Windows XP lost support on April 8, 2014. The Luna look — blue taskbar, green hills, green Start button — did not. In 2017 this post installed the Lubuntu XP three flavors package on Lubuntu/LXDE. In 2026 the active approach is different: a GTK theme from B00merang, current icons and Start button, LXDE or XFCE. The video below shows the LXDE customization.
Source: From LXDE to Windows XP style (S1M0N3, 54 s, Feb/2023). EndeavourOS + LXDE + Openbox, Luna GTK theme, Windows-XP-3.1 icons. It is a visual tour, not an installer — the links from the description are at the end of each section.
What still uses LXDE
LXDE is still lightweight: Openbox for windows, lxpanel, pcmanfm, lxappearance. Debian and Ubuntu still package it. Current Lubuntu does not: since 18.10 the default has been LXQt. If the goal is to “look like XP” in 2026, install LXDE (or XFCE) on top of Debian/Ubuntu; do not expect the Lubuntu 24.04 panel to turn into Luna by itself.
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y lxde lxappearance gtk2-engines-pixbuf
At login, choose the LXDE session. gtk2-engines-pixbuf is included because several GTK2 Luna themes still require the pixbuf engine.
GTK theme: B00merang Luna
The package the video uses — and the one still being cloned in 2026 — is B00merang-Project/Windows-XP (GPL-3). It includes Luna (blue), Homestead (olive), Metallic (silver), Royale, Royale Dark, and Zune. GTK2/3, Cinnamon, MATE, GNOME, and partial XFCE. Release 3.1 (2020); the GitHub master branch is what you install:
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/B00merang-Project/Windows-XP.git
mkdir -p ~/.themes
cp -a "Windows-XP/Windows XP Luna" ~/.themes/
Open lxappearance (or Appearance in XFCE/Cinnamon) and select Windows XP Luna for widgets and, if available, window decorations. Homestead and Metallic are the other two “flavors” of the original XP — the 2017 package already played with blue/olive/silver; B00merang covers all three.
Openbox, icons, and Start button
GTK styles applications. LXDE windows use Openbox: the video uses the WM theme Retro 6 (XP Luna). Download the .obt, extract into ~/.themes and, in Openbox, Preferences → Theme.
Icons used in the customization: Windows-XP-3.1 on gnome-look. Extract into ~/.icons and choose them in lxappearance.
XP-style Start button (Linux version, Tux instead of the Microsoft logo): pling.com/p/1103444. In lxpanel, menu properties → custom icon.
Font: Tahoma 8 for widgets, Trebuchet MS Bold 10 for titles, left-aligned — the real XP. On Debian/Ubuntu:
sudo apt install -y ttf-mscorefonts-installer fonts-liberation
Accept Microsoft's EULA in the package. Otherwise, Liberation Sans comes close and does not depend on a proprietary font.
The 2017 zip (still on GitHub)
The package the original post linked to on xfce-look is archived at jniltinho/oficinadotux/lxde_themes: 162880-XPTheme.zip (blue/olive/silver Openbox + wallpaper + Start button) and gnomexp.tgz (icons). It serves as a relic and a backup plan if gnome-look is down:
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/jniltinho/oficinadotux.git
mkdir -p ~/.themes ~/.icons
unzip -d /tmp/xptheme oficinadotux/lxde_themes/162880-XPTheme.zip
cp -a /tmp/xptheme/* ~/.themes/ 2>/dev/null || true
tar -C ~/.icons -xzf oficinadotux/lxde_themes/gnomexp.tgz
The zip's internal layout varies; if the theme does not appear in lxappearance, look for the folder containing index.theme and copy that folder to ~/.themes.
The 2017 desktop. The message has not changed: your relative's old Linux machine does not need to look like 2026 — it needs to look like the XP they already know how to use.
Beyond the theme: XFCE total conversion
A GTK theme does not recreate the Start menu pixel for pixel. Anyone wanting the whole package (applications, logon, Luna icons) should look at xfce-winxp-tc: XFCE, built from source, a wiki for installation. Arch has the AUR package xfce-winxp-tc-git. It is a different project — do not mix it with B00merang in the same ~/.themes without knowing which one takes precedence.
Wrap-up
One clone, one folder in ~/.themes, the lxappearance. Luna remains the best migration argument for those who just want the blue of 2001 without the kernel of 2001. This blog's language overview does not belong here; the lightweight desktop sibling, if Lubuntu on LXQt ever comes back, is another post.
Theme: B00merang Windows-XP · icons: gnome-look.org/p/1158349 · Start: pling.com/p/1103444 · Openbox: Retro 6 XP Luna · 2017 archive: oficinadotux/lxde_themes · video: LEH2mgAbyqM.