As much as I loved Windows 2000, the ability to use XP msstyle themes is a significant enough value add for me that for a retro build, I think I’d use XP instead unless the machine in question is old enough that it would’ve originally shipped with 98/98SE. Some of those themes looked great and it’s a bit of a bummer that there’s no way to use them on modern systems.
> it’s a bit of a bummer that there’s no way to use them on modern systems
I agree. It's odd knowing the original classic theme still exists in some form in Windows 10 and 11 for compatibility reasons, but there's no way to access it. You can install themes and lookalikes, but it's just not the same.
You can by modifying the security attributes on DWM's theming handle so that it's inaccessible(you could also just force close the handle but that's not reversible).
