How to Make the Taskbar Fully Transparent in Windows 10

Today I accidentally stumbled upon a hidden gem in Windows 10, a registry setting that activates high transparency for the Taskbar. It’s the UseOLEDTaskbarTransparency registry value that does the magic.

Update: This registry edit works in Windows 10 version 1903 and earlier. It doesn’t seem to work if you have v1909, 2004, or higher installed. In Windows 10 1909, 2004 and higher, you may try TranslucentTB or a similar third-party utility.

Make the Taskbar Fully Transparent

1. Click Start, type regedit.exe, and go to:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

2. Create a new DWORD (32-bit) value named UseOLEDTaskbarTransparency
3. Double-click UseOLEDTaskbarTransparency and set its value data to 1
4. Go to the following branch:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Dwm

5. Create a DWORD (32-bit) value named ForceEffectMode
6. Set the data for ForceEffectMode to 1
7. Exit the Registry Editor.
8. Right-click Desktop, click Personalize
9. Click Color, and enable the Transparency effects.
10. Also, enable these options:
    • Automatically pick an accent color from my background
    • Show accent color on: Start, taskbar, action center
    • Show accent color on: Title bars and window borders
      
      Note: If they’re already enabled, turn off one of the three settings and then toggle it back on. This is done in order to apply the above registry edit without requiring to restart the Shell.

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Download Registry File for this setting – W10-OLED-Taskbar-Transparency.zip

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The high transparency taskbar mode (OLED) is activated. Here are some screenshots, before and after applying the registry setting:

In the background is the lovely Beauty of Britain theme wallpaper.

Closer shots.

While this registry edit doesn’t achieve 100% taskbar transparency, it’s still a super tweak that most users will like for sure. This was first tested in 10586.104, and works just fine in later builds – up to version 1903.