Want to change window border color in Windows 10? Here are two easy methods to change the default color of window borders in Windows 10.
Microsoft has made a couple of changes to window borders in Windows 10. The window borders are extremely slim in Windows 10, unlike previous Windows versions, where the border was quick thick.
In Windows 10, the window border color as well as title bar color is turned off by default. This means that, Windows 10 doesn’t decorate window borders with a color.
However, there are options under the Settings app to change the default settings. Using these options, you can turn on window border and title bar colors. There also an option to automatically match the window border color with your current desktop background.
IMPORTANT: Note that changing window border color also changes taskbar and Start menu color in Windows 10, if you have enabled colored taskbar and Start menu. It also changes the color of some tiles on the Start menu.
To change window border color in Windows 10, follow the instructions mentioned in one of the three methods given below.
Method 1 of 3
Change window border color via Settings in Windows 10
Step 1: Right-click on the desktop and click Personalize option to open the Personalization section of the Settings app.
Step 2: On the left pane, click Colors. Now, on the right-side, scroll-down the page, and make sure that the option titled Title bars and window borders is turned on. If this option is turned off, Windows 10 doesn’t show a color on window borders.
Needless to say that turning on the option shows a color on the title bar as well.
Step 3: Next, under Choose your accent color section, click on a color to set it as window border color. To pick a different color that is not in the list, click the Custom color option and then create one!
If you want Windows 10 to automatically pick an accent color to match your desktop background, select Automatically pick an accent color from my background option.
Method 2 of 3
Change window border color via Color and Appearance
Note that this method works only if you already have turned on window border color in the Settings > Color page (check instructions in Method 1).
If you are not pleased with the default set of colors offered under Settings, you can use the mixture tool present in Color and Appearance to customize the color and pick up a color for window borders. Here is how to do it:
Step 1: Open the Run command box simultaneously pressing the Windows logo and R keys.
Step 2: Type the following path in the box, and then press Enter key to open Color and Appearance window.
shell:::{ED834ED6-4B5A-4bfe-8F11-A626DCB6A921} -Microsoft.Personalization\pageColorization
Step 3: Here, you can either select a pre-defined color or click Show color mixture to customize the color. Note that while using the color mixer, keep a tab on window borders as they change in real-time.
Step 4: Finally, click the Save changes button to apply the selected color. That’s it!
Method 3 of 3
Automatically change window border color in Windows 10
If you want Windows 10 to automatically select an appropriate window color depending on your desktop background, you can configure Windows 10 to automatically pick a color from your current desktop background.
Step 1: Right-click on the desktop, click Personalize to open the Settings app.
Step 2: On the left pane, click Colors. On the right side, make sure that Title bars and window borders option is turned on.
turn on the option labeled Automatically pick an accent color from my background. That’s it!
Broken Arrow says
The window border color was never a problem. The problem is with the inactive window border color, especially with the dark theme. Do you have s solution to this?
MangerzArt says
2022-07-31
It worked. i have nomacs.exe (picture viewer app) on top of photoshop with white canvas and i wanted the 2px border to be as white as the photoshop background, now isnt distracting me anymore. thx!
Jason Funk says
This is exactly what I needed. I can now see the edge of the windows. I like to see the different color at the top of an active window. I feel like the people that make this work are people who can’t follow simple instructions. I appreciate how you gave multiple solutions to the problem.
To sum up, I now have my sanity back on this one issue. Thanks for your help.
zubby says
I’ll chime in and say-
Yes, this worked for me. There are a lot of neg comments- can’t blame the author that windows moves things around and makes them disappear and reappear with every patch and updated. FWIW- search for the setting if you can’t navigate to it. That sounds dumb, but a few of these comments were people going to the wrong place. YMMV.
And I concur with the guy who said- Wait… This is only the active window border? WTF.
…For a few seconds all my windows had their title bars change, but then that went away.
And my favorite comment was the guy who said a better version of Windows in Chinese, he’s learn Chinese to be able to use it.
CityguyUSA says
Working with a dark theme the border is the only thing to separate one window from another. The only time it is even seen is on the active window. What I need is an inactive window border color setting. What’s up using gray type on a white background. People need to be able to see what they’re typing. This recent trend of sites to use gray on white is absurd. This isn’t the worst I’ve seen but it’s not a trend that should continue.
Edward Breeveld says
Thank you. The invisible border has been bothering me for a while. Fixed now!
Kurt M. Sanger says
Did not work for me. I could change my color at the top of each window but I still do not have a border. Also Start Taskbar and action center is greyed out.
When I right click on the background and select personalize it opens to the Background selection. I must first click on the top to get out of background and show a list that has “colors” in it.
Need to outline windows so that when I have multiple windows opened up I can tell when I move the mouse out of the app I want to be in. Not real usable. With three apps open I could not easily see the top of each window to move them around. Again terrible UI. You would think that with over 30 years of Windows the UI would be perfect by now. NOT.
Rianne says
Method 1 worked fine for me (Windows 10, July 2021). Thanks for making so clear what Windows itself makes impossible to discover.
P. Banchette says
Great, that is exactly what I was looking for.
Thanks
Fritz87 says
Outstanding. It works as described. Thanks for your website and help.
How long have I struggled with the Windows 10 colors among many other Microsoft absurdities!
“If the Chinese were to develop a good alternative to Microsoft’s Windows, I would buy it immediately and learn the Chinese language”
Paul Watje says
Worked great for me!
Thanks
Kris Dee says
All this does not work, if you have not purchased a Windows 10 license… Is there a Registry hack to get window borders?
Windows 10 feels like a beta version – it works, but it looks and feels like the (incompetent) Microsoft programmers have not thought through things well enough. I have had Windows Vista (yes, THAT vista) for years, and I loved it. Previous version, Windows 7. They all were fine. Windows 10… is crap… Why did they remove such simple things like a window border? Really, Microsoft…
Iwan Davies says
Great, thank you!
Seb says
Thank you, worked for me!! Five stars!
Leggo man says
That was awesome! Short explanation, effective AND IT WORKS….. How often do “win 10 fixes” crap out? about 95% IMO…
Thank you!!!
KPP says
Apparently this doesn’t work anymore. I am having the same trouble with all my windows being white, and I can’t tell where one ends and another begins. When I click ‘personalize’ I do not get the panel with the left side menu. It opens right to the background choosing panel. Searcing on ‘window borders’ in settings comes up with no results.
Gonzalo Corvera says
Lots of very aggressive negative comments, but this totally solved my problem!
Thanks
Lane says
There is no checkbox for “Title bars and window borders”. The check box is only for “Title bars”. If the background color of two overlapping windows is the same, it is very hard to tell where one window stops and the other starts. This is especially problematic when trying to resize one of the the windows. I know the code is still there because on rare occasions, my computer has a very slow response time and I briefly see the the borders and title bar as they were in previous versions of Windows. Since the code is still there, why is there no option to permanently show the full border and full title bar?
admin says
Peace! I have updated the article with new instructions. Microsoft keeps fiddling with options and settings.
oleg says
Hi Admin. After reading and trying to follow your steps I quickly came to the conclusion that you simply Do Not Know What You’re Doing… None of the steps you mentioned changed anything.
(SOLUTION) I did find something that may make most users happy : In the same settings (Personalize/Colors), scroll down and CHECK the TITLE BARS AND WINDOW BORDERS Box. This will enable the Top Strip of the window color. As a result, any open/selected window will now have the Top Strip in what ever color you choose and forces the Border to finally show up and stay.
Still not perfect, but way better than the default COLORBLIND OPTIONS that Windows Colorblind employees provide.
Enjoy ;)
Suka Chmo says
Listen Admin. Have you actually tried this? None of what you showed works!!! Maybe you have some special computer or something, but on my machine, when I have a File Explorer open, the border is WHITE, which blends in with the rest of the window. So if I have multiple windows open and overlapping, I can’t easily tell where one ends and the other one starts.
Using the color settings, it seems that I can change the color of the border, however that color only shows up WHILE I’m changing it. As soon as I’m done changing it and click on any window, all widow borders go right back to White.
So why don’t you spend some more time figuring this out before misleading so many people with your junk!!!
this guy says
it doesn’t let you set the border to black, which is the only acceptable color
mark says
what a waste of a web page out of date and simply incorrect. not a web site i will ever visit again
Roke Beedell says
Alexandru, try using Windows Mobility Center – it’s found in the Win+X menu.
yossi says
@Alexandru Butnariu
You can change brightness you just have to select the default microsoft display driver.
bobby says
I use chrome & win 10, want to change the color of the border(now black) at top of homepage where the tabs are and use color transparency as before. Can’t find this on 10. But I have made changes in other colors taskbar etc. which change automatically depending on background, i believe. This is ok but still wish to change my border. ??????
Mugwump says
I did exactly this – first I tried clicking on the “Control color” Icon that appeared in the search results, – that opened JUST the normal control panel home window. Then I tried typing it in again and hitting enter, – the color selector in step 3 appeared. – I changed the color to blue, and hit `save changes` and closed the screen. This had absolutely no effect on the color scheme. (Everything was as it was before), so I tried again. – This time hitting enter did absolutely nothing, (except closing the start menu pop-up. – I`ve found that If I completely restart the PC it works again – (just once – you get one go, which does nothing, then you can`t even access the color changer without a reboot), I suspect OUTraged is seeing the same bug as me. I`m stuck with white bordered windows (which I don`t want) and have no way to change them. Windows 10 is a joke.
admin says
@ Outraged
It does exist. Type Control Color in Run box and press Enter.
OUTraged says
“Color and Appearance” does not exist in Windows 10. So this is wrong.
Alexandru Butnariu says
My free upgrade from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 left me with no tools to adjust colors and brightness of display on my DELL laptop. Function FN+F4 Fn+F5 used to modify brightness are no longer working. No matter what window I open (File explorer, a browser – IE 11, Edge, Chrome) the top border and fill color is blinding white.
I installed latest version of display adapters from Dell site. No change in above mentioned behavior.
I tried all the methods described above, but color management changes only the contrast color of task bar and pop up menu in lower left corner of screen with no effect on window borders.
Is any patch for this ?
Any reply with a hint is welcome.