This article explains step by step to change GNU/Linux Mint operating system user interface to mimic W7 especially after its official support ended in this January 2020. You can practice this tutorial in Cinnamon Edition and you will install 2 types of theme plus 1 original wallpaper here. By this tutorial, I want to help people who find it's easier to migrate to Free Software if their desktop looks like their previous OS. I believe helping them are good and useful. And I hope by publishing this more people will come to help B00merang Project and others alike to develop these themes. I hope your switch from W7 to GNU/Linux goes easier, smoother, and perfect. Enjoy!
(Mint with Windows 7 desktop theme and bluish wallpaper)
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Composition
- Desktop+border+controls theme: https://www.cinnamon-look.org/p/1012735 [Aero]
- Icon theme: https://github.com/B00merang-Artwork/Windows-8
- Wallpaper: https://wparena.com/official-windows-7-wallpaper [PNG]
Installation
- Copy desktop theme folder into ~/.themes/
- Copy icon theme folder into ~/.icons/
- Change 4 points in Themes Settings: Window borders=Windows 7.2.1, Icons=Windows-8-master, Controls=Windows-7-master, and Desktop=Windows-7.2.1. See picture below.
- Change your background into the original blue wallpaper mentioned above.
Result
Desktop in a whole now should look like this:
(Final desktop)
Window borders (outer frames) and taskbar:
(Firefox web browser)
(LibreOffice Writer, Calc, and Impress; also look at the taskbar icons)
File manager:
File manager with image preview disabled and tooltip enabled:
Control panel:
Some Issues
We will find that the start menu part is still not satisfying despite the icons are almost all perfect.
Further References
- https://github.com/B00merang-Project/windows-7
- https://www.cinnamon-look.org/p/1012735/
- https://www.cinnamon-look.org/p/1314327/
- https://www.cinnamon-look.org/p/1012722/
This article is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.