How To: Create A Theme Pack In Windows 7 [Detailed Guide]

A lot has been written on the fancy look of Windows7 ever since it was unveiled at PDC 2008. Microsoft has done a wonderful job by adding many new features that are not only cool and but also light on system resources, making Windows 7 faster than its predecessor Vista.

There is an exciting feature in Windows 7, called theme pack, which was not the part of the earlier versions of the Windows operating system. A theme pack may include the following items:

1. Desktop Wallpaper

2. Screensaver

3. Sounds

4. Slideshows

5. Color of the theme

6. Mouse Pointers

7. Desktop icons

And you can install a theme pack on any Windows 7 machine without patching Windows system files. That is, you need not use any third-party software to install a theme pack. Just double-click on the theme pack file to install it. Sounds good, right?

One more sheer advantage is that you can install this pack on any Windows 7 running machine with a simple double-click!

Create your theme pack in Windows 7

Making a theme pack is basically a simple task when compared to a theme, as you are not using any resource hacking programs and other utilities.

Procedure:

Step 1: Right-click on Desktop, select Properties. Here you will see many default theme packs. In the same window, you will get all the options that are required to customize and create a theme pack in Windows 7.

Step 2: Now, you need to customize all the items that you want to change in your new theme pack.

Step 3: Select Desktop Background option and select multiple wallpapers if you like to have a slideshow feature in your new theme pack (Refer “Create Slideshow” guide to know more about it).

Just input the wallpaper folder you want to use by clicking the browse button on the right and navigating to the folder. Also don’t forget to customize the slideshow time interval. To change this, click on the Change picture every option at the bottom of the window.

Step 4: Next, if you are interested in modifying sounds, just change the Windows sounds. You can refer “How to change system sounds in Windows 7” to achieve this.

Step 5: Though many of us don’t use a screensaver, it’s a good idea to have a beautiful screensaver in your favorite theme pack. Right-click on Desktop > Personalize > Screensaver and customize the screen saver according to your taste.

Step 6: Many people like to change the mouse pointer. You can easily change the mouse pointer by using the following guide:

How to customize & install a new mouse pointer in Windows 7

Step 7: Finally, modify the color of the theme to match the wallpaper of the theme pack. Just make sure that you select a color which looks good with all the wallpapers in the slideshow feature. To modify the color, Right-click on Desktop > Personalize > Window Color and customize the color so that it matches with the wallpaper/s that you have included in this theme pack.

Once you are done, just click the Save theme link and change the type to .themepack and click the save button. Voila, you have created a theme pack!

How to install a theme pack in Windows 7

Step 1: Open the location of the theme pack.

Step 2: Double-click on the .themepack file to install and apply the theme.

Note that you can see all the installed theme packs in the Customize window. So, you need not to browse for the theme pack file to use it again.