How To Change Taskbar Background Picture In Windows 10

There are plenty of ways to customize the taskbar in Windows 10. One can go through our 13 ways to customize the taskbar in Windows 10 guide to know all the methods out there to change the default feel and look of the taskbar.

Windows 10 allows users to change the taskbar color, and also there is a setting to turn on transparency. While the transparency option under the Settings app doesn’t allow 100% transparency, it’s possible to make the Windows 10 taskbar 100% transparent using third-party tools. When the transparency is enabled for the taskbar, you can see the desktop background or wallpaper picture in the background, as shown below.

Set your own picture as taskbar background in Windows 10

Now, if you used Windows 7 for a significant amount of time and customized the taskbar to your likings, then you likely have come across a tool called Windows 7 Taskbar Background Changer. As the name suggests, the app enables users to set their custom picture as taskbar background. In short, you can configure Windows to see your own picture or pattern as the taskbar background instead of the desktop background.

The good news is that it’s now possible to set your own background for the taskbar in Windows 10 as well. All you need to do is that download and install the popular Classic Shell software. The latest version of Classic Shell supports changing taskbar background as well as color.

Before we tell you how to set your own picture as your taskbar background in Windows 10, let me clear one of the common misconceptions about Classic Shell. Many users are under the impression that they need to use the Classic Shell start menu and other features of the program to use its personalization settings.

While some settings are exclusive to the Classic Shell Start menu, there are settings to customize the original taskbar of Windows 10. In short, you don’t need to be using the Classic Shell Start menu to customize the taskbar using Classic Shell. Please refer to our how to use Classic Shell

Using Classic Shell to set a custom picture as taskbar background

Here is how to set your own image as the taskbar background in Windows 10 using the Classic Shell program.

Step 1: The first step is to download and install the newest version of Classic Shell program, if not installed already.

Important: If you are not interested in other features such as Classic IE and Classic Explorer, you can deselect those features during the installation.

Step 2: Launch Classic Shell settings. To do so, type Classic Shell Start menu settings in Start menu search box and then press Enter key.

NOTE: With default settings, after installing Classic Shell, the classic Start menu opens when you click on the Start button or press the Windows logo key. To change this, open Classic Shell settings, switch to Controls, select Windows Start menu for left-click, and Windows logo key.

Step 3: Once Settings dialog is opened, check the box named Show all settings to view all settings.

Step 4: Switch to the Taskbar tab. Check the option labeled Customize taskbar.

Step 5: Click the box next to Taskbar texture, browse to the image file that you want to see as taskbar background, select the image file, and then click the Open button.

Step 6: Finally, click the Ok button to save the changes.