How to Enable Windows 11 Education Themes

In this post, I will demonstrate different ways to activate education themes in Windows 11. The Windows 11 education themes are hidden by default, but you can enable them using methods covered in this guide.

Education themes (Edu Themes) are designed specifically for students using devices in educational settings. They are exclusively available for Windows 11 and are completely free. When activated, students can easily personalize the operating system’s appearance by adjusting elements such as desktop wallpaper, accent colors, and more.

To enable Edu themes, you have several options. For schools aiming to activate these themes for students, Intune or Group Policy are effective methods. For personal use on a home Windows 11 PC, manual methods are recommended.

Method 1: Enable Education Themes using PowerShell

The below PowerShell script enables the Edu themes on Windows 11. The script creates the necessary registry key and sets the EnableEduThemes value to 1, which activates the Education Themes feature. Copy the below script and save it to a file named EnableEduThemes.ps1.

# Registry Path for Education Themes
$registryPath = "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PolicyManager\current\device\Education"

# Create the Education key if it doesn't exist
if (!(Test-Path $registryPath)) {
    New-Item -Path $registryPath -Force
}

# Enable Education Themes
New-ItemProperty -Path $registryPath -Name "EnableEduThemes" -Value 1 -PropertyType DWORD -Force

Open PowerShell with administrator privileges by right-clicking on the PowerShell icon and selecting Run as administrator. Change the current path to the folder where you have stored the script. Now run the EnableEduThemes.ps1 script.

After running the PowerShell script, go to Settings > Personalization > Themes. You should now see Education themes in the Windows 11 theme selection panel. These themes include special wallpapers and color schemes designed for educational use.

If you wish to disable the Education themes, the below PowerShell script should be used. Save this script as DisableEduThemes.ps1. Open the PowerShell as administrator and call this script.

# Registry Path for Education Themes
$registryPath = "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PolicyManager\current\device\Education"

# Create the Education key if it doesn't exist
if (!(Test-Path $registryPath)) {
    New-Item -Path $registryPath -Force
}

# Disable Education Themes
New-ItemProperty -Path $registryPath -Name "EnableEduThemes" -Value 0 -PropertyType DWORD -Force

Method 2: Enable Education Themes in Windows 11 using Registry

Step 1: On a Windows 11 PC, right-click Start and select Run. In the Run box, type the command “regedit” and press the Enter key to open the registry editor.

Step 2: In the Registry Editor, navigate to the following registry path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PolicyManager\current\device.

Step 3: Right-click on the Device folder and select New > Key from the menu. Specify the name for this new key as Education.

Step 4: Now, right-click the Education key you just created and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value from the menu.

Step 5: Specify the new name as “EnableEduThemes“. Double-click this key to change its value and set it to 1.

• EnableEduThemes = 0 (disable education themes)
• EnableEduThemes = 1 (enable education themes)

Click OK and close the registry editor.

Step 6: After making the above changes to the registry, restart the computer. The operating system will download the new themes to your Windows 11 PC. You will find the new education themes activated under Windows 11 Settings > Personalization > Themes.

If you need to disable Education Themes later via registry, you can use the below steps:

1. Open Registry Editor (regedit).
2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PolicyManager\current\device\Education
3. Either change the value of EnableEduThemes to 0 or delete the value entirely.
4. Restart your computer.

Method 3: EnableEduThemes using OMA-URI settings

You can set up custom OMA-URI configurations to activate Edu themes for Windows 11 users. Alternatively, using the settings catalog is an easier option for Intune administrators to enable Edu themes.

Sign in to the Microsoft Intune admin center. Select Devices > Configuration profiles > Create profile. Select Platform > Windows 10 and later and Profile type > Templates > Custom. To create the policy, select Create.

On the Basics tab of the Create Profile page, specify the name of the profile as “Enable Education Themes on Windows 11” or something similar. You may add a brief description of the profile. Click Next.

Specify the following OMA-URI settings that will enable the education themes:

• Name: Enable Education Themes
• Description: Provide a brief description
• OMA-URI: ./Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/Education/EnableEduThemes
• Data Type: Integer
• Value: 1

Click Save.

On the Configuration Settings tab, you will now see the OMA-URI settings that you specified in the above steps. The settings can also be exported to a file and used at a later time. Click Next.

In the Assignments window, you can choose which groups the profile will be applied to. I suggest testing the profile on a small sample size of test users or test devices first, and if the testing is successful, expanding to a larger group.

On the Applicability Rules tab, you can specify how to apply this profile within an assigned group. Intune will only apply the profile to devices that meet the combined criteria of these rules. Since education themes can be enabled only on Windows 11 OS, you can define a rule to apply the policy to a specific version of Windows 11, such as 22H2. Click Next.

On the Review+Create tab, review the policy configuration and click Create.

You must wait for the policy to apply to the targeted groups and once the devices check-in with the Intune service they will receive your profile settings. You can also force sync Intune policies on your computers.

To monitor the deployment, select the policy and review the Device and user check-in status.

After a few minutes, the education themes are listed on targeted devices. You must log off and log in to activate the hidden education themes. Users can apply the education themes from Settings > Personalization > Themes.

Method 4: Create Provisioning Package to enable Education Themes

An alternate method to enable education themes in Windows 11 is by creating a provisioning package using Windows Configuration Designer (WCD). This PPKG configuration when applied will enable the education themes on Windows 11 devices.

While creating the provisioning package, use the following settings:

• Path: Education/EnableEduThemes
• Value: True

Provisioning packages can be applied after initial setup through Windows settings or by double-clicking a provisioning package. To apply the above provisioning package, follow the steps covered in this guide.

Applying Education Themes

Once the education themes are enabled, Windows 11 devices will automatically download them when a user logs in. To switch the default theme to the new education theme, select Settings > Personalization > Themes > Select a theme. You can choose between Planets (dark) and Planets (light) themes and apply them.

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