Download Themes for Windows 11 and 10: Free Store Themes, Theme Packs and Your Own

To download themes for Windows 11, open Settings, go to Personalization and then Themes, and select Browse themes. The Microsoft Store opens on its themes collection. Many are free, made by Microsoft, with wallpapers in 4K, nature, games and more. Select Get, then Open, and the theme appears in your Themes list; select it to apply. A theme downloaded as a .themepack or .deskthemepack file installs with a double-click. Windows 11 also has built-in themes: Windows Light, Windows Dark, Glow, Captured Motion, Sunrise and Flow. Personalization needs activated Windows. Avoid "theme" downloads that ask you to run installers or patch system files. Real Windows themes are just wallpapers, colors and sounds.

Ethan's daughter wanted her new laptop to look less like everyone else's at school. A search for "Windows 11 themes download" produced a page of sites offering theme packs, some with download buttons that delivered .exe files and one that wanted her to install a "theme manager". Ethan, by now in the habit, asked Jake. Jake opened Settings, Personalization, Themes, selected Browse themes, and showed her the Microsoft Store's theme collection: dozens of free themes, all safe, from aurora skies to game art. She picked three, applied one, and set Windows to rotate the wallpaper every ten minutes. Then Jake showed her how to make her own theme from her favorite photos and save it. That was what she ended up using, and nothing needed downloading at all. This page covers where to get Windows themes safely, how to install, apply, create, share and delete them, the hidden themes Windows includes, and what to do when themes will not apply.

What a Windows theme is

A Windows theme is a bundle of personalization settings that you apply together: a desktop background, either a single picture or a slideshow; an accent color for the taskbar, Start, window borders and buttons; a light or dark mode; sounds for Windows events; and a mouse cursor scheme. Applying a theme changes all of them at once, and you can still adjust any part afterward.

Themes are deliberately limited. They do not change the shape of windows, the Start menu layout, or how apps look beyond the accent color and light or dark mode. Changing those requires third-party tools that modify Windows itself, which is a different and riskier kind of customization, covered in the safety section below.

Themes are stored as small files. A .theme file is a text file describing the settings; a .themepack or .deskthemepack file bundles that description with the wallpaper images and any sounds, so it can be shared and installed in one step. Themes from the Microsoft Store are delivered as apps that add themselves to your Themes list.

Because a theme is just settings and pictures, it cannot harm your PC, which is part of why the Microsoft Store and theme pack files are safe. Anything presented as a theme that needs to run a program is something else, and that difference is the most important thing to know when downloading.

Theme file types explained

Themes reach your PC in a few different forms, and knowing which is which makes downloads easier to judge.

The first four are ordinary Windows themes and cannot run code. The last two are different things altogether, and the rest of this page treats them with appropriate caution.

The themes already on your PC

Windows 11 comes with several themes, shown in Settings, Personalization, Themes, under Current theme: Windows (light) and Windows (dark), with the signature bloom wallpaper; Glow, Captured Motion, Sunrise and Flow, each with a set of wallpapers and matching colors. Windows 10 includes Windows, Windows 10 and Flowers, among others. Selecting one applies it immediately.

Windows 11 also includes contrast themes, designed for people who need high contrast to read the screen: Aquatic, Desert, Dusk and Night sky. They are found in Settings, Accessibility, Contrast themes, and change far more than a normal theme, recoloring text, backgrounds and controls throughout Windows. Turn them on with Left Alt + Left Shift + Print Screen as a shortcut, and use the same shortcut to turn them off.

There is also a set of hidden themes. Windows 11 includes education themes, made for school PCs, that are not shown by default. They can be enabled with a registry value: under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PolicyManager\current\device, create a key named Education, and inside it a DWORD named EnableEduThemes set to 1, then restart. The extra themes appear in your Themes list, often after a short wait while Windows downloads them. Back up the registry before editing, and delete the value to hide them again.

Themes in Windows 10

Windows 10 handles themes almost the same way. Open Settings, Personalization, Themes; the current theme's parts, Background, Color, Sounds and Mouse cursor, are listed at the top, with Save theme below them, then the list of installed themes and the Get more themes in Microsoft Store link. Right-clicking a theme offers Save theme for sharing and Delete.

Store themes and theme pack files work the same on both versions, so a theme saved on a Windows 10 PC installs on Windows 11 with a double-click, which makes themes an easy part of moving to a new PC. Windows 10 is past its October 2025 end of support except for PCs enrolled in Extended Security Updates; if you are moving to Windows 11, save your custom themes for sharing first and copy the files across.

Microsoft's theme collections over the years

Microsoft has published themes since the early days of Windows, and the collection has moved several times. In the Windows 7 era, themes were downloaded as .themepack files from a gallery on Microsoft's website, including popular photography collections and panoramic dual-monitor sets. Windows 8 introduced the .deskthemepack format and themes based on Bing photographs. With Windows 10 and 11, Microsoft moved new themes to the Microsoft Store, and the old web gallery has largely been retired.

Many older theme pack files still work, if you kept copies, and they install on Windows 11 like any other. Some, designed for older versions, include sound schemes or color settings that behave a little differently on current Windows, but the wallpapers, which are what most people valued, work perfectly. If a site offers "classic Microsoft themes", check that you receive genuine .themepack files, not an installer.

Download themes from the Microsoft Store

The Microsoft Store is the safest and easiest source of themes. Microsoft publishes a large collection of free themes there, with new ones added over time, and some third-party themes are offered too.

1. Open Settings with Windows + I, select Personalization, then Themes.
2. Select Browse themes next to Get more themes from Microsoft Store. The Store opens on its themes collection.
3. Browse or search, for example for "mountains", "space" or "4K". Select a theme to see its wallpapers.
4. Select Get or Free. The theme downloads like an app.
5. Select Open, or return to Settings, Personalization, Themes. The new theme appears in the list.
6. Select the theme to apply it.

You can also search for "themes" in the Microsoft Store app directly. Our guide to installing apps from the Microsoft Store covers signing in and downloads. Store themes work on both Windows 11 and Windows 10, and they are tied to your Microsoft account, so you can install them again on another PC from your Store library.

Microsoft's themes are free. Some third-party themes in the Store cost a small amount; the price is shown before you get them, so there are no surprises.

Where to get themes, and how safe each source is

Art communities where illustrators share wallpapers and themes can be wonderful sources of original work. When downloading from them, take the picture or theme pack file only, check the file extension, and respect the artist's terms about use and sharing.

Install a .themepack or .deskthemepack file

Themes shared as files, from Microsoft's older theme pages, from friends, or from reputable artists, come as .themepack files, made for Windows 7 and later, or .deskthemepack files, made for Windows 8 and later with features such as automatic accent colors. Both work in Windows 11 and 10.

1. Download the file, and make sure its name really ends in .themepack or .deskthemepack. Turn on file name extensions in File Explorer, under View, Show, to check.
2. Double-click the file.
3. Windows installs the theme and applies it immediately; it also appears in Settings, Personalization, Themes.

Installed themes are stored in %localappdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Themes, each in its own folder with its wallpapers. That is also where to find a theme's pictures if you want to use one as a single wallpaper elsewhere.

A theme pack is a cabinet archive containing pictures and a .theme file; it cannot run programs. That makes it safe to open even from less familiar sources, provided the file truly is a theme pack. A file named "theme.themepack.exe" or delivered inside an installer is not one, and should be deleted.

Create your own theme

Making your own theme takes a couple of minutes and gives you something nobody else has. Ethan's daughter built hers from photos of her friends and the family dog.

1. Put the pictures you want in one folder, such as Pictures\My theme.
2. Open Settings, Personalization, Background. Set Personalize your background to Slideshow, select Browse, and choose your folder.
3. Choose how often the picture changes, and whether to shuffle.
4. Go to Colors. Choose light or dark mode, and either a fixed accent color or Automatic, which picks a color from the current wallpaper.
5. Optionally, change sounds in Personalization, Themes, Sounds, and the mouse cursor in Themes, Mouse cursor.
6. Go to Personalization, Themes. Your settings appear as Custom; select Save, give the theme a name, and save it.

Your theme now sits in the Themes list next to the others, and you can switch to it at any time. To change it, apply it, adjust the settings, and save again with the same name.

Pictures look best when they match your screen's shape and resolution. For a typical 16:9 laptop, landscape photos fill the screen well; portrait photos are cropped or shown with bars, depending on the Choose a fit setting on the Background page. For multiple monitors, you can choose a different picture for each by right-clicking a picture in the Background page's recent images and choosing the monitor.

Theme sounds and the mouse cursor

Two parts of a theme are often overlooked. Sounds are the noises Windows makes for events such as notifications, errors and device connections. In Settings, Personalization, Themes, select Sounds to open the classic Sound window, where the Sounds tab lists every event and the sound scheme. Windows Default is the standard; No Sounds silences events without muting apps, which many people prefer. Some older theme packs include their own sound schemes, which install with the theme.

The mouse cursor setting opens Mouse Properties, where the Pointers tab offers schemes such as Windows Default, large and extra large versions, and inverted or black versions. For most people, the more useful control is in Settings, Accessibility, Mouse pointer and touch, which offers color and size options that make the pointer easier to find on large or busy screens. Changes there are kept when you switch themes unless the theme includes its own cursor scheme.

When you save a custom theme, the current sound scheme and cursor are saved with it, so a theme can carry a complete personality, from wallpaper to the sound of a new email.

Accent colors that match your wallpaper

The accent color, used on the Start button highlights, buttons, links and optionally the taskbar and title bars, makes a big difference to how well a theme hangs together. In Settings, Personalization, Colors, set Accent color to Automatic, and Windows picks a color from your current wallpaper, changing it as a slideshow moves through pictures. For a calmer look, choose a fixed color that suits most of your pictures.

Further down the same page, Show accent color on Start and taskbar and Show accent color on title bars and window borders extend the color to more of Windows. On some Windows 11 versions, the first is available only in dark mode. Our guide to taskbar, Start and accent colors covers these options and why they sometimes gray out.

Share or back up a theme

To share your theme or keep a copy, save it as a theme pack file. In Windows 11, open Settings, Personalization, Themes, find your saved theme, and use its context or options menu where available to save it for sharing; Windows creates a .deskthemepack file containing the pictures and settings. In Windows 10, right-click the theme in Themes and choose Save theme for sharing. If the option is not shown on your version, the classic Personalization window, opened with control /name Microsoft.Personalization from Windows + R where still available, offers the same command when you right-click a theme.

The resulting file can be sent to friends, copied to another PC, or kept as a backup. On the other PC, double-clicking the file installs it. Large slideshows make large files, since the pictures are included, so for themes with hundreds of photos, sharing the picture folder and recreating the theme may be easier.

If you sign in with a Microsoft account and Windows backup is set to remember your preferences, some personalization settings, including the theme, may follow you to other PCs you sign in to. That syncing can also explain a theme that seems to change by itself, as covered below.

Themes on multiple monitors

With more than one monitor, a theme's slideshow normally shows a different picture on each screen at the same time. To set specific pictures per monitor, go to Settings, Personalization, Background, choose Picture, then right-click a picture in the recent images and choose Set for monitor 1 or another monitor. To stretch one wide picture across all screens, choose Span under Choose a fit, which works best with panoramic images sized for your combined screens.

Ultra-wide and panoramic theme packs exist for exactly this; search the Store or theme sources for dual monitor or panoramic themes. Saved custom themes remember the slideshow folder rather than per-monitor assignments, so if you set pictures per monitor by hand, save a note of your choices.

Themes and desktop icons

Some themes, especially older ones, include their own desktop icons for This PC, the Recycle Bin and other system items. Whether a theme may change those is controlled by a check box: in Settings, Personalization, Themes, select Desktop icon settings, and check or clear Allow themes to change desktop icons. Clear it if a theme replaced icons you liked, then restore them with Restore Default in the same window.

The same window lets you choose which system icons appear on the desktop at all. Our guide to showing or hiding desktop icons covers the options, and our guide to icon size covers making them bigger or smaller to suit a new wallpaper.

Delete or uninstall a theme

To remove a theme you no longer want, first apply a different theme, since the theme in use cannot be deleted. Then in Settings, Personalization, Themes, right-click the theme, or open its options, and choose Delete. For themes from the Microsoft Store, uninstall them like apps in Settings, Apps, Installed apps, where they appear by name.

Deleting a theme removes its folder and wallpapers from your Themes folder. The built-in Windows themes cannot be deleted. If a theme reappears after deletion, it is probably being synced back from another PC through your Microsoft account; turn off theme syncing or delete it on the other PC too.

Restore the default Windows theme

If experiments with themes, colors and sounds have left Windows looking odd, returning to the default is quick. In Settings, Personalization, Themes, select Windows (light) or Windows (dark) on Windows 11, or Windows on Windows 10. That restores the standard wallpaper, accent color, sounds and cursor in one click.

A few settings are not part of themes and stay as you left them: text size, contrast themes, transparency effects and desktop icon choices. Check Accessibility, Contrast themes, if colors still look unusual, and Desktop icon settings, with Restore Default, if system icons changed. Restoring the default theme does not delete your custom or downloaded themes; they stay in the list for later.

Game, anime and fan themes

Some of the most searched themes are for games, films and anime. Official themes for some games and franchises appear in the Microsoft Store, published by their owners, and they are the safe, legitimate choice. Fan-made themes and wallpaper packs circulate widely on art communities and forums; many are made with care, but they often use artwork the maker does not own, so availability can change, and sharing them commercially is not appropriate.

Whatever the source, the safety rules are the same: a theme pack or picture files only, never an installer, and a quick check of the file extension before opening. Making your own fan theme from official wallpapers that a game or studio publishes for fans, saved as your own theme, is usually the most reliable route to the look you want.

Themes not applying or not showing: fixes

Personalization settings are grayed out. Windows is not activated. Personalization options in Settings require activated Windows, and a message at the top of the page says so. Activating Windows, in Settings, System, Activation, restores them. Right-clicking a picture in File Explorer and choosing Set as desktop background still works without activation.

The theme applies but the wallpaper does not change. Check Background: a slideshow may be paused on battery, controlled by Let slideshow run even if I'm on battery power. If the wallpaper is black, a contrast theme may be on, or the Show desktop background image option in Accessibility, Visual effects may be off.

The theme keeps changing back. Theme syncing from another PC, a work or school policy, or a third-party app that manages wallpapers can override your choice. Check Accounts, Windows backup, Remember my preferences, and close wallpaper apps.

The Themes page will not open or Browse themes does nothing. Reset the Microsoft Store with wsreset.exe from Windows + R, and install pending Windows updates. On work PCs, the Store may be blocked by policy.

Colors look wrong. A contrast theme overrides theme colors; turn it off in Accessibility, Contrast themes. If the accent color option is grayed out, see our guide to accent colors, which explains when Windows locks it.

Stop others changing the theme on a shared PC

On a family, school or office PC, you may want to fix the theme so that it stays consistent. On Windows 11 and 10 Pro, Group Policy has settings for this under User Configuration, Administrative Templates, Control Panel, Personalization, including Prevent changing theme, Prevent changing desktop background under Desktop settings, and Prevent changing color scheme. Enabling them grays out the matching options in Settings for affected users.

For the lock screen, a separate policy fixes the image; our guide to stopping users changing the lock screen image explains it. On home PCs without Group Policy, giving children standard accounts and family-managed Microsoft accounts limits other changes, but theme changes are generally harmless and best left to each person in their own account.

Getting great-looking wallpapers

A theme is only as good as its pictures. For crisp results, use pictures at least as large as your screen's resolution, which you can find in Settings, System, Display, under Display resolution. A 4K monitor needs 3840 by 2160 pixel images to look sharp; smaller pictures are stretched and look soft.

Match the shape too: most laptops and monitors are 16:9 or 16:10, so landscape pictures fit best, and portrait phone photos work better with the Fit option and a matching background color. Pictures with calm areas, such as sky or water, leave room for desktop icons to stay readable. Windows compresses JPEG wallpapers slightly when it applies them, so if you notice faint blockiness in gradients, save the picture as PNG, which Windows displays without that compression.

A ten-minute personalization routine for a new PC

When a new PC arrives, Jake runs through the same short routine with its owner, and themes are only part of it. First, choose light or dark mode in Colors, since it changes the feel of everything. Second, pick a theme from Browse themes, or make one from your own pictures, and set the slideshow interval. Third, set the accent color to Automatic or a favorite, and decide whether it shows on Start and the taskbar. Fourth, choose a lock screen picture or slideshow in Personalization, Lock screen, which is separate from the desktop theme. Fifth, adjust text size and the mouse pointer in Accessibility if the screen is high resolution.

Finally, save the result as a theme with your name on it, and save it for sharing to a cloud folder. The next new PC then takes thirty seconds instead of ten minutes, and if anything ever resets your settings, one double-click brings everything back. Ethan's daughter keeps her theme file in OneDrive for exactly that reason.

The lock screen and sign-in screen

Themes change the desktop, not the lock screen. The lock screen has its own setting in Personalization, Lock screen, where you can choose Windows spotlight, a picture or a slideshow, and whether the lock screen picture also shows on the sign-in screen. Many people set the same picture or folder for both, for a consistent look, but you can choose freely.

On work PCs, the lock screen is often fixed by policy to a company image, while the desktop theme remains yours to change. Our guides to the lock screen slideshow and disabling the lock screen cover the options.

Theme safety: what to avoid

Theme downloads are a classic disguise for unwanted software. The rule is simple: a real Windows theme is a .themepack or .deskthemepack file, a Store item, or a set of pictures you apply yourself. Anything that arrives as an .exe, .msi or script, asks you to install a "theme manager", or wants administrator rights is not a Windows theme.

Some enthusiast sites offer visual styles that change the look of windows, title bars and controls far beyond what Windows themes allow. Applying them requires patching or replacing Windows system files, or tools that inject code into Windows, which can break after Windows updates, cause crashes, and weaken security. They also often come from sources that are hard to verify. For most people, the trade-off is not worth it; if you do experiment, use a well-known tool from its official source, create a restore point first, and expect to undo it after major updates.

Animated wallpaper apps, available from the Microsoft Store and established game stores, are a safer way to get moving backgrounds, since they run as normal apps and can be uninstalled cleanly. Our guide to installing programs safely covers telling official downloads from imitations.

For IT: deploying a company theme

Organizations sometimes want every PC to use a company theme, with branded wallpapers and colors. The tidy way is to create a .theme file and its pictures on a network share or in the default user profile, then use Group Policy: User Configuration, Administrative Templates, Control Panel, Personalization, Load a specific theme, pointing to the .theme file. Users get the theme at first sign-in and can still change it unless Prevent changing theme is also enabled.

For just the wallpaper, the Desktop Wallpaper policy under Desktop, Desktop sets a fixed background. Intune and other management tools have equivalent settings, including for the lock screen image on Enterprise and Education editions. Keep branded wallpapers simple and readable, and test them at different screen resolutions, since staff laptops vary widely.

Themes for easier reading

Themes can make Windows easier to use, not only prettier. For older relatives or anyone with tired eyes, a plain, calm wallpaper, dark mode in the evening, a strong accent color and a larger mouse pointer make the screen easier to read and the pointer easier to find. Settings, Accessibility, Text size enlarges text throughout Windows, which complements any theme.

For people with low vision, the contrast themes described earlier are designed for maximum readability and change much more than a regular theme. Busy photographic slideshows, while lovely, can make desktop icons and text harder to read, so for a relative's PC, Jake usually picks a theme with a few soft pictures and sets the slideshow to change daily rather than every few minutes.

Changing themes on a schedule

Windows does not include a built-in way to switch themes, or light and dark mode, automatically at certain times, such as light during the day and dark at night. Third-party apps from the Microsoft Store do this, switching mode and wallpaper based on a schedule or sunrise and sunset, and they are a safe way to add the feature since they only change settings you could change yourself.

A simpler built-in approach is the slideshow: a theme with daytime and nighttime pictures, shuffled off and changing every few hours, gives a sense of change through the day. And Windows Spotlight's daily wallpaper brings something new every morning without any setup.

Wallpaper ideas beyond themes

If what you really want is a fresh wallpaper, themes are only one route. Windows Spotlight can set a new, high-quality photo as your desktop background every day, with information about the picture; in Windows 11, choose Windows spotlight in Personalization, Background. Our guide to Windows Spotlight as wallpaper explains how to use and save its pictures.

Any picture can be a wallpaper: right-click it in File Explorer and choose Set as desktop background, or select several and set them as a slideshow. The lock screen has its own picture or slideshow, separate from the desktop, set in Personalization, Lock screen; our guide to the lock screen slideshow covers it.

Finally, light and dark mode change the feel of Windows more than any wallpaper. Our guide to dark mode covers switching, scheduling and apps that do not follow it.

Animated and live wallpapers

Standard Windows themes use still pictures. Animated wallpapers, with moving scenes, video loops or interactive effects, come from separate apps, several of which are available in the Microsoft Store and established game stores. They run in the background and draw the wallpaper behind your desktop icons, and most pause automatically when a full-screen app or game is running.

They are safe when installed from official stores, and uninstalling them returns the desktop to your normal theme. The trade-offs are resources and battery: an animated wallpaper keeps the graphics hardware busy, which shortens laptop battery life and can make fans spin. Most apps include options to pause on battery or when other apps are maximized, which are worth enabling on laptops.

Do themes affect performance or battery?

Ordinary themes do not slow Windows down. A wallpaper is drawn once and cached, and a slideshow loads a new picture only when it changes. Even very high-resolution pictures have a negligible effect on a modern PC. Sound schemes and cursors cost nothing measurable.

A few related settings have small effects. Transparency effects, in Personalization, Colors, use a little graphics power, which matters only on very old or low-power PCs; turning them off can make a weak PC feel slightly snappier. Slideshows can be set to pause on battery. And on laptops with OLED screens, dark mode and dark wallpapers can modestly reduce power use, since dark pixels on OLED use less power, while on regular LCD screens the difference is negligible.

Theme myths

A few beliefs about Windows themes are worth clearing up. Myth: you need special software to install themes. Windows installs theme packs with a double-click and Store themes with Get; no extra app is needed. Myth: themes can carry viruses. Genuine theme packs and .theme files cannot run code; the danger comes only from programs disguised as themes. Myth: Windows 11 cannot use older themes. Windows 7 and 8 era theme packs install fine, although some sound schemes and colors behave a little differently.

Myth: themes are only for wallpapers. They also carry colors, light or dark mode, sounds and cursors, which is why saving your settings as a theme is such a handy backup. Myth: personalization needs a Microsoft account. Themes work with local accounts too; only syncing them between PCs needs a Microsoft account. With those out of the way, choosing a theme is simply a matter of taste.

Frequently asked questions

Windows themes are wallpapers, colors, sounds and cursors in one bundle, and getting more is easy: Browse themes in Settings opens the Microsoft Store's free collection, theme pack files install with a double-click, and your own photos make the best theme of all. Avoid anything that needs an installer, activate Windows if personalization is grayed out, and save your favorites for sharing. Ethan's daughter's laptop now shows her friends and the family dog, and nobody else at school has that theme.

Revision note. Written October 3, 2026, expanding our 2016 guide to downloading themes into a complete guide for Windows 11 and 10. It covers what themes are, built-in, contrast and hidden education themes, the Microsoft Store, theme pack files, creating, sharing and deleting themes, fixes for themes that will not apply, safety, and wallpaper alternatives. May your desktop look like nobody else's.