How-To Geek
How to Make Ubuntu Linux Look Like Windows 7
Ubuntu has pretty good theming system, visual effects, and eye-candy stuff, but you may love the elegance of Windows 7 Aero class, transparency, or the Start Menu. Today we’ll show you how to transform Ubuntu to look like Windows 7.
Of course, it won’t be an exact match, but it’s close enough that at first glance a lot of people would think it’s Windows 7. Keep reading to see how to do this.
Installing the Win7 Theme
Let’s start by entering some commands—just open up a terminal window and enter this:
cd ~/
sudo wget http://web.lib.sun.ac.za/ubuntu/files/help/theme/gnome/win7-setup.sh
sudo chmod 0755 ~/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.
Another window will pop up asking if you want to continue, answer yes for that window too. Now the terminal will begin downloading and installing the theme. It may take some time depending on your Internet speed. After that, a window like this will appear:
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 and this is what you will see:
Now your Ubuntu looks almost exactly like Windows. Congratulations! Now you have WinBuntu! You can even right-click the start button and choose “properties” to customize the start menu.
If you want, you can install Internet Explorer-like themes for Firefox. You can also use Windows 7 wallpaper for you desktop to give it a complete feel of Windows 7. The download links are down at the end of the article.
Uninstalling the Win7 Theme
During the setup of Win7 theme script, a backup of the previous Gnome settings got saved in your home folder, so if you ever get bored of this theme, you can uninstall it and rollback to previous Gnome state. The only downside though, is that there is no automatic uninstallation.
It’s not hard to do the uninstallation. Open your home folder there should be a file named “win7-uninstall.tar.gz”, open it with your archive manager and you’ll find your home folder, double-click it and you’ll see your username, double-click it too. There should be a “.gconf” file, extract that file to your home folder.
Logout and log back in, that’s it. Your theme is back to normal gnome as if nothing has happened. Cool, isn’t it?
Forcefully uninstalling
In some cases when you try uninstalling the theme it won’t uninstall completely, leaving some Windows 7 icons or desktop wallpaper. In cases like this, you’ll have to remove the theme by deleting it’s files manually but don’t worry, it is easier than you think. Just open up a terminal window and type the following command followed by the enter key.
rm -rf .gnome .gnome2 .gconf .gconfd .metacity
NOTE: This will restore your gnome appearance setting back to the default like when you first installed Ubuntu.
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- By Omar Hafiz on 03/22/11
I’m glad Omar is now a permanent writer for HTG, because he is awesome at tweaking Ubuntu to perfection ;)
I’m going to try this on my Ubuntu LiveUSB !
P.S. One question. Can we get a windows 7 styled startup screen (splash screen) for Ubuntu?
Plymouth based, maybe?
OK. Where can I get the first background wallpaper, where we see Ubuntu beside the broken Window ? I love that !!!!
How about print-screen capture
why would anyone want people to think that you use windows.
Best of both worlds :)
@Bill – If I were installing ubuntu for a rookie that is used to using Windows, I’d use this theme. It may help lessen the learning curve a bit.
@Hatryst
You can get a Win-7 style plymouth here:
http://kde-look.org/content/show.php/Seven+Plymouth+Theme?content=128652
@Hatryst – I’m glad you liked my articles. It’s my pleasure to write for HTG and for you guys who support us with your nice comments and constructive feedback.
@Jean-Francois Messier – I made that image my self but here’s a better 1680 x 1050 version: http://www.howtogeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Winbuntu.jpg
The wget command doesn’t need to be ran as sudo, and the only reason you would have to use sudo for the chmod is if you use sudo for the wget.
Also, there are a lot of really great themes out there that embrace the fact that Linux is not Windows. The Bisigi Project is a good example of this. They make non-Windows clone themes that show off the beauty of Gnome instead of hiding the interface behind a bunch of other software that’s unstable and changes the way a person has to work with their computer, also scaring off anybody that is new to Linux by finding the bugs in the non-default programs that make up the new scheme.
I don’t know what menu, dock, or other mods this script installs, but I have yet to find any of these “Windows-like” mods that are stable enough for productive use on a day-to-day basis. That’s my experience anyway.
I cannot thank you enough for this feature! I am a newbie trying to migrate from Windows to Ubuntu and I was very intimidated by the ‘foreign’ appearance when trying to learn and navigate around the interface. Thank you so much…this makes it so much less daunting and everything for Ubuntu is still right at my fingertips.
my installation worked just fine, but couldnt completely uninstall it. i extraced the “.gconf” file to my home folder, logged out and back in. it seemed like everything had gone back to normal, but my windows still have the “windows”-design and “my computer, my documents, my network places and the recycle bin” cant be removed from my desktop. it’s not a big inconvenience, but half windows half ubuntu looks kinda weird to me.
@Sascha – press Alt+F2 and enter “metacity –replace” this should return your windows borders back to normal. For the icons, you can use Ubuntu Tweak to remove them. Launch Ubuntu Tweak and choose “Desktop Icons” from the left panel.
thanks for the fast response. ubuntu tweak was a really good hint. worked fine, and i’m just checking out all the other features.
I’d actually love to know what your original theme was! The theme used in the first 2 dialog boxes on this article.
Does anyone knows this too?
http://tecnoblog.net/37907/deixar-ubuntu-com-cara-de-windows-7/
If so, can you tell me the difference?
As always, great work.
However, for me, changing linux to look like Windoze seems like defacing linux…
hehehe
@Simon SC – It’s Airlines theme from the Bisigi Themes Project. Here: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/21343/give-ubuntu-a-fresh-new-look-with-bisigi-themes/
@ Carlos Ferrari – It’s the same. Just same files downloaded from different source with different file names.
@Omar Hafiz
Very easy to follow steps. Will there be another article on how to transform Ubuntu to look like Mac OS?
@Santo – Yes, actually How-to transform Ubuntu to look like Mac OSX has been written and will be published next week.
@Omar Hafiz:
Thanks for the clarification. :)
hi,
I tried to download the theme file using terminal but unsuccessful. Maybe you can check