Windows 10: Taskbar Color Override (In W10TP)

As you may have noticed, in Windows 10 Technical Preview - Build 9926, the taskbar, in most cases, seems to retain a much darker shade of color regardless of the color settings you choose.
Here's some 'loose' instructions to override the default taskbar color.
(I say 'loose' because I haven't tested every single aspect of the tweaks but it's pretty straight forward. However, if you're uncomfortable fooling around in the Windows Registry, create a restore point before hand)

Gotta give 'props' to begem0t for revealing these tweaks for us! *Smile

First, open the Windows Registry Editor and navigate to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
in the right pane create a new DWORD (32-bit) Value and name it TaskbarColorOverride

then navigate to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer (the parent key)
and create 2 DWORD (32-bit) Values: TaskbarPlateOverrideOpacityA and TaskbarPlateOverrideColorBGR
(Save these key locations in 'Favorites' so you can return to them quickly at another time if necessary)

minimize the Registry Editor for the time being.

Assuming you have your favorite Desktop background and Windows color scheme set, capture a prominent color you'd like to work with by way of a screenshot or snipping tool of some sort and open the capture in Windows Paint. Using the 'Color Picker' open that color in the 'Edit Colors' palette to obtain the RGB values,
(you can search online for color charts but this is an easier and quicker way to get the exact color you want)
then enter the RGB values backwards, (BGR), into an online 'RGB to Hex Convertor' RGB to Hex





Copy the generated code and paste it as a value for TaskbarColorOverride
(Note: the generated color will not be what you expected, that's because it's the color on the opposite end of the color spectrum; that will be the 'link' mouse hover 'glow' color, the 'off suit' color)
(Note: if you would like the taskbar to be lighter than the Start Menu color, for example, choose 2 - 4 shades lighter on the color scale bar in Paint)

For TaskbarPlateOverrideOpacityA you can change the value anywhere from 0 - 256 for the darkness of an active thumbnail 'glow level', (I chose 65, 100 and up just looks black)

The value of TaskbarPlateOverrideColorBGR can remain at 0, changing it results in a totally different thumbnail active color but the element must remain for all default active tab and mouse hover glow levels to follow suit.
If you apply these tweaks in this manner, all the colors, 'off suit' colors, mouse hover active, mouse hover inactive glow levels should all follow suit.

Experiment with it and see what you can come up with.
Note: when changing the DWORD values you can quickly check how it will look compared to the Start Menu by pressing the *Start.

:)

 

How to set the Window border color in Windows 10

Settings is a particularly bad example: that's deliberately overriding the chosen colors so that it is its own colors.

Sounds like you want to use the toggle "Show color on Start, taskbar, action center,
and title bar" in the Settings application under Personalization :: Colors. If you don't have that toggle yet, you're not on the Fall update (10586) yet.

 

why is my theme color of windows 10 does not apply in microsoft built-in apps such as groove music and calendar

Applications are allowed to override the user's theme color to present their application using a color of their choice. This sounds like those applications made a conscious choice to use that color scheme.

 

Good instructions Edwin i tried one of the tweaks yesterday for fun after your post in the other thread and was a little confused as I was trying to follow instructions from 2 different posters but managed to figure it out in the end.

Hopefully as the builds progress we are allowed more customization options without having to use registry tweaks.