Key Takeaways
- Easily bring Windows 11’s visual aesthetic to Windows 10 with a simple copy and paste of the Resources folder.
- This trick adds Windows 11-styled buttons and scrollbars, but won’t replicate all design elements like DWM animations.
- Avoid copying Windows 10’s Resources folder to Windows 11, as it may cause major issues with opening UWP apps.
Even some of Windows 11’s biggest critics would agree that the latest version of Windows comes with better visuals along with advanced features Windows 10 lacks. Despite that, there are multiple reasons why many people still consider sticking to Windows 10. Surprisingly, Microsoft backported some Windows 11 features to Windows 10 PCs in the last few months, but we haven’t seen the company doing much about making Windows 10 look more like Windows 11. While there are valid reasons for Microsoft not to go that path, someone just discovered a simple trick to bring some Windows 11 design elements to Windows 10.
How to bring Windows 11’s visual aesthetic to Windows 10
Source: Microsoft
This doesn’t require you to be a pro user. You can make your Windows 10 PCs more like Windows 11 simply by copying and pasting a folder. As explained by @TheBobPony, you’ll need to copy Windows 11’s Resources folder and paste it to C:Windows on your Windows 10 PCs. To complete the copy and pasting, you’ll need third-party tools like Unlocker. You can find the Resources folder by opening File Explorer and going to This PC> Windows.
However, you should keep your expectations in check, as it doesn’t radically transform the look and feel of your PC. For example, you won’t be able to replicate Windows 11’s DWM (Desktop Window Manager) animations on your Windows 10 PCs after completing the steps. This is why you won’t see any change in animation in the taskbar and Start menu. Instead, you’ll get Windows 11-styled buttons with rounded corners and thinner scrollbars.
You can go the other way round, but you shouldn’t
It’s also possible to copy the Resources folder of your Windows 10 PC and paste it into C: Windows on your Windows 11 PC to bring back some of the old design elements to your PC following the same steps. However, you wouldn’t want to do it because you’ll face “major issues” when opening UWP apps, as pointed out by @TheBobPony.
Related
4 Windows 11 features I want to see ported to Windows 10
Microsoft is bringing over Copilot to Windows 10, and it makes me wish that these features could also be ported over to the older operating system
There are better ways to transform the look and feel of Windows 11
If you’re bored with the overall look and feel of your Windows 11 PCs, you should consider more serious ways than the copy-paste method. In that case, third-party tools like ExplorerPatcher, Start11, and StartAllBack are good enough to fulfill your wish.