In Windows 10, Microsoft made a lot of changes to the user interface and the color of the window title bars is one of them. At first, Microsoft removed the entire window title bar color and replaced it with white color. Though white window title bars looks pretty, it can be quite painful while doing little things like dragging and double-clicking on the window title bars.
In the previous update, Microsoft made some changes, and now all the active window title bars will either have a color of your choice or Windows picks it for you based on your wallpaper. You can change the title bar color by opening the “All Settings” window, then navigating to “Personalization” and then to “Colors.”
However, all the non-active window title bars are still white, and while there is no straightforward way to change the title bar color for non-active windows, here is how to enable colored title bars on non-active windows in Windows 10.
Enable Colored Title Bars on Non-Active Windows
To enable colored title bars on non-active windows, you need to edit the Windows Registry. Before doing anything to the registry, don’t forget to have a good backup, just in case.
To start, press Win + R, type regedit and press the Enter button to open the Windows Registry editor.
Once the Registry editor has been opened, navigate to the following key.
Here we need to create a new DWORD value to enable colored title bars on non-active windows. To do that, right-click on the right panel, select “New” and then “DWORD (32-bit) Value.”
The above action will create a new value. Just right-click on the newly created value, select rename and the rename it to “AccentColorInactive.”
After renaming the new value, double-click on it. This action will open the “Edit DWORD (32-bit) Value” window. Here, make sure that the radio button “Hexadecimal” is selected and enter the hex value without the hash symbol (#) of the color you want the non-active window to be.
In my case, I want the inactive windows to be in light gray color, so I entered the value as eeeeee. Once are done entering the hex value of the color you want, simply click on the “OK” button to save the changes.
You can get the hex value of any color you want from any photo editing software like Photoshop or from online sources like Color Picker.
Once you are done with everything, this is what it should look like in the Windows Registry. As you can see, the value has been automatically modified to meet the Windows registry requirements.
As soon as you are done editing the Registry, the changes will take effect immediately. From this point forward all your non-active windows will have the color you specified in the Windows Registry. If you don’t see the change, just restart your system.
In the future, if you ever want to revert back, simply delete the newly created value, and you are good to go.
Do comment below sharing your thoughts and experiences about using the above method to enable color title bars on non-active windows in Windows 10.
Vamsi is a tech and WordPress geek who enjoys writing how-to guides and messing with his computer and software in general. When not writing for MTE, he writes for he shares tips, tricks, and lifehacks on his own blog Stugon.
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