Solved How to transform Windows 11 to look like Windows XP

Hello!

In some other thread we were discussing how to make Windows 11 look like XP and I promised to try that in a virtual machine running Windows 11 26H2 and report. However, I cannot find that thread to reply there, so here it is. Because it is a long process for advanced users, I will try to explain the main idea without giving too many details and creating a very lengthy and boring post.

How to transform Windows 11 to look like Windows XP:

Copy the default Windows XP wallpaper (Windows XP.bmp) and other wallpapers from C:\Windows\Web\Wallpaper.
Copy the default system font, Microsoft Sans Serif from C:\Windows\Fonts (in case you also want to replace the default system fonts with Winaero Tweaker).

Copy the following system files to extract the icons:

C:\Windows\System32\batmeter.dll (battery and power icons)
C:\Windows\System32\shell32.dll (folder types, drives, and almost every other icon)
C:\Windows\System32\netshell.dll (network icons)
C:\Windows\System32\SndVolSSO.exe (sound icons)
C:\Windows\System32\Stobject.dll (USB safe eject icon)

Download the Windows Aero Lite theme from Major Geeks:

Use Customizer God to open the XP system files and extract all icons on a separate folder.

Copy all files in Windows 11 and change the default theme from Windows Light to Aero Lite.
Change the wallpaper to the default Windows XP wallpaper

I first replaced the default Windows 11 system icons with the respective icons from Windows 7 because there are no Windows XP icons for every Windows 11 icon. Then, since XP icons are not in the same order as Windows 11 icons, I could not just replace them automatically. I had patiently replace the most common icons one by one.

I also installed Explorer Patcher to get the full right-click Taskbar menu and access to the network icon.

The respective Windows 11 system files are:

C:\Windows\SystemResources\batmeter.dll.mun (battery and power icons)
C:\Windows\SystemResources\imageres.dll.mun (folder types, drives, and almost every other icon)
C:\Program Files\Explorer Patcher\pnidui.dll (network icons)
C:\Windows\SystemResources\SndVolSSO.dll.mun (sound icons)
C:\Windows\SystemResources\Stobject.dll (USB safe eject icon)

With the exception of pnidui.dll in Explorer Patcher folder, none of the others can be modified directly. You have to copy on another folder, modify them, take ownnership of the target folder and individual files, grant full access and then kill the explorer process before you can replace them.

For the start button, I took two screenshots of a virtual machine running Windows XP. One with the key normal and one with the key pressed. I then cropped the images in Microsoft Paint to get only the start button and combined the two images on a new .png image with the normal button on top and the pressed button twice at the bottom. I then imported that image as custom start button in Open Shell. However, the full Windows XP start button with the "start" text was to wide hiding the search icon. So I created a second .PNG file with only the Windows logo and the text "start" cropped. This one worked fine. For your convenience I have uploaded at the bottom of the post. See screenshots below.