[Tip] Get Rid of White Titlebars in Windows 10
UPDATE: Microsoft has added a built-in option to get colorized titlebar in newer Windows 10 versions. Instructions about the new method have been added in the tutorial.
If you are using Windows 10 in your computer, you might have noticed the complete White titlebars in all program windows. Microsoft has disabled colorization feature for window titlebars and they always show full White irrespective of whether the window is active or inactive.
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To many people the White titlebars look ugly and horrible and people face difficulties in finding which windows are active and which are inactive as the titlebars are always White.
In previous Windows versions such as Windows 8/8.1, the window titlebars were colored based upon the wallpaper and it was very easy to differentiate between active and inactive program windows.
Today in this topic, we are going to share two small and very easy to use tricks which will enable colored titlebars in Windows 10 and the titlebar color will also change based on the current wallpaper. So you’ll be able to get rid of White titlebars in Windows 10. One trick will also bring back Windows 8/8.1 style window borders in Windows 10.
So without wasting time lets start the tutorial:
Table of Contents
METHOD 1: Get Colorized Titlebar Using Settings app
In newer Windows 10 builds, Microsoft has added an option to enable/disable colors on titlebar in Settings app:
1. Press WIN+I keys together to open Settings app.
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2. Now go to “Personalization -> Colors” section and set the option “Show color on Start, taskbar, action center, and title bar” (or “Show color on title bar“) to On.
PS: Alternatively, You can directly launch this page using “ms-settings:colors” command in RUN dialog box as mentioned here.
That’s it. It’ll immediately enable colors on titlebar in program windows and you’ll get rid of White titlebars.
Related: [Tip] Get Dark Colorized Taskbar and Start Menu Back in Windows 10
If you want colors on titlebar only and want dark black Taskbar, Start Menu and Action Center or want to tweak these colorization settings, check out following tutorials:
Tweak Colorization Settings for Titlebar, Taskbar and Start Menu in Windows 10
[Tip] Get Colors on Titlebars of Inactive (Background) Program Windows
METHOD 2: By Using Our Exclusive “AskVG Colors” Theme
We have modified the default Aero theme of Windows 10 to force it showing colored titlebars in program windows. Once you apply this theme, you’ll be able to get colored titlebars in all windows which will also use built-in colorization feature to automatically change titlebar color based on the current wallpaper.
This theme doesn’t require any file patching, so you can use it without any worries.
You just need to follow these simple steps to apply our theme and enjoy colored titlebars in Windows 10:
1. First of all download the theme from following link:
Download AskVG Colors Theme for Windows 10
2. After downloading, extract the ZIP file using 7-Zip or any other file archive software and you’ll get following 2 files/folders:
- AskVG_Colors
- AskVG_Colors.theme
3. Now copy both of them and paste them into C:\Windows\Resources\Themes folder.
If Windows ask for the confirmation, accept it.
4. That’s it. Now right-click on Desktop and select Personalize option. It’ll open Settings app. Now click on Themes tab and then click on “Theme Settings” link.
5. Now you’ll see “AskVG Colors Theme” in “Installed Themes” section.
Click on the theme and get ready to enjoy colored titlebar in Windows 10.
If you remember, long time back we shared an exclusive tip to activate hidden secret “Aero Lite” theme in Windows 8 operating system. “Aero Lite” theme was very simple, clean and minimal theme created for computer systems which didn’t have compatible hardware to support Aero glass effects.
Fortunately the same trick to enable “Aero Lite” theme still works in Windows 10 and you can use this minimal theme to bring back colored titlebars in all program windows.
So first activate and apply “Aero Lite” theme in Windows 10 using following tutorial:
After applying the theme, you’ll get colored titlebars in Windows 10 as shown in following screenshot:
NOTE 1:
If you used the manual method to activate “Aero Lite” theme in Windows 10, the titlebar will always show in Blue color and will not change its color based on the wallpaper because the value AutoColorization is set to 0 in default Aero theme of Windows 10. But if you used our ready-made Aero Lite theme file, you’ll get auto-colorized titlebars as we have already enabled AutoColorization=1 in Aerolite.theme file for your convenience.
NOTE 2:
The Start Menu and Taskbar will still remain dark Black even after activating the new theme.
If you want to enable colorization feature for titlebar, Start Menu and Task bar so that they can change their colors based on the desktop wallpaper, just follow these simple steps:
1. Open Settings app from Start Menu and go to Personalization -> Colors section. Alternatively, you can directly open it by right-clicking on Desktop and select Personalize option.
2. Now enable following options:
- Automatically pick an accent color from my background
- Show color on Start, taskbar and action center
That’s it. Now you’ll get colored and auto-colorized Start Menu and Taskbar along with program titlebars and borders in Windows 10.
NOTE 3:
If you want to remove the window borders after applying Aero Lite theme, you can take help of following tutorial:
Registry Tweak to Decrease Window Border Size and Padding in Windows 8 and Later
NOTE 4:
Also check out the hidden secret Dark theme in Windows 10 mentioned in following topics:
Collection of Windows 10 Hidden Secret Registry Tweaks
[Tip] Enable Dark or Light Theme Modes in Windows 10
Further Read:
[Tip] Increase Titlebar Text Font Size in Windows 10
Also Check:
Download Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8/8.1 and Longhorn Themes for Windows 10
How did you change those thin window borders to like windows 8??
@Ubaid – Just apply the theme and the borders change to what the screenshot looks like. It automatically gives you “Windows 8” borders. You can even use Tiny Windows Borders to change how thick you want them.
For some reason, if you have rotating wallpapers, the colors defaults to black every time it switches, and you have to turn off then turn on the colors. Is there any fix for this?
One can also use this in combination with ‘oldnewexplorer’ and it’s setting ‘enable glass on navigation bar’ to get the background colour visible behind the nav icons.
Hello VG, your method is great but there are a few bug in the Aero Lite theme just like the strange border around the start menu (which caused some lagging issues while clicking on the start button for the first time) and there is also a thick border around the setting windows (except the top side).
Hence, I find a way to colorize the default aero theme. All you need to do is to set AutoColorization=1 in the default “Aero” theme. It can be done using your linked method (How to Enable Hidden “Aero Lite” Theme in Windows 8 and Later?), just make a copy of aero.msstyles and rename it to something else (aero1.msstyles) and then make a copy of aero.theme and rename it to the same name (aero1.theme) & edit it accordingly and set AutoColorization to 1, and finally apply it and you can see the colored window borders without those bug.
However you may still face some problems in finding active windows with this trick, and there is also a bug in the title of inactive windows. Hope this will help users.
PS: I want to know if there is any way to get rid of “>” this icon in the context menu and replace it with the good old ► icon.
Changing the Title Bar color also changes the Text background to match the Title Bar color. This is good. However, the Inactive Title Bar is a different story. This change does not also change the text for the Inactive Title-Bar.
For example, when changing the Title Bar color, the Title Text remains black with the proper background behind the text to match the Title Bar. But the Text of the Inactive Title Bars remains as it was previously… with grey text and grey-ish background for the text. This grey-ish background color does not match the Inactive Title Bar color.
Is there any way to also change this Inactive Title Bar Text color, so that the Text background matches the Title Bar color? It is fine if the Text itself changes to grey, but the Text background should stay matching the new background color of the Inactive Title Bar.
Changing color settings of various parameters in HKCU/Control Panel/Colors and HKCU/Control Panel/Desktop/Colors does not accomplish this Inactive Title Text Background change.
How might the Inactive Title Text Background be changed?
I found this and looks great, there is no bugs in title bar mare-m.deviantart.com/art/Colored-Title-Bar-Theme-for-Windows-10-552490027
Thank you, Michael. However… I tried the theme from mare-m, and it still has the same Inactive Title Text problem as described in my previous post.
If anyone knows how to solve this problem, please advise.
Victor just patch jour system before use mare-m theme. Read README file.
Thanks again for your reply, Michael.
1) Patching system files has been a disaster for me and many others. In the case of altering files to relax theme restrictions, it is a virtual certainty that, sooner or later, you will need to deal with the ‘black display’ situation and need to reinstall/repair windows as the only solution. Definitely not a good idea to patch these files. With Windows 10, system updates are coming frequently, so the risk is even greater and constant.
2) Patching system files with UltraUXThemePatcher (or UxStyle or Multi-Patcher or any of the other ones) does not actually work to fix this issue. Nor does attempting to edit the .msstyles file directly with Ave’s Windows Style Builder, to the best of my ability.
So… it doesn’t work… and even if it did, it is an extremely risky proposition to intentionally corrupt windows system files (particularly with Windows 10).
Do you know of any other possible approach to this problem? Thanks.
Ooooohhh. I think you’re overreacting. I use theme patcher from xp era. I never had any problem. If you want a good look then this is the only solution. I’m very satisfied. The only theme which is working properly.
This entire matter may become moot with build 10525.
The theme files are flagged by SonicWall’s Gateway Anti-Virus scanner as “Parite.A.gen” (Virus).
Just letting you know. I’m not confirming or denying if the theme files actually contain any of the polymorphic properties that Parite.A.gen is defined as. The gateway AV scanner within a SonicWall UTM appliance are extremely sensitive when system files that have been manipulated pass through an interface (a download in this case). The system will flag files as possible Trojans or infections if the data patterns look similar to those of known infected files.
The specific Trojan mentioned will manipulate existing executable files with the .exe and .src extensions. Because my SonicWall blocked the download offered on this page I decided it was easier for me to just pass on this, rather than adding an exclusion rule for the download server that is hosting them.
I’m sure it’s nothing, but I felt I should mention what I had found when I tried to download the theme files.
^^ Thanks for the notification. Its a false positive. Actually almost all security software detect modified system files as suspicious items and show false positive alarms to users. You can safely ignore the alert. The theme files are absolutely safe to use.
Thank you for some great Windows information and tips.
An excellent site – will definately be on my list of weekly bookmarks from now on.
Especially since I’ve (finally?) jumped on the Windows 10 bandwagon.
My experience with Win 10 upgrade a little disappointing, with ultimately (for now) a happy ending.
1. First upgrade during month of release. Had to go and edit or run something (registry, service parameter, I don’t remember) in a windows 7 directory to get the download to come through. Suspect it was a queue issue (ie not my turn to download yet) versus anything unusual.
Upgrade went fine, quick and painless even. When I started using it I liked, generally what I saw, but noticed not full support on everything yet. Many items, not quite critical (ie CPU, GPU, HDD, SDD, motherboard and peripherals), were not supported natively. My trusty webcame (a Microsoft product listed as compatible) was not working – it’s app was dead and nothing else came to replace it. My scanners both required Vuescan to work, and not natively, etc. I produce content so required those two (IMHO) vital pieces (ie not critical, just very important).
2. So I regressed. Enjoyed Windows 7 once more, noting that the downgrade STILL knocked out my camera. (ARGH!) But at least I could get third party apps to supplement while I waited for more maturity to ring through Win 10’s development and release pipelien.
3. Upgrade a month later. Webcamera finally worked. However – after migration I was plagued with frequent, intermittent, BSODs. NO real rhyme or reason. Bluescreenview (by Nir Sofer) told me that the 30+ BSODs (each sent to microsoft… ;o ) were faulting the OSKernl and some wda1000.sys (or similar) driver. Basically doing anything more than running my webcam, or changing settings, was a nono and I’d BSOD broswing a webpage. ARGH. Unacceptable. REVERT.
4. Upgrade just a week ago. Was STILL plagued by the above so I finally did a clean install of windows 7. upgraded via migration tools. And so far so good. Drawback – having to rebuild my ecosystem again.
Well, I’m in a bit of a lull so why not. If anything bad happens again I’d just as well toss my self off the Win10 bandwagon and run meself under the wheels. What’s that saying? “Fool me once, shame on you (microsoft), fool me twice (or thrice in this case), SHAME on me!”
🙂 F 😀
I’d just like to mention that the second method no longer works in Windows 10 November Update. At least for me, I had to deal with having everything the same color as I originally just wanted titlebars colored but not start and everything else.
Nice article 🙂
Can you tell if you are using some kind of theme tweak
to have such large fonts and icons on your screen?
Thank you for this tweak, I was really bored by these white title bars – I dont say thank you to µsoft beuark !
So I activated Aero Lite.
Now my title bars are blue with characters white bold, but it seems that I must stay with these colors. What can I do to choose another color or font ?
Before activation of Aero Lite the characters in the task bar where white bold, now they are black not bold, do they are nearly unreadable. What can I do to change color and font ?
Can you help me ? Thank you in advance.
^^ You dont need to use Aero Lite theme. You can enable colors on titlebar using Settings app now. Also check following:
https://www.askvg.com/tweak-colorization-settings-for-titlebar-taskbar-and-start-menu-in-windows-10/
https://www.askvg.com/windows-10-tip-get-colors-on-titlebars-of-inactive-background-program-windows/
Thank you, but do you know how to change color of text in buttons of the task bar ? The bar is dark blue and with text in black it’s really hard to read…
Congratulations for this very interesting site ! I’ll come back frequently to learn many things !
^^ That color and other things are defined by the theme’s .msstyles file. You’ll need to edit the file using Windows Style Builder or other programs to customize the appearance.