How to install gnome themes
How to install gnome themes
How to Install and Change GNOME Theme in Linux
By changing your GNOME theme, you can give your Linux desktop a brand-new look and feel.
In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to install new themes on a Linux system running GNOME desktop environment.
There are two aspects of GNOME theme:
» data-medium-file=»https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ubuntu-17-10-changing-theme-300×169.jpeg» data-large-file=»https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ubuntu-17-10-changing-theme-800×450.jpeg» width=»800″ height=»450″ src=»https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ubuntu-17-10-changing-theme-800×450.jpeg» alt=»Ubuntu 17.10 theme change» data-lazy-srcset=»https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ubuntu-17-10-changing-theme.jpeg 800w, https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ubuntu-17-10-changing-theme-300×169.jpeg 300w, https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ubuntu-17-10-changing-theme-768×432.jpeg 768w» data-lazy-sizes=»(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px» data-lazy-src=»https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ubuntu-17-10-changing-theme-800×450.jpeg?is-pending-load=1″ srcset=»data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7″>
I’ll show you how to change both aspects of a GNOME theme in this tutorial.
Installing themes in GNOME
Before you go on downloading the themes, you should make sure of a few things as prerequisite.
There are two places the themes files can be placed:
Normally, I suggest going with the former one which is
Alternatively, use this command in the terminal to create this directory:
The next thing you should make sure of is to have GNOME Tweaks tool installed on your system otherwise you won’t be able to change the theme. You can use your distribution’s software center or package manager to install it.
Download GNOME themes
First thing first, you need to get some good GNOME themes. You can find plenty on the Gnome-look website.
If you want suggestions, please have a look of our list of the best GNOME themes.
Change GNOME theme with GNOME Tweaks tool
Once you have installed new themes, it is time to see how to use this new GNOME theme. You have GNOME Tweaks tool installed for this purpose.
Press Super key (Windows key) and search for GNOME Tweak Tool. Click on it to open it.
» data-medium-file=»https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/tweaks-300×66.png» data-large-file=»https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/tweaks.png» width=»800″ height=»175″ src=»https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/tweaks.png» alt=»GNOME Tweaks tool» data-lazy-srcset=»https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/tweaks.png 800w, https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/tweaks-300×66.png 300w, https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/tweaks-768×168.png 768w» data-lazy-sizes=»(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px» data-lazy-src=»https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/tweaks.png?is-pending-load=1″ srcset=»data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7″>
Now under Appearance section, you should see the options to change icons, applications and shell themes.
You’ll see that while it is easy to change the Applications theme, the Shell theme has a warning sign in front of it and you cannot change it.
Don’t worry. This can be ‘fixed’. Let me show you how to do it in the next section.
Troubleshoot: Not able to select GNOME Shell theme in GNOME Tweaks tool
If you see an exclamation mark and you can not select themes in it, you need to an exra step.
Don’t worry. It’s not a big deal. You need to install GNOME Shell Extensions to fix this issue. Use the following command in the terminal:
After installing the extensions, go to Extensions->User Themes and turn it on.
» data-medium-file=»https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/user-theme-300×202.png» data-large-file=»https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/user-theme.png» width=»800″ height=»538″ src=»https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/user-theme.png» alt=»User Theme» data-lazy-srcset=»https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/user-theme.png 800w, https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/user-theme-300×202.png 300w, https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/user-theme-768×516.png 768w» data-lazy-sizes=»(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px» data-lazy-src=»https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/user-theme.png?is-pending-load=1″ srcset=»data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7″> User Theme
In case the User Theme does not appear after installing the extension, then try logging out or rebooting.
Also, in case if the GNOME Shell extension does not work for you at all, you can try out the Gnome Shell Browser extension.
Once you enable the extension, click on the User themes and toggle on the off button, and you are all done. Also, to know more about the GNOME extension, you can have a look at the How to Use GNOME Shell Extensions guide.
» data-medium-file=»https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/user-themes-browser-300×85.jpg» data-large-file=»https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/user-themes-browser.jpg» width=»800″ height=»227″ src=»https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/user-themes-browser.jpg» alt=»User Themes Browser» data-lazy-srcset=»https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/user-themes-browser.jpg 800w, https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/user-themes-browser-300×85.jpg 300w, https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/user-themes-browser-768×218.jpg 768w» data-lazy-sizes=»(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px» data-lazy-src=»https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/user-themes-browser.jpg?is-pending-load=1″ srcset=»data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7″>
Now, you should be able to install the themes as described earlier.
» data-medium-file=»https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/install-themes-directly-300×208.png» data-large-file=»https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/install-themes-directly.png» width=»800″ height=»554″ src=»https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/install-themes-directly.png» alt=»Install Themes Directly» data-lazy-srcset=»https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/install-themes-directly.png 800w, https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/install-themes-directly-300×208.png 300w, https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/install-themes-directly-768×532.png 768w» data-lazy-sizes=»(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px» data-lazy-src=»https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/install-themes-directly.png?is-pending-load=1″ srcset=»data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7″>
The theme change should reflect immediately. If you do not see the theme changes immediately, press Alt+F2 key or FN+ALT+F2 key.
It will open a command box. Just type ‘r’ in it. This will restart the GNOME shell and the selected theme should be applied.
» data-medium-file=»https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/run-a-command-300×183.png» data-large-file=»https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/run-a-command.png» width=»800″ height=»488″ src=»https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/run-a-command.png» alt=»Run A Command» data-lazy-srcset=»https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/run-a-command.png 800w, https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/run-a-command-300×183.png 300w, https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/run-a-command-768×468.png 768w» data-lazy-sizes=»(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px» data-lazy-src=»https://itsfoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/run-a-command.png?is-pending-load=1″ srcset=»data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7″>
You can get plenty of GNOME Shell themes from Gnome-look website. But beware that not all themes might be compatible with your version of GNOME Shell.
Also, some poor packaged themes contain nested subfolders and sometimes you’ll have to copy the subfolders to the
I hope this helps you to easily and correctly install themes in GNOME. Any questions or suggestions are always welcomed.
Creator of It’s FOSS. An ardent Linux user & open source promoter. Huge fan of classic detective mysteries ranging from Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes to Detective Columbo & Ellery Queen. Also a movie buff with a soft corner for film noir.
How to install gnome themes
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Install GNOME Themes
It supports GNOME versions 3.22 and above.
You need to install the requirements first. See install-requirements-fedora and install-requirements-debian. The Debian script should work for Ubuntu, too. We welcome contributions for other operating systems, too, especially Arch Linux!
In case your operating system doesn’t have a sassc package you can build it manually with install-sassc.
Now, get the script:
You can update this script to its latest version and run it like so:
Note that it will take some time, because some themes render all their images during build.
To change your theme, run the GNOME Tweak Tool and go to the Appearance tab. Or, you can use the command line:
You can disable individual themes in case they’re broken or you just don’t want them built.
Note that themes take very little space (less than 300 MB for all themes combined) and do not slow down your system when unused.
Because we are tracking the latest versions of themes, there is a chance something will break. Please help us fix it and open an issue with as much detail as you can!
All of these themes provide at least GTK+ theming (for both GTK+3 and GTK+2) and many also provide a shell theme. You are free to mix and match GTK+ themes with shell themes! Some themes also provide application theming (Firefox, Chrome, etc.) though you will have to install that separately. For Firefox, note that there is also a generic GNOME 3 theme that might improve its appearance for some themes, though your mileage will vary.
These themes only work for GNOME 3.18, which used a different theme system.
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README.md
Install GNOME Themes
It supports GNOME versions 3.22 and above.
You need to install the requirements first. See install-requirements-fedora and install-requirements-debian. The Debian script should work for Ubuntu, too. We welcome contributions for other operating systems, too, especially Arch Linux!
In case your operating system doesn’t have a sassc package you can build it manually with install-sassc.
Now, get the script:
You can update this script to its latest version and run it like so:
Note that it will take some time, because some themes render all their images during build.
To change your theme, run the GNOME Tweak Tool and go to the Appearance tab. Or, you can use the command line:
You can disable individual themes in case they’re broken or you just don’t want them built.
Note that themes take very little space (less than 300 MB for all themes combined) and do not slow down your system when unused.
Because we are tracking the latest versions of themes, there is a chance something will break. Please help us fix it and open an issue with as much detail as you can!
All of these themes provide at least GTK+ theming (for both GTK+3 and GTK+2) and many also provide a shell theme. You are free to mix and match GTK+ themes with shell themes! Some themes also provide application theming (Firefox, Chrome, etc.) though you will have to install that separately. For Firefox, note that there is also a generic GNOME 3 theme that might improve its appearance for some themes, though your mileage will vary.
These themes only work for GNOME 3.18, which used a different theme system.
About
Script to install the latest versions of some fine GNOME 3 themes
Customize your GNOME desktop theme
Gunnar Wortmann via Pixabay. Modified by Opensource.com. CC BY-SA 4.0.
GNOME is a fairly simple and streamlined Linux graphical user interface (GUI), and a lot of users appreciate its minimalist look. Although it’s pretty basic out of the box, you can customize GNOME to match your preferences. Thanks to GNOME Tweaks and the user themes extension, you can change the look and feel of the top bar, window title bars, icons, cursors, and many other UI options.
Get started
Before you can change your GNOME theme, you have to install Tweaks and enable the user themes extension.
Install GNOME Tweaks
You can find Tweaks in the GNOME Software Center, where you can install it quickly with just the click of a button.
If you prefer the command line, use your package manager. For instance, on Fedora or CentOS:
On Debian or similar:
Enable user themes
To enable the user themes extension, launch Tweaks and select Extensions. Find User themes and click the slider to enable it.
Get a theme
Now that you’ve completed those prerequisites, you’re ready to find and download some themes. A great site to find new themes is GNOME-Look.org.
Apply a theme
To apply your new theme, go to the Appearance section in Tweaks. Here, you can select different options for each aspect of your desktop.
Variety is the spice of life
More Linux resources
Being able to personalize a computer desktop with different wallpaper, colors, fonts, and more has been a popular feature since the first graphical interfaces hit the market. GNOME Tweaks and the user themes extension enable this customization on the GNOME desktop environment on all the GNU/Linux operating systems where it is available. And the open source community continues to provide a wide range of themes, icons, fonts, and wallpapers that anyone can download, play with, and customize.
What are your favorite GNOME themes, and why do you like them? Please share in the comments.
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How to Install Gnome Shell Themes in Ubuntu 19.10, 18.04
This quick tutorial shows how to install Gnome Shell themes in Ubuntu 19.10 / Ubuntu 18.04, which change the appearance of Gnome panel, system tray menu, notification pops, etc.
In the default Gnome desktop, you can easily change the themes of application window, mouse cursor, and icons using Gnome Tweaks tool.
Gnome Tweaks (install it via Ubuntu Software) also offers option for Shell theme, which is not enabled by default. And here’s how to enable the functionality.
Enable Shell Theme Option in Gnome Tweaks:
Shell Themes select-box is greyed out by default in Gnome Tweaks.
Install Gnome Shell Themes:
1.) Download the theme tarball from the web. There are many Gnome Shell themes available on gnome-look.org and deviantart.com.
2.) Open Files (Nautilus file browser) and press Ctrl+H to view all hidden file folders.
Check if .themes folder exist in user home directory, if not create one.
3.) Extract the previous downloaded themes, and put the theme folders into .themes directory.
4.) Finally open or re-open Gnome Tweaks and apply an user theme from Appearance tab.
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I’m a freelance blogger who started using Ubuntu in 2007 and wishes to share my experiences and some useful tips with Ubuntu beginners and lovers. Please comment to remind me outdated tutorial! And, notify me if you find any typo/grammar/language mistakes. English is not my native language. Contact me via [email protected] Buy me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/ubuntuhandbook1
8 responses to How to Install Gnome Shell Themes in Ubuntu 19.10, 18.04
Thank you! This solved the only annoyance I had after upgrading to Ubuntu 19.10.
thanks for this but it said here that connection to your website is not secured
All http websites marked as not secured. Will switch to https in near future.
Didn’t work for me in Ubuntu Studio 19.10.
Ubuntu Studio has xfce desktop, not gnome-shell. This is only for gnome-shell desktop.
Some theme archives include a version number, and the actual theme folder is inside, so after extracting you have to move the theme folder up to the
/.themes folder. THEN the Appearance > Shell menu will list the user-installed themes.
Ubuntu 19.10
5.3.0-29-generic x86_64
GNOME Shell 3.34.1
wayland
Most application menus now display the Solarized-Dark-Blue, but still not all. Chromium (snap install) still shows white menu pull-downs. Probably depends on how different application tasks are implemented. I hope all this will eventually be worked out and standardized. But I won’t hold my breath.
How in the actual hell is this something you have to install after the OS is already installed and configured? Themes are apparently just some strange thing that only 1 or 2 people are going to want in their DESKTOP OS? Really?
This is Gnome-philosophy. I don’t use it since Gnome 3. They borked it.. Reduce functionality until it hurts. These guys removed all the advantages over windows… It is really sad….