# AeroThemePlasma rebuilds the Windows 7 shell on KDE Plasma > AeroThemePlasma is a QML project that aims to recreate the look and feel of Windows 7 on KDE Plasma while adapting the design to what Plasma and Linux provide today. The scale of it is clearer from the credits than from the description, since the project includes a window decoration theme, a start menu, a taskbar, a lock screen, an icon theme, sound themes and a family of companion applications. **aeroshell-desktop/aerothemeplasma** — An alternative shell for KDE Plasma that aims to replicate the look and feel of Windows 7. - Repository: https://github.com/aeroshell-desktop/aerothemeplasma - Website: https://gitgud.io/aeroshell/atp/aerothemeplasma - Stars: 975 · Forks: 24 - Language: QML - License: AGPL-3.0 - Published: 2026-10-20 · Updated: 2026-10-20 · Language: en - Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/aeroshell-desktop-aerothemeplasma ## What the project is trying to be The introduction is one sentence and it is specific. This is a project which aims to recreate the look and feel of Windows 7 as much as possible on KDE Plasma, whilst adapting the design to fit in with modern features provided by KDE Plasma and Linux. That second clause is the interesting one, because a straight port of a 2009 interface onto a 2026 desktop would be both easier and worse. The project is written in QML, which is the language Plasma itself uses for its shell, and the default branch is named for the Plasma version it targets, Plasma/6.8, which is a good sign about how the work is versioned. The project is part of a wider AeroShell family, and the README notes that AeroThemePlasma and all of its AeroShell components are available as read-only GitHub mirrors, with the primary development happening elsewhere. ## The tested matrix is narrow on purpose The README is explicit that ATP is in constant development and testing, and then lists what it has been tested on. That is Arch Linux on x64 and other Arch derivatives. That is Plasma 6.8.0 with KDE Frameworks 6.30.0 and Qt 6.11.2. That is 96 DPI scaling and a multi monitor setup. And that is Wayland, with X11 supported before Plasma 6.8. The specificity is useful, because a theme that looks right on one Plasma release can be visibly wrong on the next, and the display server matters here for a project that recreates translucent window frames. The mention of X11 as a before 6.8 qualification suggests the project moved to the new session behaviour along with the Plasma release, and the list doubles as a compatibility statement for anybody deciding whether to try it. ## The warning, and the branch that is over Two paragraphs here deserve a reader's attention. The software comes as is without warranty of any kind, and it is always recommended to make backups of your system just in case, with the author saying plainly that he is not responsible for broken systems and to proceed with caution. That is an unusual thing to find in a README and it reflects what the project is, a desktop theme that replaces the window manager decoration, the start menu, the panel and a login screen, so a mistake can leave a machine that looks unfamiliar enough to be hard to navigate. The second point is the history. The Plasma 5 version of ATP is available as a tag in the repository, but it is unmaintained and no longer supported. So the repository is a good place to look for the old version, and a poor place to look for help with it. ## The credits show the actual scope The credits section is the most informative document in the repository, because it enumerates what the project really contains. A list of forked code comes first, with a Digital Clock Lite plasmoid from the store, the work that made SevenStart possible from several contributors, a Win7 Show Desktop plasmoid, the pieces that made SevenBlack possible including a set of Aero glass blur and colorization effects, a Windows 7 Kvantum theme, and a kwin-effects-forceblur project. Then the individual contributions: a cursor theme, a Plymouth boot theme, an SDDM login theme, a KWin decoration theme, most of the KWin C++ effects, a lock screen interface, an icon theme, sound themes, the notification badge design for the task manager, and several SVG textures. Read together, that is a complete desktop shell rather than a skin, and it explains why the project needs a QML codebase and a build system rather than a handful of theme files. ## The Aero applications built on top The README points at a wide family of companion projects, and it is a reasonable measure of how much of the Windows 7 experience has been rebuilt. The complete re-creations include a Linux Explorer file manager, a Control Panel, a Device Manager, a Windows 7 Minesweeper, a TuxManager as a task manager, the Gadgets sidebar, an execbin run dialog and a LinVer version dialog. There are forks of KDE applications to match the theme, with an Aero Dolphin file manager, an Aero GwenView image viewer, an Aero KolourPaint and an Aero App Store. And there are development libraries, libAeroQt for reusable QtWidgets and QML components including a function to make glassy window headers, and SARibbon for the ribbon control, which is styled by libAeroQt. The applications install with a standard CMake sequence once cloned: ```bash cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr -B build . cmake --build build sudo cmake --install build ``` There is also a Vista variant, which the author wanted to build first and did not, because another contributor shipped one, so the Vista look is a separate project rather than a branch of this one. ## Installing it, and the files around it The README points to INSTALL.md for a detailed installation guide, and the top level of the repository shows the supporting material. There is an install.sh, an uninstall.sh and a migration-uninstall.sh for moving away from an earlier arrangement, a CMakeLists.txt, a plasma/ directory for the shell components, a docs/ directory and a misc/ directory. Alongside the code there is DOCUMENTATION.md, TRANSLATING.md, a CONTRIBUTING.md and a .gitlab-ci.yml with a .gitlab/ directory, so the continuous integration runs on GitLab rather than GitHub, and the mirrors on GitHub are read-only, which is consistent with the note that development happens on the project's own host. The homepage is on gitgud.io rather than on GitHub, and the project also carries the standard trademark notice, which is the sort of detail a project reconstructing a commercial interface is careful about. ## Where the project stands The repository is not archived and the last push was on 2026-10-18, with the work still moving on the Plasma/6.8 branch, and no GitHub releases are published, so the installation guide rather than a release artefact is the path in. The licence is AGPL-3.0, which for a desktop shell that people redistribute and modify is a defensible choice, since it requires that modifications stay available, and the credit to a long list of contributors, plus a donation link, shows a project maintained by a group rather than a single person. The surrounding ecosystem is worth knowing about too, because several of the projects in the list are by the same handful of authors, and the README's own judgement is that they are projects you should really check out. For a reader, the summary is that AeroThemePlasma is a serious reimplementation with a real community behind it, and that the best way to judge it is to look at the screenshots of the desktop and the start menu, and then to try it on a spare machine with a backup. ## Conclusion AeroThemePlasma fits a Linux user who wants a Windows 7 desktop on Plasma rather than a Windows-like approximation of the current one, and the fidelity is real because the project rebuilds the specific parts that dated, the Aero glass, the orb buttons, the start menu search and the notification badges. It does not fit a user who wants a maintained distribution package, because the project ships without releases and asks you to follow an installation guide, and it does not fit a machine where you cannot risk a broken desktop, since the author's own warning is to keep backups. Before you try it, read the tested matrix, because the project is verified on Plasma 6.8 with a specific framework and Qt version, and check whether X11 or Wayland is the right session for you. ## FAQ ### What is AeroThemePlasma? It is a QML project that aims to recreate the look and feel of Windows 7 as much as possible on KDE Plasma, while adapting the design to the modern features Plasma and Linux provide. It includes a window decoration theme, a start menu, a taskbar, a lock screen, an icon theme and sound themes. ### Which platforms has AeroThemePlasma been tested on? Arch Linux on x64 and other Arch derivatives, with Plasma 6.8.0, KDE Frameworks 6.30.0 and Qt 6.11.2, at 96 DPI scaling and with a multi monitor setup, on Wayland, with X11 supported before Plasma 6.8. ### Is there a Plasma 5 version of AeroThemePlasma? There is one, available as a tag in the repository, but the README states that it is unmaintained and no longer supported. The current work is on the Plasma/6.8 branch, and no GitHub releases are published, so the installation guide is the way in. ### What companion applications are available for AeroThemePlasma? Complete re-creations such as a Linux Explorer file manager, a Control Panel, a Device Manager, a Windows 7 Minesweeper, a task manager, the Gadgets sidebar and a run dialog, plus Aero forks of Dolphin, GwenView, KolourPaint and an app store, and the libAeroQt and SARibbon libraries for writing more of them. ### Is AeroThemePlasma still updated? The repository is not archived and the last push was on 2026-10-18, with the project in constant development and testing according to the README. The licence is AGPL-3.0, the primary development happens on the project's own host with read-only GitHub mirrors, and the author recommends keeping system backups before installing. ## Sources - [aeroshell-desktop/aerothemeplasma on GitHub](https://github.com/aeroshell-desktop/aerothemeplasma) - [Issues](https://github.com/aeroshell-desktop/aerothemeplasma/issues) - [License: AGPL-3.0](https://github.com/aeroshell-desktop/aerothemeplasma/blob/Plasma/6.8/LICENSE) - [Project website](https://gitgud.io/aeroshell/atp/aerothemeplasma) - [README](https://github.com/aeroshell-desktop/aerothemeplasma/blob/Plasma/6.8/README.md) --- Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/aeroshell-desktop-aerothemeplasma