How to Change the Inactive Title Bar Color in Windows 10?

The title bar color in Windows 10 is plain white by default, both for active windows as well as for inactive windows. Using the Personalize app, one can change the accent/color of the active title bar, but inactive title bar remains white as usual. However there is a registry setting to change inactive title bar color easily.

The above is the default title bar color, white, for both active and inactive windows. The active title bar color can be changed via Personalize >> Colors >> choosing an accent color >> enabling the option Show color on Start, taskbar, action center and title bar.

With that done, the active title bar color is changed, but the inactive title bar color isn’t.

To change the inactive title bar color, you need to create or edit a registry value named AccentColorInactive, set the preferred color code for that value.

Color Choices

start Paintbrush (mspaint.exe) or any tool that has a decent color picker module in it. Click the Edit colors button in the toolbar.

Pick a color from the list, or make up a custom color.

Note down the Red : Green : Blue (RGB) values, and convert each color code to HEX format using the calculator application (scientific mode).

For example, if you got 106 92 108 in the Edit Colors dialog, the HEX equivalent would be #66606C [ that is 66 60 6C].

Important: What we’ve got is the color code in RGB format… whereas Windows 10 stores the color codes in reverse format, that is BGR format instead of RGB. So, you’d be inputting 6C6066 in the registry.

Start the Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) and go to this key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\DWM

Create a DWORD (32-bit) value named AccentColorInactive

Double-click AccentColorInactive and set its value data accordingly (6C6066, as derived earlier).

Close Registry Editor, and note that the change is applied immediately by the Desktop Window Manager, thus requiring no logoff-logon or restarting the shell.

That’s it!