Can’t Change Windows 7 Theme?
Can’t change the Windows 7 theme? Is your Windows 7 theme stuck on “classic”? If it is stuck, then you can try to apply a few fixes and see if if you can unstuck it! Often it is stuck, because your PC is configured to be optimized for best performance, rather than best appearance!
Overview
Configure PC for better Appearance
Start Windows 7 Themes Service
Problem: Themes Service Cannot Be Started
Does your PC actually support Windows 7 Aero Themes?
Use Visual Styles on Windows and Buttons
Often the reason why your Windows 7 theme could be stuck on classic is that your PC is configured to be optimized for better performance. I could imagine that some laptops are even pre-configured that way. Actually, it’s a good setting, but if you want a better appearance I can understand that it’s annoying to be stuck on “classic” theme. So, if you can’t change your Windows 7 theme, you might want to check your PC configuration first:
1. Open the Control Panel
2. Click on “System and Security”:
3. Click on “System”.
4. In the sidebar, click on “Advanced System Settings”:
5. Go to the tab “Advanced” and click on “Settings”:
6. Scroll down the list, at the bottom double-check that the item “Use Visual Styles on Windows and Buttons” is checked. If this is not checked, your Windows 7 theme will be stuck on “classic” for a long time, because this completely disables your fancy visual Aero appearance.
This is also often the problem why people can’t seem to be able to active the Windows 7 Aero theme, because their PC is configured to be optimized for the best performance and not the best appearance.
Themes service is not started
If your Windows 7 themes service is not started your Windows 7 theme will be stuck on “classic”. You can’t change your Windows 7 theme when the theme service is disabled. So, let’s check if your themes service is up and running.
1. Click on “Start” and enter “services.msc” into the search field. Click on the item that appears.
2. Scroll down the list until you find the item “Themes” (or enter Themes while one item is selected)
3. You will now see if the Themes service is running currently and what mode it is in (Automatic, Disabled, Manual):
If it’s currently “Disabled” or in “Manual” mode and not started, you have to start it manually and change the mode to “Automatic”.
4. Double-click on “Themes” and from the dropdown select “Automatic”, click on “Start” and then on “Apply”.
Windows could not start the Themes service on Local Computer.
If you are receiving an error and you are not able to start your themes service, please refer to this tutorial:
Themes Service will not start
Does your PC support Windows 7 Aero themes?
If your Windows 7 theme is stuck on classic the reason could be that your PC does not support Aero. If you have used Windows 7 Aero themes before, then this does not affect you, but if you just bought your PC/Laptop, then it could be a reason. In order to change your Windows 7 theme to an Aero theme, your PC has to support it, else you can’t change your Windows 7!
To find out if your PC can run Windows 7 Aero themes, read our tutorial:
How to enable Windows 7 Aero themes
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Mac OS X Lion
I have a problem….My taskbar remains the classic one whatever i do.(change the theme).Please help!!!!
Blizzard did you actually read the tutorial? The answer is right there. I am very sure that it will help you.
Is your themes service started?
Did you enable visual styles via performance configuration?
(see above for instructions)
hay..Guys.. anyone plese help me, how i change my windows 7 starter themes, thanks
hi how can i change my window 7 starter themes.. pls help tns
Jared & DEri, as far as I know Windows 7 Starter does not support Windows 7 themes at all :(
I’d try to get a copy of Windows 7 Home Basic somewhere…
i have done all u asked it seems that every thing is in order but it still wont work.. i turned off my computer last night and now its gone i seem to be stuck in classic mode
nvm thanks for the site with out it i would not of fig it out.. i ended up just hitting restart up in the top left corner idk what happen but atleast its working now
yes yes! thank you so much. i have been looking and searching online for ages, i couldn’t find a single thing on how to change it back from windows classic. this website is amazing! hallelujah!!!!!
Thank you. After your fix using services.msc and restarting the service for Themes all is better now. It was Tuneup Utilities hexing the the Themes service. I stopped Tuneup Theme service and all is great now.
Thank you.
the second solution worked for me. Had to go in the services tab and enable the Themes.
hey i have a pretty annoying problem. My computer setting’s allow me to use Aero themes but it keeps reverting back to the black screen. any help?
Darwin, please inspect the following files and folders:
Themepack Themes
C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Themes
Shell Themes
C:\Windows\Resources\Themes
Things to do:
Restart theme service
Use Windows 7 troubleshooter
Take ownership of Aero theme in C:\Windows\Resources\Themes
Please let me know if something works.
Today when I came to work my computer had shut of and after I had started it it was stuck in classic mode. After some googling I fount this nice tutorial and followed it. I was a bit dismayed when I saw that Themes in Services was started and on automatic so for a moment I thought that I would have to search on for an answer. But I tried to just turn it off and on and voila! It was all nice again.
So. Anyway. The point of this message (other that expressing my gratitude for this tutorials existence) was to tell others with the same problem: It might look like Themes is running but it might still be wonky, so try restarting it!
thank u a lot. i could solve my windows7 home basic aerotheme problem that irritated stucking to classic. i love this . tnx vry much……
I opened the services.msc program, restarted it, and worked perfectly. I have no clue as to why this theme fail occured to begin with as everything said it was operational. But thank you very much.
I tried everything above (Except the coded things, that seems complicated) and I am still viewing things in classic mode. I would like to be able to switch my themes but when I open the personalization tab they are all grayed out.
thanks for this.
it was the performace setting
If you’ve tried the second solution, and it says the Themes setting is running accordingly, all you gotta do is click on it once, then go to the bar that says Action, and then click restart! Worked like a charm for me, after I tried both solutions without luck ;-)
The “Themes service is not started” tutorial worked great. I followed the steps and it just reset back to my custom settings. I was stuck on “classic view” forever! I’m glad its gone!
Thanks Author
none of these worked for me. the aero themes are available and selectable, just that when i select it, it does nothing to the frames, and the next time i open the personalize option, it shows a custom theme selected with the windows basic frames.
Hmh, I just got my laptop back from “the repair place w/e u call it” after i updated my windows 7 when i got it back, i got this issue. I have tried the above suggestions but it dosent work. both setting are Enabled and on automatic, but yet i got the problem. BUT when i try to change the setting in the advanced catagory to “for best appearence” i get an error saying ” those visuel layout type could not be used”
wtf is that suppose to mean?