Desktop themes were first introduced with Windows 7 operating system and are part of Windows 10 as well. Computer users who have upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10 probably aware of the panoramic desktop themes support as well.
If you ever tried to install Windows 10’s themes or newly released Windows 10/8.1 themes in Windows 7, you probably have noticed that the official new themes available on the personalization gallery page come with .deskthemepack extension and can’t be installed on Windows 7 for the same reason.
Even though one can always extract the theme using 7-Zip or WinZip to get the gorgeous desktop backgrounds included in the theme and then create your own theme with .themepack extension (see how to install Windows 8 themes on Windows 7), this time around we have a better solution.
Windows 7 users who wish to install Windows 10/8 themes with .deskthemepack extension no longer need to extract theme files. You just need to have a small utility named Deskthemepack Installer for Windows 7.
Deskthemepack Installer for Windows 7 enables you install and enjoy theme packs with .deskthemepack extension on your Windows 7 as well. This free utility also lets you add support of Windows 10/8 themes to Windows 7’s explorer. In other words, you don’t need to run this utility every time you want to install a Windows 10/8’s theme on Windows 7 as this tool comes with an option to add .deskthemepack extension support to Windows 7 with a click.
Step 1: Visit the official personalization page and download Panoramic themes or any other themes with .deskthemepack extension.
Step 2: Next, download Deskthemepack Installer for Windows 7 utility, extract the zip file to get Deskthemepack.exe file.
Step 3: Double-click on Deskthemepack.exe file to run the utility, click Install a deskthemepack file option to browse to the theme with .deskthemepack extension. Select the theme and then click Open button to install and apply the theme.
Before you jump to the download page, it’s important to note that desktop themes can only be installed on Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate editions of Windows 7 by default. Users who’re on Windows 7 Starter and Home Basic edition need to use a free tool named Personalization Panel to install themes.
