Are you using an older version of Windows but like the Windows 7 theme wallpapers? What if you have Windows 7 but you don’t want to install the themes just to get the wallpapers? Here is how to get them without having to install themes.

This guest article was written by Ryan Dozier from the Doztech tech blog.

Getting the Wallpaper on XP, Vista, or Windows 7

First download and install 7-zip on your machine (link below). After you’ve installed 7-zip, download a Windows 7 theme (link below) and right-click on the theme, select 7-Zip, and Extract to “Theme Name”…

A new folder will appear with the theme name on it. When you open it, there will be a folder called DesktopBackground or something similar.

Open the folder to get the wallpapers to view the wallpapers for the theme. You can delete the extra files and just keep the wallpapers!

Getting the Wallpaper on Ubuntu

Extracting the wallpaper on Ubuntu can be a little tricky. Just follow these steps and you will be able to do it. First go to the Ubuntu Software Center under the Applications menu.

Search for 7zip and click on the arrow to go to the applications menu.

Find the Install button and click it.

It will take a couple of minutes for 7zip to install.

After 7zip installs, close the Ubuntu Software Center and download a Windows 7 theme. Store it somewhere you can access it quickly. Right-click on the theme and select Rename and get rid of the themepack extension and replace it with zip.

The file should be “Theme Name.zip” after you rename it. Right-click on the theme and click Extract Here.

After  the extracting you will have a new folder with the theme name. Open it and go into the DesktopBackground folder to get the wallpapers.

You can delete the extra files and just keep the wallpapers. If you want to get the new Windows 7 Themes Wallpapers, but don’t want to search and install them separately, this is a nice workaround.

Links

Get 7 zip for Windows  here

Get Windows 7 Themes here