Windows 7: Theme - Change or Save

Hi, I reinstalled windows 7 home premium and downloaded all of the themes from the personalization > themes - get more themes and they do not appear for other users on my system. I even cut and pasted them into C:\windows\resources\ease of access themes.
They were in C:\users\me\appdata\local\microsoft\windows\themes after I downloaded them and before I cut and pasted them to the above location.


They still do not show up for other users. Is there a way to do this and is this not the correct way? I would hate to think that each user of this system (3) would have to download them each individually.
Thanks in advance!

Hello Cavsfan,

I have not tried this, but if it's a .theme file, then you might also try copying it into the other user accounts' C:\users\(user-name)\appdata\local\microsoft\windows\themes folder since it was there in your user account, or in the C:\Windows\Resources\Themes folder to see if it may be available for them afterwards.

Thanks for the reply!
They are .themepack files and I was hoping to avoid them being duplicated 3 times on the disk.
These are all adminstrator accounts. So, I was hoping to be able to put them somewhere that all users would see in their logins.
(I tried the C:\windows\Resources\Themes folder first but thought that was for aero only and it did not work either)
Thanks

Have you already tried copying the .theme file that the .thempack installed in your account into their user accounts' C:\users\(user-name)\appdata\local\microsoft\windows\themes folder yet?

No, I don't think the other 2 users are that interested in the extra themes.
But, I just thought there was a way that once downloaded, they would appear for all users.
But, it's no big deal. Thanks!

how to change a them without showing any UI to the user

Hello Suhir,

Usually you could change a theme without the GUI by using a themepack file instead.



This may also be helpful for dekstop backgrounds:

Desktop Background - Specify and Prevent Change

and

Desktop Background - Allow or Prevent Changing

Hope this helps,
Shawn

These are excellent instructions for creating a new theme.

How can I set my new theme as the default theme for a new user?

Thank you,

ERCO61

Hello Erco, and welcome to Seven Forums.

I'll create a separate tutorial on this tonight with more details. For now, you can do it through Group Policy at the location below. The saved .theme files of a user are located in the hidden C:\Users\User-Name\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Themes folder, and these: Themes - Regional



Hope this helps for now,
Shawn

UPDATE for New Tutorial:
Theme - Specify Default Theme to Load for New Users

Thanks Shawn:

I enabled the "load a specific theme" policy and set the path as "c:\Users\Public\myTheme.theme"

I then restarted and created a new Admin user and a new standard user. If I log in as either new user, the theme is set to classic by defaut.

As the new admin user, I checked that the policy is enabled and I can browse to the myTheme.theme file. I can double click the file and the theme now changes to the desired theme.

Why is the theme not automatically set for the new user upon login? Can you see what I did wrong?

Thank you for your help,

ERCO61