In Windows 10, the default color of window title bar, as you can see in the picture, is white. Most users prefer to have a custom color or a color that matches with the current desktop background.
In early versions of Windows 10, it was not possible to change the title bar color via the Settings or Control Panel. We had to make changes to the Registry in order to see a color other than white on the title bar. With Windows 10 1511, Microsoft added an option to the Settings app that allows us to change the default color of the title bar.
Change title bar color via Settings in Windows 10
Step 1: Navigate to Settings > Personalization > Colors. Scroll down the page to see Show accent color on the following surfaces option.
Step 2: Select Title bars and window borders checkbox. That’ts it! From now onwards, title bar will use the same color as the current accent color.
Step 3: To change the color, on the same page, either click on of the color tiles or click the Custom option to create a color of your choice.
Change Windows 10 title bar color via Registry
UPDATE: You no longer need to use this method as the method mentioned above works great. Moreover, it’s easy.
Out friend at WinAero has come up with a cool workaround to change the title bar color in Windows 10 to a color of your choice. The good thing is that you can change the title bar color without the help of any third-party software. You just need to edit a file.
Follow the given below instructions to change title bar color in Windows 10.
Step 1: Open up File Explorer (Windows Explorer) and navigate to the following location.
C:\Windows\Resources\Themes
Where, “C” is the drive where Windows 10 is installed.
Step 2: Here you’ll see a folder named “aero”. Right-click on “aero” folder, click Copy, right-click again (not on the folder this time), and then click paste. The idea is to create a copy of the “aero” folder in the same location. Of course, you can use Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V.
When you see Folder Access Denied dialog, click the Continue button. And then when you see File Access Denied dialog, click Skip button. This will copy the “aero” folder and will skip MSS files.
Step 3: Now, rename the newly created aero-copy folder to Windows. When you see the UAC prompt, click Yes button confirm the rename.
Step 4: Open up the newly created Windows folder. Rename aero.mstyles to windows.msstyles. Click Yes if you get the UAC prompt.
Step 5: Now, open up en-US folder located under the newly created Windows folder. Here, rename the file titled aero.msstyles.mui to windows.msstyles.mui.
Step 6: Go back to the following folder:
C:\Windows\Resources\Themes
Copy aero.theme file to your desktop and then rename it to windows.theme. While
Step 7: Open windows.theme file with Notepad and look for the following line under Visual Styles section:
Path=%ResourceDir%\Themes\Aero\Aero.msstyles
Rename Aero.msstyles to windows.msstyles.
Save the file.
That’s it!
Step 8: Finally, double-click on the edited windows.theme to see colored title bar.
From here onwards, you can change title bar color to your liking. The title bar uses the accent color and can be changed by opening Color and appearance.
The workaround although seems a bit time consuming, it’s actually not. You can make it happen under five minutes. Good luck!
Do let us know if you’re unable to change the title bar color even after following the above mentioned directions.
To revert to the original color:
Step 1: Open up C:\Windows\Resources\Themes folder.
Step 2: Double-click on aero.theme file. That’s it!
Peter says
Does not work.
Title bar of outlook, settings, explorer etc. do not change.
John Sampson says
Very complicated and probably I made a mistake somewhere. The background has changed but the pink colour remains. Title bars, scroll bars etc. had turned pink on one monitor this morning, and stay pink, though photos show normal colours. The “personalization” route recommended by many does not work either.
Ted Duke says
This “solution” is unnecessary in Windows 10. Choose Settings, Personalization, Colors. Pick a color. Toggle “Title Bar” to “On.”
Phil C says
I get SO irritated when MS fixes things that were working just fine and didn’t need fixing. White on white windows title bars…who the hell though ot that moronic idea? ARGH!!!
Zhan Hui says
Hi, I cannot change the title bar font size. Is there a tweak for this?
piecevcake says
Thanks for this article. I renamed the new folder “windows10_title_bar_colours.theme” and moved it into the themes folder.
Next job: find how to get the titles back on the empty title bars, grrrrr!
Micromegas says
Works for me on some windows, such as Win Explorer and Paint and even Skype. But many other windows remain unchanged and don’t get a differently title colored bar when active:
* Personalization window still has gray title bar
* Settings window still white
* Outlook, Word, still blue
* Excel still green
* Mozilla Firefox still gray, but gets a wafer thin colored edge (but only when not maximized)
Without those changing, the usability issue still remains, because one can’t rely on seeing where one’s keystrokes go. Any idea how to make this change universal?
Javid says
Thanks! Awesome workaround. It works fine…
NoAx says
Thank you very much! Wow, are you good! I tried to fix this many times. Finally.
Mohamed says
Thanks!
admin says
@ George
You don’t need to follow these directions if you have Windows 10 wit November Update. The OS now supports enabling titlebar color out of the box.
George Perkins says
If you follow the instructions and then delete the “windows.theme” file from the desktop the title bar color selection remains in force until/unless you open Personalize again and select some other combination of settings. Then it is lost. So at that point you have to restore the “windows.theme” from the Recycle Bin and double-click it again to restore the title bar coloration. So I don’t consider this a viable “fix” for Windows 10. It is a kludge work-around yes, and thank you for it at least now I can read my desktop again. The white background, white title bars and flat GUI is definitely a step backward. Windows has had a 3D sculpted look since Windows 3.0. Maybe that doesn’t resolve very well on a 4″ telephone screen, but on a 22″ monitor with 20 or 30 windows open, having better differentiation (by color, outline, or 3D sculpted borders) is an absolute necessity! I hope Microsoft fixes this! At least give people the choice to set a personalize setting of their liking!
Roger Froud says
This works, but there’s no explanation as to why, and what to do with the orphaned file now sitting on my desktop. Can I delete it, or will it revert back to the old style if I do?
ebrown2112 says
Also, which variables do we change? Nothing I’m changing seems to have any effect.
ebrown2112 says
The new Windows folders shows a “qps-ploc” subfolder, but there’s no such folder in either the new Windows folder or the original aero folder.
Monimonika says
Thomas’s theme file worked like a charm! I can now look at open windows and video player without the big white borders blinding me.
Daniel Gray says
Does not work. Tried to find the file to open it in notepad and the closest I got was VSCache and that file had nothing in it for me to open with notepad. All the other steps did exactly as you said they would.
pseudoname says
need permission from trusted installer. help?
Joe says
Worked without any problems.
Thanks.
karlyn says
RE: workaround for changing color of title bar. Basically, very helpful & appreciated. BUT, for us novices some confusion. I did not have any folders labeled aero.msstyles; just 2 folders labeled aero, but cotents was different. but it seemed to work when i relabeled the one aero fldr to the windows.msstyles.
In Step 7 you must open Notepad and then open the new file from the Notepad app. then the path can be found.
Also in Step 7 very impt to change aero to windows as well as the .msstules part of the path.
In Step 8 when you see the colored bar of a folder, go back to the Cntrl Panel/Personalization to select your choice of color and maybe a picture. i too found you can’t choose another theme…switch up your own pix i guess!
i want to emphasize to MS that i had looked forward to great helpful changes, but this lack of using color in title bars is a nightmare. i work for ex in Excel with a ton of windows open; in Win 10 my screen is a mass of white and i can’t find anything! WHY was this kind of a change made??? The workaround has brought back my sanity. But it’s sad that to even work a few minutes i was forced into the procedure. And am left very unflexible.
I
chris says
it works!!!! of course i got to go to settings in Personalize and choose the color or theme…thanks from Perù!!!
fifht says
Turns out the text for windows in the taskbar became black and unreadable. Others have pointed that out as well. Could any one please provide a solution to this?
Liz says
I get stuck at Step 4. There is no aero.mstyles . Only aero.mstyles.mui under the en-GB folder.
Any suggestions?????????????
Troels says
Thanks a lot, Thomas – your file worked like a charm!
michael says
I found this and looks cool and there is no title bar bug http://mare-m.deviantart.com/art/Colored-Title-Bar-Theme-for-Windows-10-552490027
jon says
Any way to change the font color inside the title bar, too? I can hardly read it now because the default is black. Maybe there’s a variable that we need to change?
Chris Sherman says
I followed all the steps to a T but it didn’t change the colors. The top bar in all my windows and titles are still white. What can I try now?
Thomas says
If you guys want an even easier way to do that, download TitleColor.theme from my link: hxxps://app.box.com/titlebarcolorwin10
Once you download it, double click it and it’ll make your title bar grey…then go into Personalize > Colors and choose an accent color to change it to whatever color you’d like. It’s that simple.
Enjoy!
kat says
Worked perfectly. For anyone confused about being stuck on personalization and themes, just close it, then click on your desktop for “personalize”. From there to can select colors to apply, etc. Confused me too for a couple of minutes.
John says
Followed your steps, worked like a charm! No problems at all! Thank you so much.
Sue says
Followed instructions, nicely done. I picked up on the renaming of the directory as well as the file name while editing the [VisualStyles]. While the title bars did become colored and was able to change colors, had to revert due to only partial coloring of tiles in the start menu.
Michael says
It works great but why does it work? You are literally just copying the file and renaming it and not changing any values. So weird
K.o.R says
Looks good. Shame about the grey rectangle that appears over the title bar text of inactive windows.
Monte S says
I had to change the path in Windows.theme to “Path=%ResourceDir%\Themes\Windows\Windows.msstyles”.
Also had to copy Windows Windows.theme from Desktop back to %ResourceDir%\Themes.
Instruction could use some clarification. But, thank you very much!
JR says
Worked like a charm! Question though, until there’s an update in which it’ll allow us to customize it freely, do we have to keep the the theme file on the desktop? Can it be deleted or moved? I’m assuming no but just thought I’d ask.
Adam H. says
This is great! Is there a way to make them slightly transparent like Windows 7 as well though?
SteveinPA says
It works, however when I use one of my saved themes the title bar goes back to white. It appears I can’t have it both ways.
Evan says
Worked on my first try, thank you!! My straining eyes thank you!! Wasn’t that difficult at all and I’m not that tech savvy.
Alex says
I tried this so many times that I know the steps by heart – but for some reason it doesn’t do a thing for me. I am following everything to the letter; any thoughts anyone?
MonsieurToast says
Worked like a charm, though the text doesn’t compensate, so now I have black text on a black background. Any way to fix that?
cobbweb10 says
Tried to follow instructions twice.
Both times, I found no files labeled: aero.mstyles or aero.theme.
All I found were aero + aero.msstyles.mui.
Very frustrated and disappointed.
Mary S says
This did not work for me, unfortunately. After step 7, when I double-clicked on the desktop windows.theme icon, what I got was the Appearances and Personalization page. So now what?
Summit says
My eyes thank you for this, spent hours trying to fix this. How to we get this article to the top of a Google search?
Hamma says
It’s also important to note that it appears it needs to be in lowercase. When I had the path with uppercase letters it did not work.
Greg M says
Thanks works perfect. How stupid can Microsoft be for not allowing us to customize the colour of the header anymore.
Just as a final note I copied the file from the desk top back into the windows Themes folder and can now select it just like any other theme.
Jon C says
Nice instructions – but just a couple of little things to take notice of: step 5 refers to a folder called en-US. If you’re not using US regional settings then the folder name will be different – for example I’m in the UK and the folder is called en-GB. And step 4 – its click continue and not yes ;o)
yo says
Hey thanks for the steps and it worked great, but the text for my windows in the taskbar are now black and unreadable. Anyway to change the text to a white color? Here’s a picture for reference: http://i.imgur.com/Np12OcO.jpg
Th0rsch says
Hi,
it worked for me, but in Step 7 it’s missing that you also have to rename the folder to “Windows”. It’s a bit confusing by naming the “new” theme “Windows”, because I applied the newly created theme and then saw no modification (even though it worked, was a bit hasty ^^). After that I clicked on the “Windows” theme again but this time it was the windows standard design which was also called “Windows” where the colored bars don’t work at all. I think that will be avoided by using an other name.