It is always fun to personalize your PC the way you like it, and adjusting the color scheme of menus and taskbar is a part of it. Windows allows you to either set a single color on your taskbar or let it change automatically according to the current wallpaper displayed.

The latter option sets the color of the taskbar by determining the dominant color of the wallpaper and as mentioned above, changes whenever a new wallpaper appears on your desktop from the slideshow.

Note: The color you set for the taskbar will also reflect on the Start Menu of your Windows device. There’s no way to change it only for the taskbar.

Changing the Taskbar Color in Windows 11

You can change the taskbar color from the Settings app. First, head to the Start Menu and click on the ‘Settings’ tile to proceed. Alternatively, you can press the Windows + I keys together on your keyboard to open the app.

Then, click on the ‘Personalization’ tab from the left sidebar to proceed.

Next, click on the ‘Colors’ tile from the right section.

From the ‘Choose your mode’ tile, click the drop-down menu and select either ‘Custom’ or ‘Dark’. Curiously, the taskbar color isn’t available with the Light mode so you can’t skip this step.

If you select ‘Dark’, your Windows, as well as apps, will be in the dark mode.

But if you chose ‘Custom’, you can have different settings for Windows and apps. In this case, from the ‘Choose your default Windows mode’ tile, select ‘Dark’. Having Windows in the dark mode is essential for the taskbar color option to be available. You can leave the default app mode as ‘Light’ and it won’t affect the taskbar color.

After that, click on the dropdown menu following the ‘Accent color’ option and select the ‘Automatic’ or ‘Manual’ option, as per your preference. The ‘Automatic’ option will set the accent color according to the current wallpaper of your device.

If you select ‘Manual’, you can either click on a color from the grid of options or click on the ‘View colors’ button on the Custom colors tile to set a color using the color picker.

Once done, click on the toggle following the ‘Show accent color on Start and taskbar’ option to turn it on. This toggle won’t be available in the light Windows theme.

After the toggle has been turned on, you will be able to notice the accent color on the taskbar and the Start Menu.

How to Change Taskbar Color Without Windows being Activated

Changing the Taskbar color on a non-activated Windows version can prove to be tricky. However, it is possible by tweaking the Registry Editor of the system.

First, head to the Start Menu and type Registry to perform a search. Then, from the search results, click on the ‘Registry Editor’ tile to continue.

After that, type or copy+paste the below-mentioned address in the address bar and hit Enter to navigate to the directory.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\Personalize folder

After that, double-click on the ‘ColorPrevalance’ DWORD file to open its properties.

Now, enter 1 in the value field and click on the ‘OK’ button to confirm and close.

Then, type or copy+paste the below-mentioned address to navigate to the directory.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

After that, double-click on the ‘AutoColorization’ DWORD file to continue.

Then, enter 1 in the value field and click on the ‘OK’ button.

Finally, restart your PC to let the changes take effect. The Taskbar and Start Menu will now have an accent color matching the current desktop wallpaper. The accent color will change whenever a new wallpaper is set.

There you go, people. You can easily change the color of the taskbar on your Windows device and shake things up by using the method mentioned above.