Create a Windows 7 Theme Pack From Scratch

Here is how you could create your own theme pack from scratch.

Customize your theme

Start the theme pack by gathering all the files you want to use for your customization.

Remember to get items for every part you are going to customize.

If you do not specify parts to theme, the system will use the defaults that come with windows.

I am going to be building a theme based on the Matrix wallpapers we posted recently.

We will start the customization by generating the .theme file.

This file is the heart of your theme pack and will tell Windows which media file to use where.

Name the file whatever you want and open it with your favorite text editor.

The .theme file is going to be broken up into sections.

The first section is the [Theme] section.

The [Theme] section only has two options, the theme display name, and the theme icon.

The graphic will be scaled to 80x240 so use something close to that resolution or ratio.

(my.exe,0 or my.dll,-50).

After the [Theme] section is the optional [Control Panel\Colors] and [Control Panel\Cursors] sections.

Note: RGB codes range from 0-255 and are separated by spaces.

So black is 0 0 0 and white is 255 255 255.

After these two sections comes the first mandatory section and that is the [Control Panel\Desktop] section.

The three values you need are Wallpaper, TileWallpaper, and WallpaperStyle.

Wallpaper can be a .bmp, .gif, .jpg, .png, or .tif file.

WallpaperStyle can be the following values.

[Slideshow] is how you’re able to make rotating backgrounds for Windows 7.

Each Item*Path entry points to one wallpaper image so you oughta specify each image manually.

Note: ImagesRootPath and RSSFeed cannot be used together.

Next is the required [VisualStyles] section.

This section allows you to point to a .msstyles file that can be modified for customization.

The valid attributes are Path, Color, Composition, Size, ColorizationColor, and Transparancy.

These options makes it easier to customize an already existing theme.

The only thing that goes in this section is MTSM=DABJDKT which indicates that the theme is valid.

double-check you are viewing known file extensions when changing the extension otherwise the true extension will be hidden.

Packaging your theme pack

The final step it to package all of your media into a .themepack file.

The .themepack file is simply a .cab file with an extension change.

Here’s an example of the Matrix Theme we built from scratch.

Conclusion

after you grab your theme pack you could apply it to your own system before sharing it.

Now go out there and share your favorite theme tweaks with the rest of the world.

Links

Microsoft theme pack reference

CabPack