Windows 10 doesn’t have many cool options when it comes to theming. Fortunately, there are developers out there who went the extra step to create theme patchers and ither awesome skins. In this tutorial, I want to show you how you can get your Windows 10 desktop looking like the image below.
Dark Theme
The dark theme I used is called After Dark CC. Although it’s a paid theme ($2.50), it looks really cool.
Step 1: Create a System Restore Point
The theme patcher you will run in step 2, modifies core Windows files. This means that it could break Windows now or in a future update.
Step 2: Download UX Theme Patcher
Go and download the UX theme patcher. You will see different folders corresponding to different versions of Windows. Run the application located in your appropriate version of Windows.
Once it completes, reboot your computer. This theme patcher will allow you to apply the custom theme.
Step 3: Download Theme
Now you can download the After Dark CC theme. Navigate to the folder corresponding to your version of Windows.
You will have two more folders that have Show Commandbar and Hide Commandbar; you can use either one. Copy all the contents within one of those folders to C:/Windows/Resources/Themes
Step 4: Apply Theme
To apply the theme, right-click your desktop and go to personalize. Then go to the themes section and apply the theme.
Seda Theme
This is another theme that you can try. It’s free but has not been updated to support the latest big Windows update (1803). Use at your own risk. To install, perform the same steps as above.
Custom Icon Pack
For the custom folder icons, I used an icon pack from the Seda theme. To install, you can download it here. Remember, create a system restore point!
Rename the file with an. EXE extension then run it like any normal application.
Widgets
To get Widgets on my desktop I used an app called Rainmeter. With Rainmeter, it provides you access to hundreds of community created skins. Unlike the theme patching done above, this does not modify system files, so you don’t need to create a system restore point.
Side Launcher
That is also a rainmeter skin you can get here.