35

I want to know is there any theme available make it Ubuntu look like Windows 7 ?

4
  • For ubuntu 13.10 not, but im working on an solution.
    – user43787
    Oct 20, 2013 at 14:19
  • 1
    Can you be more specific? What exactly do you want?
    – Alvar
    Sep 18, 2014 at 22:31
  • I want to make ubuntu interface like desktop in windows (theme of windows in linux or something). Sep 18, 2014 at 23:24
  • have you tried googling? Because there are a lot of themes that does this already...
    – Alvar
    Sep 19, 2014 at 7:15

10 Answers 10

39

Win7 theme for ubuntu versions prior to 11.10

enter image description here

Installing the Win7 Theme

cd
wget http://web.lib.sun.ac.za/ubuntu/files/help/theme/gnome/win7-setup.sh
chmod +x ~/win7-setup.sh
./win7-setup.sh

This will download a script file that will be used later to tell your computer what files to download to complete the Win7 theme packages install. Once finished, a window will tell you that the installation will start now so just press OK.

enter image description here

Press OK, then back in the terminal enter:

setup-win7-theme

This command will setup Win7 theme and your computer will start transforming into windows style immediately. Wait for a few seconds and you will see a window asking you to logout so logout and log in again.

Source

1
12
+100

win7 theme in 11.10

enter image description here

what is not possible...

The Gnome-2 Win7 theme used two key capabilities that (as yet) have not been ported to Gnome-3.

  • Talika - this is a panel applet that presents applications in an icon form and when clicked displays a mini-windows preview.
  • GnoMenu - once customised this gave the windows 7 start menu format

Without these - as you can see, the desktop is a cross between Windows 7 (aero-like) theme with WinXP type panel & menu.

prerequisites

We need some prerequisites.

  • Install gnome-classic as per this AU question & answer
  • Ubuntu-Tweak - install ubuntu-tweak from the authors ppa
  • Emerald Decorator - install emerald from the webupd8 ppa
  • windows 7 fonts, icons and background wallpaper
cd ~/Downloads
wget http://web.lib.sun.ac.za/ubuntu/files/help/theme/gnome/win7.tar.gz
tar -zxvf win7.tar.gz
cd win7

initial customisation

  • Delete the bottom panel
  • Edit the properties of the top-panel and change the "Orientation" to "bottom"
  • Change the Background to "Solid Colour"
  • Delete the standard menu & Clock
  • Add to the panel "Main Menu" which adds the traditional start menu
  • Add to the panel "Window List" that displays windows as buttons on the panel

configure emerald

  • launch ccsm and in the "Window Decoration" plugin change the "Command" text-box value to be emerald
  • launch from a terminal emerald-theme-manager and click the Edit Themes tab
  • Select the engine oxygen, change the name to "Win7 Theme" and click the save button

extract icons/fonts/background

sudo tar -C /usr/share/icons/ -xzvf win7-icons.tar.gz
sudo tar -C /usr/share/fonts/truetype -xzvf win7-fonts.tar.gz
sudo cp backgrounds/win7-wallpaper.jpg /usr/share/backgrounds

final tweaks

  • Using System Tools - System Settings - Appearance, click the "+" button and navigate to /usr/share/backgrounds and double click win7-wallpaper.jpg. Select this wallpaper and the background should update
  • launch Ubuntu-Tweak and click on Tweaks - Fonts
  • change the default font to be Segoe size 9
  • Click on Tweaks - Theme
  • change the Gtk theme to Raleigh
  • change the Icon theme to win7-icons
  • Click on Tweaks - Desktop Icon Settings
  • check (tick) each of the icon options under Show Desktop Icons

Finally logout and login.

Note - if the emerald decorator is not the glassy appearance you would expect then compiz is not running. Either run compiz --replace in a terminal or add this command as a Startup Application.

0
9

Windows 7 Theme with XFCE

Follow the steps below, and this is the result you will get

win7-ubuntu13.04

It’s not easy to configure the default Unity desktop’s left Launcher, so I used the xfce desktop.

  1. Install Xfce Desktop Environment:

Hit Ctrl+Alt+T to open a terminal window, copy and paste following command and hit run to install Xfce:

sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop

Once installed, log out and select “Xubuntu session” to log in again.

xfce

  1. Customize Xubuntu session

The Xubuntu session has a top-panel and dock like panel at bottom.

  1. First get rid of the top-panel by right-click on it -> Panel -> Panel Preferences.

enter image description here

Then click the Red minus button to remove it:.

enter image description here

  1. In previous window, use the drop-down box in the panel configuration window to select the other panel. Uncheck the ‘Automatically show and hide the panel’ option and check the ‘Automatically increase the length’ option.

Now you should have a single panel across that bottom of your screen. Under Items tab, remove items you don’t want and add items you do want, and reorder them as you see fit. For a Windows 7-style taskbar, try using these items in the following order:

Applications Menu, Separator, Launcher, Window Buttons, Separator (check “Expand” in its Properties), Notification Area, Indicator Plugin, Show Desktop.

enter image description here

  1. Hit Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal, copy and paste following 4 commands and run to download and install Windows 7 theme:

    wget https://launchpad.net/~upubuntu-com/+archive/gtk3/+files/win2-7_0.1_all.deb  
    sudo dpkg -i win2-7_0.1_all.deb  
    gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences theme 'Win2-7-theme'
    
  2. Apply the theme by going to Applications -> Settings Manager -> Appearance -> Select “Win2-7-theme” in both Style and Icons tab.

enter image description here

  1. You can also change the applications menu’s icon and make it use a Windows 7-style start orb. First, find a Windows 7 start orb image on Google Images, but make sure you get a transparent PNG image. Once you’ve found a good image, right-click the Applications menu button, select Properties, and use the Icon button to select your start orb.

  2. To make your panel look more like Windows 7’s panel, right-click it, point to Panel, and select Panel Preferences. On the Appearance tab, select Background image and browse to the \usr\share\themes\Win2-7-theme\gtk-2.0\Panel\ directory on your computer. Select a background image like Panel_Win2-7Basic800.png. The theme pack we installed includes a variety of panel backgrounds, so feel free to experiment.

All credits goes to ubuntuguide.net

3
  • 1
    Very good stuff. However, switching back to Unity is a bit trickier here as you have to log out and log in again, which has a less big impact then just selecting a theme out of a menu I think.
    – jobukkit
    May 15, 2013 at 16:28
  • Sorry for the delay, just did about 2 weeks trying to change a lot of stuff in Unity to be able to do this. Finally thought "ok let's see that idea about xfce". Took me 3 minutes to get xfce to look like Windows 7. So, with little time on my hand before the event and needing this, I went with your answer. Thanks for ubuntuguide. Jun 3, 2013 at 1:41
  • @LuisAlvarado, Glad to be of help :)
    – blade19899
    Jun 3, 2013 at 15:38
5

How To Make Ubuntu 12.10/12.04/11.10 Look Like Windows 7

This theme pack is compatible with both Unity and Gnome Shell 3.4.

enter image description here

How to Install

Open the terminal under Ubuntu 12.10/12.04/11.10 and install the theme and icons of Windows 7 with these commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:upubuntu-com/gtk3
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install win2-7

To enable the Windows 7 theme and icons, run the following commands:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface gtk-theme 'Win2-7-theme'

gconftool-2 --set --type string /apps/metacity/general/theme 'Win2-7-theme'

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface icon-theme 'Win2-7-icons'

If you want to move the align window buttons (minimize, close, and maximize) to the right top of the window, you can simply run this command:

gconftool-2 --set /apps/metacity/general/button_layout \
 --type string "menu:minimize,maximize,close

" Thats it

Credit

4

Windows 7 Theme with Cinnamon

Yes its possible, not with unity but with cinnamon.

Unity works too, but you have to know, that only all window elements are win 7 like, and the top panel will have only win7 like gradients. If you look at this screenshot ( fro 12.10 but 13.04 looks similar) you would understand what i mean: enter image description here

I recommend you to install the ambiancew7 theme (available on sourceforge net) I'm not able to write an installer script, so you have to install it on your own.

Download the newest theme from sourceforge net : http://sourceforge.net/projects/blue7themeforub/files/

then please install these applets ( see the name and then search it with cinnamon applet install programm or whatever).

http://cinnamon-spices.linuxmint.com/applets/view/16

http://cinnamon-spices.linuxmint.com/applets/view/78

I've also created an custom live CD. Works stable, without segfaults or any other things. Even most of the gtk3 css warnings are fixed/ you won't see any error.

PLEASE DO NOT INSTALL ANY WIN2-7 GTK3 THEMES , THEY MAY BE UNSTABLE ON UBUNTU 12.10 OR 13.04. An other link t get the theme :http://bluedxca93.deviantart.com/art/Ambiancew7-or-Win7-theme-for-ubuntu-12-10-364243686

Screenshot with free icon-theme and downlaod link ( works on ubuntu 13.04 well too)

Some other screens (of 13.04) ( in german):

enter image description here enter image description here

If you google for blueseven os you can find an ubuntu 13.04 with the cinnamon and unity with the themes already applied.

UPDATE:

work UBUNTU 13.10 already in progress. There are still some bugs, but the code is mostly rewriteen now as you can see in the following screenshot ( gnome-flashback and unity support as well): 13.10 beta screenshot

2
  • Your ubuntuusers.de wiki page seems deleted, so I checked the sourceforge.net download page. The GTK+ theme (modified Win2-7 theme) is hosted as "Win2-7-12-10upload.tar.gz" and window border is "Win2-7Basic metacity.tar.gz".
    – NullNoname
    Oct 20, 2013 at 11:52
  • Null Noname i`m writing on a ubuntu 13.10 version, which will be faster. The pack schould be posted in few days. 13.04 is named as Ambiancew7.
    – user43787
    Oct 20, 2013 at 14:08
4

This is to get Windows 7/8.

To install Windows themes type:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:noobslab/themes
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install win-themes

To install Windows icons type:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:noobslab/icons
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install win-icons

This post on nooslab is for reference.

Another possibility is to try Zorin OS which is an Ubuntu-based distro and gives you the possibility to choose Windows 7 theme.

8
  • okay how i can uninstall this theme ? Sep 19, 2014 at 22:51
  • if i want to delete this theme what should i do? Sep 20, 2014 at 16:55
  • Those are just simple themes and icons and they can be removed just like other regular files. If you want how to delete the added ppa then you type sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:noobslab/themes and sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:noobslab/icons and at the end type sudo apt-get update. Another way is by typing this commands. First install ppa-purge by typing sudo apt-get install ppa-purge. Second delete the ppa by typing sudo ppa-purge ppa:noobslab/themes and the other one sudo ppa-purge ppa:noobslab/icons. At the end sudo apt-get update. Sep 20, 2014 at 18:37
  • Here is reference askubuntu.com/questions/307/how-can-ppas-be-removed. See answer 1 and 3. Sep 20, 2014 at 18:38
  • For deleting themes those are stored in the home directory ~/.themes. Where ~ is your home directory path (/home/username). Themes are stored in their own folders under that directory, so to delete one, simply delete the folder (which is the name of the theme you want to remove). Dont forget that .themes is a hidden directory so just go to View->Show Hidden Files. Be careful dont delete a theme u are using. Here is the reference ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=453879. Sep 20, 2014 at 18:43
3

This article shows you how to make your Ubuntu look like Windows 7.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2028896/how-to-make-ubuntu-linux-look-like-windows-7.html

The following is how the transformation process should look like when you follow the steps in the article to make your Ubuntu look like Windows 7.

Start

enter image description here

Step 1

enter image description here

Step 2

enter image description here

Step 3

enter image description here

Final Step

enter image description here

1
2

Ubuntu 12.04 with blue 7 theme

The system in the picture is ubuntu 12.04. I have used another icon theme, because i didn't want to use the microsoft icons

I modified a normal gnome3 fallback session sricpt.

The panel is avant window navigator with gnomenu and dockbarx. (Requires some MATE components to run stable)

The gtk3 theme is stable but doesn't look exactly like the gtk2 theme. I don't know why my answer was deleted,'cause the gtk3 theme is really close to the gtk2 one, even if it isn't 100% the same

http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/Win2-7+Remix?content=153233

Is the link for the theme for ubuntu -12.04 .

For ubuntu 12.10 please use as gtk3 theme: http://sourceforge.net/projects/blue7themeforub/

avant window navigator is not int the ubuntu 12.10 repositry. Please try cinnamon.

1
2

You will probably have to create your very own Unity theme.

Then, apart from the resources you found (those that do not break your system), you could search around deviantart.com for some additional resources to do something like this in 13.04:

windows7 lookalike theme pack by jadenxtrinityx@deviantart.com

Then show us the result! And post a video somewhere (some of us speak Spanish).

NOTE: The example shown is from 2009, so definitely it is not something you can use out-of-the-box.

-1

Have you tried http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/Win2-7+Pack?content=113264 ? that tutorial you are looking at looks like its for gnome but ubuntu 11.10 has unity desktop on it you can install gnome

sudo apt-get insatll gnome

or

sudo apt-get insatll gnome-session

then logout and in the session menu select GNOME (Classic) then you should be able to use most of the tutorial

although kde looks a lot more like windows 7

install kde

sudo apt-get install kde-standard 

theme for kde http://kde-look.org/content/show.php/Vistar7+-+Windows+7+Transformation+Pack?content=104232

6
  • 1
    the links you provided are not working with 11.10
    – paru38
    Dec 14, 2011 at 6:39
  • here is what gnome 2 became you might try installing MATE sudo apt-add-repository -y ppa:amanas/mate-desktop sudo apt-get install mate-desktop this will give you a GNOME 2 desktop
    – zeitue
    Dec 14, 2011 at 8:00
  • these commands shows package is missing or absolute
    – paru38
    Dec 14, 2011 at 8:22
  • so don't have apt-add-repository? or both commands did not work? so if the first command worked did you remember sudo apt-get update ?
    – zeitue
    Dec 14, 2011 at 8:30
  • W: Failed to fetch ppa.launchpad.net/amanas/mate-desktop/ubuntu/dists/precise/main/… 404 Not Found
    – Henno
    Jul 14, 2012 at 8:50

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