Policy
Force a specific visual style file or force Windows Classic
Microsoft Windows
Policy overview
Key metadata and intent for this policy.
Supported OS tags: Windows10, Windows10RT, Windows11, Windows7, Windows8, Windows81, WindowsRT, WindowsRT81, WindowsServer2003, WindowsServer2008, WindowsServer2012, WindowsServer2012R2, WindowsServer2016, WindowsVista, WindowsXP
This setting allows you to force a specific visual style file by entering the path (location) of the visual style file. This can be a local computer visual style (aero.msstyles), or a file located on a remote server using a UNC path (\\Server\Share\aero.msstyles). If you enable this setting, the visual style file that you specify will be used. Also, a user may not apply a different visual style when changing themes. If you disable or do not configure this setting, the users can select the visual style that they want to use by changing themes (if the Personalization Control Panel is available). Note: If this setting is enabled and the file is not available at user logon, the default visual style is loaded. Note: When running Windows XP, you can select the Luna visual style by typing %windir%\resources\Themes\Luna\Luna.msstyles Note: To select the Windows Classic visual style, leave the box blank beside "Path to Visual Style:" and enable this setting. When running Windows 8 or Windows RT, you cannot apply the Windows Classic visual style.
Registry values
How enabled and disabled states update the registry.
No explicit registry values are set for enabled or disabled states.
Policy elements
Inputs and configuration options exposed by this policy.
| Scope | Element | Type | Registry mapping | Constraints & behavior | Copy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| User | Path to Visual Style: ID Themes_Name | text | Path Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System Value name SetVisualStyle Type REG_SZ | None |