How Do I Install A Theme?
GTK Themes and Icon Themes for Linux (And BSD) Are distributed in tar.gz or zip format by default. This is also sometimes referred to as Source.
These days however, A great number of themes are readily available in a PPA, Deb Package, RPM or the Arch AUR etc. Thanks to the hard work of other packagers and the easier packaging process compared to the old days... 2004.
Before proceeding. You should check and see if you can get the theme you want in one of these formats. If so, most of the time you can safely just install it (By double clicking on it) avoiding the need for the manual installation discussed here.
The howtos here cover manually installing themes from their SOURCE tar files.
Despite the "Scary name" there is no compiling or difficult things needed to a install a theme this way. The only thing you have to do is copy the theme files into the proper directory and your desktop should automatically recognize them and list them for you to select in appearance preferences or your desktops theme pane.
Please keep in mind GTK Themes are very picky and tricky. You will need to double check that the GTK Theme you want supports your version of GTK or Gnome.
Because GTK and the Gnome project make major changes that break GTK themes nearly every 6 mouths. Because theres just nothing like breaking everyones software every 6 mouths right? Most themes will list what distributions they work on. And more specifically what versions of that distribution they work on. Often times this means they will have several versions. If not you will need to reference the GTK version the theme claims to work with Say version "3.20" for example. And you must reference that to what version your distribution has. You can check Distrowatch or search your package manager for what GTK+ version your system has. Keep in mind updates often bring new GTK versions. Distribution version upgrades do for example. And Debain testing gets a new version about every 6 mouths. March or April & September or October.
Icon themes however will happily install and work on multiple GTK & Gnome versions without issue most of the time. With the exception of a few missing icons here there until the author adds support for the newest versions.
Please proceed and do the steps in this How-to at your own risk!
Although these methods have been tested and are often done by pro users.
You may make a mistake or a freak accident may occur. Because of this we highly recommended you use caution. And look for a nice package to install first. From a trusted source.
This guide is split into two sections:
1.) Installing GTK Themes
2.) Installing Icon Themes
Installing GTK Themes
This requires SUDO or Root privileges.
Overview of what we need to do for Pro Users:
To Install any GTK+ theme You Simply Extract the theme folder(s) contained in the Tar package you just downloaded "ThemeName.tar.gz" Etc. (You can leave out any junk like coppyright files etc. just copy the theme folder.)
to the themes folder for your entire system... "/usr/share/themes/"
Installing A GTK Theme: System Wide
1.) Step 1, Open a terminal.
On some desktops you can Press "Ctrl+Alt+T" to open a terminal.
If that does not work you can browse for the terminal in your application menu.
2.) Once the terminal is open type:
gksu file-roller
Then type your user password when asked.
If this does not work you may need to install the gksu program on your system
(Check your software manager for this.)
If this works proceed to Step 3...
If Step 2 above does not work, Try the following:
sudo file-roller
But be warned it is not as safe permission wise.
Fedora/RedHat and Systems without SUDO use the command:
su -c file-roller
Then type the root password when asked.
If you don't have the file-roller application installed you can replace this part of the command with "xarchiver", or what ever GUI zip software you may have installed.
3.) Now you will see the File Roller Archive application.
Click "File -> Open" Then Browse for the package you just downloaded: "ThemeName.tar.gz". Then click open.
4.) Once You've opened the "ThemeName.tar.gz" file,
Select "Extract". Then Browse to the fallowing folder: /usr/share/themes/
Then click extract or ok.
5.) The Theme Should now be installed.
Now all you must do is select the Theme in your desktops theme manager or theme pane.
See Our Other FAQ if you need help with this.
Please Note: You may have to select both the GTK Widget Theme , And Metatcity , XFCEWM & Openbox Window themes
separately depending on what desktop your using!
Manually Install The GTK Theme. *For Your User Account Only*
(X) IF YOU DO IT THIS WAY THE THEME WILL NOT WORK ON SUDO APPS LIKE SYNAPTIC.
PLEASE INSTALL THE OTHER WAY (ABOVE) UNLESS YOU INSIST OR DONT CARE.
1.) Step 1, Click to Open the package file you just downloaded... "ThemeName.tar.gz"
2.) Once Open, Click the "Extract" Button...
Then Browse to:
/Home/YourUserName/.Themes
To see this folder (it's a hidden one!) press ctrl+h in the file browser window to view hidden folders. the folder we want to extract to is ".themes" in your home directory.
3.) Extract the package "ThemeName.tar.gz" file (Folders and all)
To the ".themes" folder in your home directory.
4.) The Theme Should now be installed.
Now all you must do is select the Theme in your desktops theme manager or theme pane.
See Our Other FAQ if you need help with this.
(!) This will install the theme for the current user only , Evey user will have to do this on there own!, Thats why we recommend the system wide method (Above)
Installing Icon Themes
This requires SUDO or Root privileges.
Overview of what we need to do for Pro Users:
To Install any Icon theme You Simply Extract the theme folder(s) contained in the Tar package you just downloaded "ThemeName.tar.gz" Etc. (You can leave out any junk like coppyright files etc. just copy the theme folder.)
to the themes folder for your entire system... "/usr/share/icons/"
Installing A Icon Theme: System Wide. This requires SUDO or Root privileges.
Overview of what we need to do for Pro Users:
To Install any Icon theme You Simply Extract the theme folder(s) contained in the Tar package you just downloaded "ThemeName.tar.gz" Etc. (You can leave out any junk like coppyright files etc. just copy the theme folder.)
to the themes folder for your entire system... "/usr/share/icons/"
1.) Step 1, Open a terminal.
On some desktops you can Press "Ctrl+Alt+T" to open a terminal.
If that does not work you can browse for the terminal in your application menu.
2.) Once the terminal is open type:
gksu file-roller
Then type your user password when asked.
If this does not work you may need to install the gksu program on your system
(Check your software manager for this.)
If this works proceed to Step 3...
If Step 2 above does not work, Try the following:
sudo file-roller
But be warned it is not as safe permission wise.
Fedora/RedHat and Systems without SUDO use the command:
su -c file-roller
Then type the root password when asked.
If you don't have the file-roller application installed you can replace this part of the command with "xarchiver", or what ever GUI zip software you may have installed.
3.) Now you will see the File Roller Archive application.
Click "File -> Open" Then Browse for the package you just downloaded: "ThemeName.tar.gz". Then click open.
4.) Once You've opened the "ThemeName.tar.gz" file,
Select "Extract". Then Browse to the fallowing folder: /usr/share/icons/
Then click extract or ok.
5.) The Icon Theme Should now be installed.
Now all you must do is select the Theme in your desktops theme manager or theme pane. See Our Other FAQ if you need help with this.
Manually Install The Icon Theme. *For Your User Account Only*
1.) Step 1, Click to Open Up the package file you just downloaded... "IconThemeName.tar.gz"
2.) Once Open, Click the "Extract" Button...
Then Browse to:
/Home/YourUserName/.Icons
To see this folder (it's a hidden one!) press ctrl+h in the file browser window to view hidden folders. the folder we want to extract to is ".icons" in your home directory.
3.) Extract the complete package "IconThemeName.tar.gz" file (Folders and all)
To the ".themes" folder in your home directory.
4.) The Icon Theme Should now be installed.
Now all you must do is select the Theme in your desktops theme manager or theme pane. See Our Other FAQ if you need help with this.
(!) This will install the theme for the current user only , Every user will have to do this on there own!, Thats why we recommend the system wide method (Above)
