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How to Unlock Hidden Themes in Windows 11: A Step-by-Step Guide

Did you know that Windows 11 has a few hidden desktop themes? This article shows how you can enable those hidden themes in Windows 11.

As most of you know, Windows 11 comes with over five pre-installed themes out of the box. These themes include both dark and light themes. You can also install additional themes from the Microsoft store if you want. To enable your favorite theme, you can open the Settings app, go to the “Personalization > Themes” page and select the theme of your choice.

In addition to the default themes, Windows 11 introduced a few new hidden themes with recent updates. With a simple registry edit, you can enable the hidden desktop themes in Windows 11.

Unlike the regular themes, these hidden themes are specifically designed for students. For that reason, these new themes include colorful planetary and abstract wallpapers.

Let me show you how to enable hidden desktop themes in Windows 11.

Back up the registry before making changes. The backup helps in restoring the registry if something goes wrong.

How to enable hidden themes in Windows 11

To unhide the hidden desktop themes in Windows 11, you must modify the registry and add a new key called “EnableEduThemes.” It sounds complicated, but it is really easy. Let me show you how.

  1. Launch the Registry Editor.
  2. Go to the following folder.
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PolicyManager\current\device
  3. Right-click the “device” folder.
  4. Choose “New -> Key.”
  5. Set “Education” as the folder name.
  6. Right-click the “Education” folder.
  7. Choose “New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value.”
  8. Set “EnableEduThemes” as the name.
  9. Double-click the “EnableEduThemes” value.
  10. Type “1” in the Value Data field.
  11. Press the “Ok” button.
  12. Close the Registry Editor.
  13. Reboot Windows.
  14. With that, you’ve enabled hidden themes.
  15. Windows 11 will automatically download the new themes in a short while.

Steps with more details:

Since we must edit the Registry, open it. To do that, you can either use the “regedit” run command or search for “Registry Editor” in the Start menu.

After opening the Registry Editor, follow the path below and go to the “device” folder.

go to the device folder

Once you are in the “device” folder, right-click on it and select the “New -> Key” option. This will create a new child folder under the “device” folder. Name this new folder “Education.”

create education folder

After creating a new folder, right-click on it and select the “New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value” option. This will create a registry value. Use “EnableEduThemes” as the value name.

use EnableEduThemes value to enable hidden themes in Windows 11

After creating the value, double-click on it to open the Edit Value window. In the “Value Data” field, type “1” and press the “Ok” button.

type 1 in the value data field

Finally, close the Registry Editor and reboot Windows 11.

After rebooting, the hidden desktop themes are enabled. Windows 11 will automatically download the additional themes in a short while. You can see the new themes on the “Personalization -> Themes” page of the Windows 11 settings app.

new hidden themes in Windows 11

That is all. It is that simple to enable hidden themes in Windows 11.

I hope this simple and easy Windows how-to guide helped you.

If you are stuck or need help, send an email, and I will try to help as much as possible.

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