How To Backup Your Windows 7 Themes Manually or Automatically (Batch File Included)

You have a lot of Windows 7 themes and you don’t want to lose them the next time you update your OS? Then you need to know how to backup themes.

Quick Links

• 1. Manually
• 2. Automatically (Scheduled Backup)

Backup Windows 7 Themes Manually

1. If you want to manually backup Windows 7 themes, you need to know the Windows 7 themes location

• C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Themes
• C:\Windows\Resources\Themes

Copy the folder above and you have successfully created a backup. To restore the themes, simply paste the folders.

Backup Windows 7 Themes Automatically via Batch File

I like to schedule things so I don’t have to bother with it EVER again. You can either check out our guide to the best free backup software for Windows 7 that allows you to backup the entire Windows 7 PC or if you don’t want anything advanced, you can use a batch file

• Download Batch File

Alternatively, create the batch file yourself:

1. Step Open a notepad editor and insert this:


xcopy /S /Y C:\Windows\Resources\Themes %USERPROFILE%\Pictures\Themes-Backup\
xcopy /S /Y %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Themes %USERPROFILE%\Pictures\Themepack-Backup\


2. Step Save the file as a .bat file AND select “All files” from the dropdown when you save the notepad file!!!

3. Step Open the Task Scheduler and add a new task, check the option “Repeat every”. Specify your interval. As a “Action” select the .bat file

You need more instructions how to schedule a task? Read our tutorial how to schedule tasks in Windows 7

In the batch script I use xcopy and certain path variables to get your user path. %USERPROFILE% will automatically “redirect” to your user profile e.g. C:\users\sOliver or whatever your username is

Where Does It Copy My Windows 7 Theme Backups To?

The batch file above copies your theme backups to your “My Pictures” folder and creates TWO subfolders, one for custom Windows 7 themes and one for Windows 7 themepack themes

There are many other ways to backup Windows 7 themes – we’ll let you know if we find any better solution, but this is simple enough.