this post was submitted on 26 Jan 2026
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Windows 10 theme for XFCE4 or Mate (lemmy.ml)
submitted 1 week ago by pirati_kudos@lemmy.ml to c/linux@lemmy.ml
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Hi guys.

My mom has pretty old and shitty home HP notebook and I was thinking that since she mainly uses it for browsing Facebook and watching Youtube that I would upgrade it for her to Linux instead of Win 11. The only thing is that I want some lightweight desktop like XFCE or maybe Mate and to make it as painless as possible for her I would like to install Windows 10 looking theme on that machine.

Do you guys know of any good themes that are updated at least on semi-regular?

Thanks. ;)

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[–] Neikon@lemmy.world 18 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (5 children)

First of all, I apologize for not answering your specific question about themes but.

To be honest, instead of struggling with themes on XFCE or MATE, you should consider that there isn't much difference in performance right now between those and Cinnamon or KDE Plasma. Both have a workflow very similar to Windows 10 out of the box, which would make the transition much more painless for your mom.

I highly recommend Linux Mint (Cinnamon Edition); it's the gold standard for 'it just works' and feels like Windows 10 without needing extra themes. If you prefer Plasma, Kubuntu or Tuxedo OS are excellent, stable, and beginner-friendly options that run great on older hardware without being 'bleeding edge' or unstable.

[–] thatonecoder@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

KDE has an insane footprint, from my testing. easily 2-4 minutes top from booting up Mint or Void Xfce, and GL getting KDE (tested using Chimera and Fedora) to fully load up in under 15 minutes. Of course, this is all live booting, but still…

[–] UnpledgedCatnapTipper@piefed.blahaj.zone 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

What hardware are you running this on? I've got Ubuntu with KDE running on some ancient Pentium dual core systems from like 2009 or 2010, and it boots to desktop in ~30 seconds or so.

[–] thatonecoder@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Intel Celeron N3060, 4 GB DDR3 RAM, and I live boot from a PNY USB pen

[–] UnpledgedCatnapTipper@piefed.blahaj.zone 4 points 1 week ago (2 children)

So I checked the specs, I misremembered. The CPU in the systems I'm using is a Pentium G630 @2.7 GHz with 4gb of ddr3. Benchmarks put that at about double the Celeron N3060 in performance. I'm also booting from an internal SATA SSD.

I think the most limiting factor for you is the live boot, it is pretty much always slower to boot from a live image than from an install.

[–] sakuraba@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 week ago

yeah any boot from USB will be slow

[–] thatonecoder@lemmy.ca -1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Yes, but it does show a bottleneck from KDE's side, there. It means you'll need fast storage.

[–] UnpledgedCatnapTipper@piefed.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 week ago

Fast storage is relative. It works flawlessly on a budget SATA SSD from like 10 years ago. It would probably have a 1-2 minute load time on a SATA spinning disk, but I have not used a system with a spinning disk boot drive in years.

[–] timmytbt@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago

Linux Mint “Debian” edition. There, fixed it for you 😉

[–] non_burglar@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

Cinnamon, maybe... But KDE plasma? You must be joking. How do you get KDE plasma down to 300 to 500 mb memory use?

There's a good reason xfce is the de of choice for low-resource systems like raspberry pi.

[–] eugenia@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 week ago (2 children)

No KDE for new users, it's way too convoluted and bloated ui-wise. It also uses lots of ram, more than cinnamon. XFce is indeed much lighter than either, but it doesn't have enough desktop preference panels like Cinnamon does (e.g. printer panel).

[–] ThoGot@feddit.org 2 points 1 week ago

Honestly I installed Kubuntu when I started trying Linux a couple of months ago and it's the system that I stuck with and wasn't completely confused, compared to the standard Ubuntu or Linux Mint which I tried beforehand and decided to uninstall

[–] luluberlue@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 week ago

KDE is incredibly "windows like", the "bloat" you might be refering to are options. The only criticism I agree with here is the footprint, KDE is indeed heavy and not recommanded for old machines.

[–] luluberlue@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 week ago

KDE? Lightweight? Even cinnamon is incredibly heavy next to xfce and lxde. Have you ever used a sub-4GB of memory machine?

I do second mint (LMDE) for a non gamer and non tech savy windows 10 refugee though, it's debian so, stable, and cinnamon is an okay-ish middle ground between KDE usability and xfce weight.

[–] pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I second the recommendation of Linux Mint. Try a Live USB, and see if it feels fast. If it does, it is a great option.

In terms of theme, have you considered that Linux Mint's theme is sexy as hell? I wouldn't install it apologetically. I think it sells itself well.

Edit: and the practical stuff is all in the same places as on Windows, anyway. Start menu is in the lower left. Bar is along the bottom. Time and network applet are in the lower right.

The few ways I have noticed it is different seem to be because Mint doesn't require corporate branding and names a few things in plain language, instead of MS jargon.

[–] alexei_1917@hexbear.net 2 points 1 week ago

I found a Windows XP theme for Cinnamon. Not because I need it to look like Windows, but because nostalgia can be fun and XP was iconic. The bit I really like is the actual Windows XP default system sounds I also got my paws on, though. That was back when software developers cared about good soundscapes!

Though I have to admit, the classic grey boxy look basically every computer GUI had in the 90s is also something I really like. So maybe I'm just way more stuck in the old days of tech than my chronological age might suggest is possible.

[–] eugenia@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 week ago

Yes, it's possible, look here: https://mastodon.social/@eugenialoli/114874435763184758

[–] GlenRambo@jlai.lu 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

My olds are using cinnamon no issue. Its more like win10 then win11 anyway.

[–] sakuraba@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 week ago

yeah cinnamon is great for low spec, perfect balance