How to Enable Hidden Education Themes in Windows 11

Why use these themes?

Education themes give your desktop a professional look. These options differ from the standard Windows choices. They give you a different way to customize your computer and show you the look used on classroom devices.

What happens when you are done?

When you finish the steps and restart your 🔄 PC, the new theme options appear in your personalization settings. To find them, open Settings › Personalization › Themes. Select an education theme like any other theme to apply its wallpaper and color accents.

If you do not see the new themes, restart the 🔄 PC again and check that the value you created is spelled exactly as shown in the steps. A typo in the key or value name is the most common reason nothing changes. To undo the change later, set the value back to 0 or delete the value in the Registry Editor, then restart. Your other themes are not affected.

Method 1Using the Registry Editor (Most Common)

You can enable education themes in Windows 11 by editing a hidden registry key on your computer. This method uses the Registry Editor, a database that stores low-level settings for the operating system. It turns on the special school wallpapers and color schemes that Microsoft hides by default.

Before you start, sign in with an administrator account. Registry changes can cause problems if you edit the wrong entry, so you may want to back up first. In the Registry Editor, choose File › Export, pick a location, and save a copy. You can double-click that file later to restore the settings.

1. Press Win + R, type regedit, and hit Enter. If a User Account Control prompt asks whether to allow the app to make changes, click Yes. The Registry Editor opens, with a folder tree on the left and values on the right.
2. Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PolicyManager\current\device\Education. Expand each folder in the left pane by clicking the arrow beside it. You can also paste the path into the address bar at the top of the editor and press Enter.
3. If the Education folder is missing, right-click device, select New › Key, and name it Education. A new folder appears under device. Click it so it is selected before you go on. On many PCs this key does not exist yet, so a missing folder is normal.
4. Right-click in the empty space of the right pane and select New › DWORD (32-bit) Value. A new entry appears in the right pane with its name ready to edit.
5. Name it EnableEduThemes. Type the name exactly as shown and press Enter. Registry names must match precisely, or Windows ignores them.
6. Double-click EnableEduThemes and set the Value data to 1. Then click OK. The value now shows the data you entered in the right pane. Close the Registry Editor and restart your PC.

Method 2Using PowerShell for IT Admins

IT administrators can enable these themes using PowerShell (a command-line shell for running system commands). This process requires administrator privileges to make system-level changes. Open PowerShell as an administrator by right-clicking the Start button and choosing Terminal (Admin) or Windows PowerShell (Admin), depending on your build. Then run the command shown below. This method is useful when you need to apply the change to several PCs with a script instead of editing the registry by hand.

As with the registry method, restart the PC afterward so the themes show up in Settings › Personalization › Themes If you get an access error, the window is not running as administrator, so close it and reopen it with elevated rights.

New-Item -Path "HKLM:\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\PolicyManager\\current\\device\\Education" -Force
Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\PolicyManager\\current\\device\\Education" -Name "EnableEduThemes" -Value 1

Method 3OMA-URI for Enterprise Deployment

IT administrators managing multiple machines can deploy these settings through Microsoft Intune using OMA-URI (a way to send a setting to enrolled devices by its path). This works only on devices that are enrolled in Intune. In a custom configuration profile, add a new setting and use the following values:

• Name: Enable Education Themes
• OMA-URI: ./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/Education/EnableEduThemes
• Data Type: Integer
• Value: 1

Summary

Several methods exist to enable hidden education themes on your Windows 11 computer, including the Registry Editor, PowerShell and Intune. For a single home PC, the Registry Editor is the simplest choice. PowerShell suits scripted changes, and Intune suits managed fleets. Whichever method you use, restart the PC and then check Settings › Personalization › Themes To go back to normal, set the value to 0 or remove it.