Windows 10: Change Color of Inactive Title Bar in Windows 10

How to: Change Color of Inactive Title Bar in Windows 10


Information When you change the color in Windows 10, it will change the color of your Start menu accents, Start button, taskbar, title bars, window borders, buttons, text, Settings accents, sign-in screen accents, and Action Center accents.

However, that doesn't change the color of the title bar of inactive windows leaving it white.

This tutorial will show you how to change the color of the inactive title bar for your account in Windows 10.


Note You must turn on Show color on title bar to be able to change the color of the inactive title bar.

EXAMPLE: Active vs Inactive Title Bar






Here's How:

1. Press the Win+R keys to open Run, type regedit, and click/tap on OK to open Registry Editor.

2. Browse to the key located below in Registry Editor. (see screenshot below)
*Arrow HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\DWM




3. In the right pane of the DWM key, double click/tap on the AccentColorInactive DWORD to modify it. (see screenshot above)


Note If you do not have the AccentColorInactive DWORD, then right click on an empty area in the right pane of the DWM key, click/tap on New and DWORD (32-bit) Value, type AccentColorInactive, and press Enter.


If you want to undo this and restore the default inactive title bar color, delete the AccentColorInactive DWORD, click/tap on Yes to confirm, and go to step 5 below.


4. Enter the BGR hex number (ex: 696969) for the color (ex: dimgray/grey) you want in the color table below, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)


Note To get the BGR hex number, you will need to reverse the first two and last two characters of the RGB in the color table below.

For example with the color aquamarine:

RGB (RRGGBB) in color table = 7FFFD4

BGR (BBGGRR) you would enter = D4FF7F








5. When finished, close Registry Editor.



That's it,
Shawn


Related Tutorials

• Turn On or Off Show Color on Start, Taskbar, and Action Center in Windows 10
• How to Turn On or Off Show Accent Color on Title Bars and Borders in Windows 10
• How to Change Color of Start Menu, Taskbar, Action Center, and Title bar in Windows 10
• How to Use Aerolite Theme for Window Borders and Title Bars Color in Windows 10
• How to Change Title Bar Text Color in Windows 10
• How to Change Text Size for Title Bars in Windows 10
• How to Customize Command Prompt Colors in Windows

:)

 

Windows 10 title bar color

Right-click desktop, Properties, Colors. Select an accent color, and enable the following option:

Show color on Start, Taskbar, action center, and title bar

One problem is that the inactive title bar color also uses the same accent color. But you can change the inactive titlebar color using registry edit (AccentColorInactive). Change
the Inactive Title Bar Color in Windows 10?

And to independently apply the accent colors (eg., only for titlebars), see this excellent post at Reddit: tutorial_independently_colourise_or_decolourise

Google for ColorPrevalence and AccentColorInteractive

Google

 

How do I change the Title Bar color of ALL Windows 10 Explorer windows?

This can be done using the Registry Editor.

If you're comfortable using Regedit.exe, then try this:

You need to create a DWORD value named "AccentColorInactive" in this key.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\DWM

Set the appropriate color code there (in BGR)

Full instructions here.

How to Change the Inactive Title Bar Color in Windows 10?

 

@OldMike65 just add a new DWORD (32 bit) Value and name it "AccentColorInactive" with Data value the same as AccentColor or the color of your choice also if you wish to only have the title bar colored and not the taskbar or start menu or a combination of your choice it can be done as below and Show color on Start, taskbar, action center, and title bar can be turned off. At least it works on mine where only the title bars are colored

Navigate to the following key: "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\Personalize"
A) If you do not want the Taskbar or Start Menu+Action Centre colourised, set the value "ColorPrevalence" to 0.
B) If you want both the Taskbar and Start Menu+Action Centre colourised, set the value "ColorPrevalence" to 1.
C) If you want only the Taskbar colourised, and not the Start Menu+Action Centre, set the value "ColorPrevalence" to 2

Then Navigate to the following key: "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\DWM"
A) If you do not want the Window Borders to be colourised, set the value "ColorPrevalence" to 0.
B) If you want the Window Borders to be colourised, set the value "ColorPrevalence" to 1.
restart explorer.exe to see your changes

 

Hello Mike, *Smile

Yep, it's not there by default, and must be added. The note box under step 3 can help show you how to.

 

Darn it Shawn, I missed that part*Redface Thanks for waking me up!!

 

I certainly can relate. *Smile

 

This hack wasn't working for me....
I get my colored inactive title bars with Aerolite(plus I like the ultra thin frame it gives all system32 windows and on the slide-outs(start menu & system clock) it gives them a stained glass effect)

 

Hey Cliff,

I'm using the "Windows" theme under "Windows Default Themes" for this if it helps.

 

I've tried all of 'em Shawn...
I was experimenting to see if I could create a reg file to install it, then was going to ask you if you could make a VBS, where the user can enter the hex value, to make changes in color easier. Something like my reg file for CPL/Colors, but user-non-Geek friendly, seeing it's only one value to change*Smile

 

If you haven't already, you might see if signing out and in, or restarting the computer afterwards may apply it for you.

 

Also already tried. It's no big deal, I like the AeroLite theme I was just wondering how the other looked, but it just gives me colored active and white active(have tried many hex combinations too).

It could be something I have changed in the past causing the problem, so I ran the nuclear version of SFC/DISM

fsutil resource setautoreset true c:\&fsutil usn deletejournal /d /n c:&Dism.exe /online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup&&sfc /scannow&Dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth&sfc /scannow&Dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup /ResetBase&pause

and the ISO DISM:

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:H:\sources\install.esd

but they didn't help.

 

Ha!!! Got it to work as it should now Shawn!

What was happening, was, I was copy & pasting AccentColorInactive into the name field, and I hadn't realized that I had copied a blank space before and after the name(like _AccentColorInactive_ ) and of course, that name doesn't exist in any dll library so can't be set.

 

Yup as usual PEBCAK*Redface

 

The color index is wrong for me, i guess this change for each language..?