Hi there ...
I have a few itches with Windows desktop and one alternative I'm evaluating is Windows KDE ...
http://windows.kde.org/
That's a Windows version of the (normally) Linux Qt based KDE windowing system.
I explains how to replace the windows shell (desktop) in the install information. In my case I'm playing it safe. I'm keeping my old account (to save be brief, I just copy the account information while logged in as an administrator to "copy of me" folder).
And I am playing with KDE as a separate user for evaluation.
As an answer to the question, there's info. in the install documentation and in the code base to cover 96% of your question. Share the rest with most of us :-)
\_w_/