// Skins

ViStart skins

The community skin library, repackaged for ViStart 8.

I didn't design any of these — I just made the thing they skin. Between roughly 2009 and 2013 a small scene of skinners on DeviantArt built start menus I'd never have thought of, and for the last decade their work has been trapped inside installers built for a version of ViStart that no longer exists. Repackaged in August 2026 in the modern format: artwork untouched, credits intact.

Installing a skin

1. Download a skin below — it's a small .vistart-theme file, not a program.
2. Right-click the ViStart orb and choose Options.
3. Find the skin list, click Install… and pick the file you downloaded.
4. The menu switches on the spot. Changed your mind? The old skin is still in the list.

A skin file can't do anything on its own and never installs software — it's a zip of images that ViStart reads. Double-click-to-install is coming in the next release.

Thirteen more are already in the box

The ViStart installer ships with thirteen skins covering every era of Windows — XP Luna in three colours, Royale, Zune, Embedded, two Vistas, the Windows 7 menu itself, the Windows 8 betas, and XeBlack. This page is the extras.

Don't have ViStart yet?

The skins need it — they don't do anything by themselves. ViStart is a free, open-source Windows 7-style start menu that runs on everything from XP to Windows 11: one download, no account, no bundled anything. Have a look at what it does or just grab it — it takes about ten seconds, then come back and pick a skin.

A note on the old skin installers

If you've got a bookmark or an old forum link to a per-skin .exe installer from years back: don't use it. Those were built around ViStart 7's install layout, and on a modern setup they'll conclude ViStart is missing and offer to install a 2012-era copy over your current one. The files on this page replace all of them.

Skins by zelito, fediaFedia, Fishy-Fish, counteralchemist, kick069, Balderoine and 24charlie — the DeviantArt skinning scene, preserved. If one of these is yours and you'd like it linked, credited differently, or taken down, the Discord is open.