[Tip] Enable Accent Color on Start and Taskbar in Light Theme Mode in Windows 11, 10

In Windows 11, when you enable “Light Theme Mode” using Personalization settings, it automatically disables the accent color on Start Menu and Taskbar. The option to show accent color on Start and Taskbar becomes grayed out i.e. disabled on Settings page, so you can’t turn it on. This article will provide a simple Registry tweak to enable accent color on Start Menu and Taskbar in Windows 11 even if you select Light Theme mode. The method will also work in Windows 10 operating system.

Following screenshot shows accent color (default blue) enabled on Start Menu and Taskbar in Light theme mode in our Windows 11 device:

Following screenshot shows Light mode is selected in Personalization settings page and the Taskbar is using accent color:

Finally following screenshot shows that the toggle option “Show accent color on Start and taskbar” has been turned ON i.e. enabled even if it’s still grayed out because of Light theme mode selected:

So if you also want to have Light theme mode enabled in your Windows 11 computer but want to have accent color on Start Menu and Taskbar, this article will assist you.

Our reader “kotenok2000” shared an interesting Registry tweak which can be used to force Windows 11 to show accent color on Start and Taskbar even if the Light theme mode is enabled. By default, Windows 11 only allows users to show accent color on Start and Taskbar in Dark theme or Custom modes.

Related: [Fix] Show Accent Color on Start, Taskbar Option Grayed Out in Windows 10 Settings

Actually Windows 11 stores the “Show accent color on Start and Taskbar” preference value in a DWORD called ColorPrevalence in Registry and we can manually modify its value to enable or disable accent color on Start and Taskbar in both Light and Dark theme modes.

Following steps will help you in enjoying accent color on Start and Taskbar in Light theme mode in Windows 11 (and Windows 10 too):

STEP 1: Enable Light Theme Mode Using Personalization Settings

First of all enable Light theme mode using personalization settings:

1. Press WIN+I keys together to launch Settings app in Windows 11. You can also open Settings app from Start Menu.

2. Now click on “Personalization” section in left-side pane and then click on “Colors” option in right-side pane.

3. Now select “Light” option from the drop-down box given next to “Choose your mode” setting.

It’ll apply Light theme mode everywhere in Windows 11.

STEP 2: Enable Accent Color on Start Menu and Taskbar in Light Theme Mode

Now we’ll use Registry Editor to manually enable accent color on Start Menu and Taskbar which is not possible using personalization settings page.

1. Press WIN+R keys together to launch RUN dialog box. Now type regedit and press Enter. It’ll open Registry Editor.

2. Now go to following key:

3. In right-side pane, you’ll see a few DWORD values. Look for following DWORD:

ColorPrevalence

The value of the ColorPrevalence DWORD would be set to 0 as the accent color is disabled on Start and Taskbar in Light theme mode.

4. Double-click on ColorPrevalence DWORD and change its value to 1 to enable accent color.

It’ll immediately enable and apply accent color on Start Menu and Taskbar.

PS: In future, if you want to restore default settings, set the theme mode to Dark or Light using Personalization settings page and it’ll reset the settings to default.

BONUS TIP for Advanced Users to Direct Modify Theme Modes and Colorization

You might have noticed other DWORDs present under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\Personalize key in Registry Editor. Let’s discuss about them:

AppsUseLightTheme: This DWORD tells Windows 11 whether the app mode is set to Light or Dark. the value of 1 means Light theme selected and 0 means Dark theme selected. You can modify its value to direct change app mode to Light or Dark without using Personalization settings.

SystemUsesLightTheme: This DWORD tells Windows 11 whether the window mode is set to Light or Dark. the value of 1 means Light theme selected and 0 means Dark theme selected. You can modify its value to direct change window mode to Light or Dark without using Personalization settings.

EnableTransparency: You can modify its value to 1 or 0 to enable or disable transparency effects respectively.

EnabledBlurBehind: You can modify its value to 1 or 0 to enable or disable translucent blur effects respectively.

Following article also contains more Registry tweaks to customize accent color and colorization settings on Start Menu, Taskbar, titlebar, Action Center, etc in Windows 10 and Windows 11:

Tweak Colorization Settings for Titlebar, Taskbar and Start Menu in Windows 10

Also Check:

[Tip] Enable Colored Titlebar in Windows 11 File Explorer