Windows 7 comes with lots of new themes which can be accessed using Desktop Personalization window. You'll see "Architecture, Characters, Landscapes, Nature and Scenes" themes along with an extra regional theme. This regional theme depends upon your region which you selected while installing Windows 7.
As you can see in above screenshot, an extra regional theme for "United States" is available in Desktop Personalization window.
Similarly, there are a few other themes available for different regions like Australia, Canada, United Kingdom and South Africa.
Windows 7 automatically installs this extra regional theme according to the region selected by the user and hides other regional themes from the user.
Why does Windows 7 hide these extra regional themes from user? No idea. But don't worry, today we are going to share a small trick to access all these hidden regional themes in Windows 7.
METHOD A:
Windows 7 puts all these regional themes in "MCT" folder which is stored under "%windir%\Globalization" folder.
1. First open My Computer and copy-paste following text in addressbar:
%windir%\Globalization\MCT
Press Enter and it'll directly go to "MCT" folder which is actually a hidden folder.
NOTE: Here %windir% represents "Windows" directory present in system drive where Windows 7 is installed, most probably C: drive.
Alternatively, you can go to "Windows\Globalization" folder and then type MCT in addressbar and press Enter. It'll open the folder.
2. You'll see following 5 folders in MCT folder:
MCT-AU
MCT-CA
MCT-GB
MCT-US
MCT-ZA
3. Open each folder one by one and you'll see a "Theme" folder present in all these 5 folders. Under this "Theme" folder, you'll see a .theme file. You just need to double-click on this .theme file and Windows will automatically apply it and will also store it in "Personalization" window.
You can also copy all these .theme files to "%windir%\Resources\Themes" folder (here %windir% represents "Windows" directory present in system drive where Windows 7 is installed, most probably C: drive.) and Windows will add them to Personalization window.
To copy all these five .theme files in a single step, type *.theme in Explorer search box while you are in "%windir%\Globalization\MCT" folder. Windows will list all five .theme files. Now you can copy and paste them in "%windir%\Resources\Themes" folder.
That's it. Now you can access all these additional regional themes from Personalization window:
METHOD B:
You can also use a simple registry script to add all these regional themes automatically in Personalization window. Simply download following ZIP file, extract it and run "Add Additional Regional Themes in Windows 7.REG" file. It'll ask for confirmation, accept it:
Once you run the file, it'll add the additional regional themes in Personalization window:
PS: An uninstallation script is also included in the ZIP file in case you want to remove additional regional themes later.
Also read:
How to Access Additional Hidden Regional Wallpapers in Windows 7?
Complete list of AskVG articlesThis article was posted in Windows 7.
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VM
Hey, VG, I am running on Windows 7 RTM, but i can't find "MCT" dir and nothing with aditional theme files...:-S
VG
^^ Simply copy paste the path in Explorer addressbar and press Enter:
%windir%\Globalization\MCT
VM
Wow!.. thank you! i love this themes
XIbaD
That trick doesn't work in Windows 7 RTM Spanish.
VG
^^ I can't check it in Spanish version but did you try the Registry script as well? Also can you see "MCT" folder?
Dnyanesh
Hey VG,
Why don't you highlight your comment? It is sometimes difficult to find your comment.
Maybe you should give it a different color like yellow or something.
SCBright
Hi VG, good tip.
Another interesting clue that you could publish would be as using the BING Wallpapers in Windows Seven, they are updated daily and it is very cool.
VM and XIbaD, are you beta testers to have W7 RTM? Carefull...
VG
@Dnyanesh
Thanks for the suggestion. I have implemented it. Please let me know your opinion about the colors. Did you like it?
SCBright
IMO excellent!
Very discreet and pleasant, again congratulations for the new layout!
3abboud
Hi VG thanks for the trick
, on a French 7 there is only French and Candian themes, I think that's why it doesn't work the Spanish 7 ('cause there no other one).