was searching for icon sets and figured it would be a one stop shop, even though it had extras I didnt need. And it kind of has been... one a single user PC. Ill post back if the dev has anything insightfull to say

Edit: You can also run classic shell on top of this theme change thingie

 

[trents]

Give all useers admin privileges.

 

[Alaric]

Give all useers admin privileges.

Depending on how locked down security is and where you go on the web. And it does bump security down a notch, unless everything runs in a sandbox. In which case, that's the ticket.

 

[Tech Tweaker]

I guess I just thought you were saying this was a clone of some sort to Classic Shell. Kind of like the way Firefox and Waterfox are similar. If thats not what you were saying... ,y link goes alot further than Classic Shell. You have an option to install the Charms Bar (or not if you dont like it. Metro is also an option), there is a "Cortana-like search bar" (damned useless IMO, but it must exist for a reason and is also optional). The log on screen is also replaced, but I have one that I like better anyway.

I totally thought the same.

The first time I read the title I thought he was trying to make 10 look like 7, because I've seen so many threads of people wanting to do that (and heard people talking about wanting to do that) I just assumed this was one of those.

Never occurred to me of someone actually wanting to change an OS to intentionally look like 10.

On topic: shouldn't there be some way to make this executable auto-run on login/startup?

 

[habbajabba]

I was wondering the same thing the other day (for the calculator mostly) but could only find win7-10 stuff. Win10 is ridiculous with everything coming from the 'store' and as such no regular exe installs, much less links. The win 7 calc is ok but I prefer moffsoft's rather simpler and easier to use one. I'll post back when I get around to running it on my fresh win7pro desktop installation.

 

[knoober]

Give all useers admin privileges.

^^And the Winner is ...^^

Of course there is the part about removing the privileges after the setup is complete. Seems to be the only way to accomplish it, but it does seem to be a persistent solution.


To recap the solution: Change all user accounts to Administrator. Switch to each user account separately and configure the way you would like. Change user accounts back to Standard User. Voila

 

[Alaric]

Excellent! I love it when a plan comes together. LOL

 

[habbajabba]

I tried it. Other than installing the ux theme file patcher & changing a few system icons I would only recommend it for someone willing to play with their gui. My suggestion is to uncheck everything, run auto_addfwrs.bat inside the install folder and as well block the exe running from the windows folder. It gives no specific options on what it installs, so it installs everything and then tries to run Aura and Desktops at boot which is ridiculous. I kept the install on my desktop simply for the misc. icons and the theme patcher. All else is BS.

 

[knoober]

block the exe running from the windows folder.

Can you explain this part? I just don't know what you mean by that.

Ive been running it since the OP and havent had any major complications. I like the addition of virtual desktops, but hate the start menu. Classic Shell can be installed over it with no problem though. The biggest issue is that running sfc /scannow breaks the changes and then it has to be reinstalled.

All in all I would still rather be able to do it by hand because I'm just wary of 3rd party anything, but it doesnt seem to phone home or do any other suspicious stuff...

 

[habbajabba]

On my tablet right now but will get back tomorrow with that. For anything that is as pervasive as is this I always check process hacker, startup items, incl. autoruns. Virtual desks can be run in many ways without this program at all. Classic shell simply allows for customizing the start menu and I like the transparent taskbar feature a lot. The only way to fly with wallpapers.

As I now recall I installed it twice as the 1st time checking a couple boxes it ran what I could not disable from running. 2nd try, no box checked, was something in the windows folder running unnecessarily which I killed. Don't recall the exe exactly.