Screenshot by Jack Wallen

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GNOME is a great desktop environment, but many people don't appreciate its minimal approach. When you sit down at a GNOME desktop for the first time, you might think, 'How do I work this crazy thing?'

However, it's not hard; it's just different. And don't worry. You can always customize the GNOME desktop to resemble Windows 11. So, if Windows is your jam, read on.

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All you need for this task is a running, updated instance of GNOME.

Let's get to work.

How to make GNOME look like Windows 11

1. Install a theme

The first thing to do is to install a theme. It doesn't matter which theme you choose. Just make sure it's one you like and one that resembles Windows 11. A good place to start is the Windows 11 GTK theme. You could also use the ZorinOS themes. 

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Once you've downloaded the theme you want, move it to the ~/.themes folder and extract it by right-clicking it and selecting Extract Here. If the ~/.themes folder doesn't exist, create it with the command:

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mkdir ~/.themes

Note: By saving the theme in ~/.themes, it's only available to you. If you have multiple users on your system and want the theme available to all, save it in /usr/share/themes.

2. Install an icon pack

Next, we want to install an icon pack that better resembles that of Windows 11. A nice option is this one. You'll do the same thing for this step that you did for the theme, only the folder you'll move it to is /usr/share/icons.

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You'll also need to install GNOME Tweaks (If it's not already on your system). You can install the necessary software with one of the following commands:

• Ubuntu-based distributions: sudo apt-get install gnome-tweaks -y
• Fedora-based distributions: sudo dnf install gnome-tweaks -y
• Arch-based distributions: sudo pacman -S gnome-tweaks

After the installation, open Gnome Tweaks and select the icon pack you just added.

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3. Extensions, extensions, extensions

We now have to install two different extensions to get the Windows 11 look and feel.

The first extension is Dash to Panel. To install this, open Firefox and point it to the Dash to Panel site. Click the On/Off slider to install this extension to your GNOME desktop instance.

Do the same thing for the Arcmenu extension.

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Configure everything

At this point, you should have everything necessary to make GNOME look like Windows 11. Optionally, you could also download the official Windows 11 wallpaper to complete the look.

To configure everything, you should install one more piece of software: GNOME Extensions. To do this, run one of the following commands:

flatpak install flathub org.gnome.Extensions

If your system doesn't already have Flatpak installed, do so with the following command:

• For Ubuntu-based distributions: sudo apt-get install flatpak -y
• For Fedora-based distributions: sudo dnf install flatpak -y
• For Arch-based distributions: sudo pacman -S flatpak

Once you've installed the software, make sure to add the Flathub repo with:

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://dl.flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

Restart your system, and you're good to go. Installing the GNOME Extensions app means you can more easily customize and manage your desktop appearance.

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You can then open GNOME Extensions and customize both Dash to Panel and Arcmenu until they are exactly as you want them. It really doesn't take much tweaking to get them looking like Windows 11. 

Customizing Dash to Panel in GNOME Extensions.

Screenshot by Jack Wallen

In Tweaks, you'll want to change the Icons and Legacy Applications selections to those you've installed:

You can't change the cursor theme here, so don't even bother.

Screenshot by Jack Wallen

Once you've done that, you should then have a rather Windows 11-looking GNOME desktop. Congratulations!

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