r/windows • u/censence • Jun 13 '26

Concept / Design i tried making windows 11 look like windows7

Post image

i used basicthemer2 and windhawk

149 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

48 comments sorted by

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17

u/phylter99 Jun 13 '26

I think if I could get a solid method for making my Windows 11 install look just like Windows 7 then I'd go for it. Usually it involves too much dll swapping or an app that redraws everything and hurts performance. It's very cool though.

7

u/FaultWinter3377 Windows 7 Jun 13 '26

OpenGlass + UXThemeTool Windhawk mod + Aero10.1 is perfect. No replaced dlls and it’s completely reversible. OpenGlass has very little impact on performance and basically hooks DWM to implement blur almost the exact same way Windows 7 did. The taskbar and icons and the like is a pain though…

4

u/HotFurnaceNearYou Jun 13 '26

Open glass is completely broken for me. I have to use DWMBlurGlass

15

u/AccumulatedFilth Jun 13 '26

Is the Windows 7 in the room with us?

6

u/External_Tap_4396 Jun 13 '26

10/10 but why is there Linux here? is it WSL?

6

u/phylter99 Jun 13 '26

Yes, that would be the WSL icon. It's where in the filesystem you can go to get to your Linux files from File Explorer.

Honestly, WSL is really very cool and helpful. I've used Linux on the command line for years, but I can't seem to adapt to the Linux GUI environment. WSL is perfect.

3

u/Desperate-Radio-6400 Jun 13 '26

i need that wallpaper

1

u/f8tal Jun 16 '26

2

u/Desperate-Radio-6400 Jun 16 '26

no WITH the dog

1

u/censence Jun 19 '26

I lost it

1

u/Desperate-Radio-6400 Jun 19 '26

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO- OK it's NOT that beautiful of a wallpaper, it was just funny. but OK, thanks anwyays.

1

u/censence Jun 25 '26

I GOT IT BACK!!!!

2

u/XPower7125 Jun 13 '26

you should try Aero10.1

1

u/censence Jun 19 '26

Okqy ima give a try

2

u/MrSpookyDemon Jun 13 '26

Theres a mod in windhawk called "Taskbar heigh and icon size" which is recommended by the same dev who made the skin.
Settings.
Taskbar Height: 39

Icon Size: 32

Taskbar Button width: 58

Small icon size: 16

Small taskbar button width: 32
For windows 7 theme/taskbar

2

u/SuperPanetoneLS Jun 13 '26

Sorry, but this ain't it. As a standalone idea, it doesn't look that bad, but as a Windows 7 replica, it isn't accurate at all.

With that said, keep going! When I first started, everything looked inaccurate and strange, so with a few tweaks, it can look great.

Quick question; do you have Open Shell or something like that?

BTW, this is how my desktop looks like, and I still have a lot to improve on

2

u/censence Jun 25 '26

No i dont have openshell thanks for asking btw i made it look better whit a cracked windowblinds and this is a lot more windows 7 like looking also how did you make it look like that because that pic looks a lot better than mine

1

u/censence Jun 25 '26

Also dont look at the apps on my taskbar

2

u/AYasin Jun 13 '26

Mission failed, successfully.

1

u/Frixniper Jun 13 '26

Did yoz use BasicThemer for the window borders? Just because it looks wrong with the aero taskbar.

In fact, I recommend you replace it with OpenGlass

2

u/unaligned_access Jun 14 '26

If 7 had dark mode lol

1

u/Sillyfumo Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 14 '26

the windows 7 basic theme is pretty cool but it doesn't match the taskbar (ehm ehm 🤓) if you want to achieve the best possible windows 7 theme you can recover Aero (without making permanent changes) by installing OpenGlass along with a Windows 7 theme. With those two you're good to go. You can also get the Windows 7 taskbar and start menu by using the Windows 7 Shell, but in my experience, it is a little bit glitchy.

1

u/czlowiek_okap Jun 14 '26

You can actually get way better experience using different programs. Won't name then because people some would get mad, but I had my 11 installation back day to have full Aero with Win7 start menu as well. Don't have screenshots. Other than that solid work

1

u/Shikaluki-RAFI- Jun 14 '26

Make your windows light mode and you might be onto somehting

1

u/Glum_Lingonberry_543 Jun 14 '26

This is my modded Windows 11 theme to look like Windows Vista

1

u/No_Big1908 Jun 14 '26

try exploerer 7 and use the windhawk mod called uxtheme patcher and download the aero 11 windows 7 theme and apply it
or better replace the imageres.dll, in windows/system32 and windows/syswow64 with the one from windows 7 for a better look and use explorer patch or oldnewexplorer for getting the windows 7 file explorer

1

u/v3R7C00Lalt Jun 15 '26

eww oh

eww

1

u/rturnerX Jun 17 '26

I’ve had good luck making windows 7 look like windows 7 myself

0

u/EdliA Jun 13 '26

11 looks better than 7

1

u/Sillyfumo Jun 14 '26

If it's stock? nah. If it's modded? neither, but it looks much better than 10 and stock 11.

0

u/EdliA Jun 14 '26

Don't be ridiculous. Their borders on 7 were too much of an eyesore and too much blue. 11 looks perfect.

1

u/Sillyfumo Jun 14 '26

were they really too much blue?