How to Change Inactive Title Bar Color in Windows 10 & 11

You can add a custom color to the inactive title bars. Here is how to change the inactive title bar color in Windows 10 & 11 OSes.

In Windows 10 and 11, all inactive windows have a white title bar. This is the default Windows behavior regardless of your accent color. If you don’t like the generic white color or looking to customize it, follow the below steps to change the inactive title bar color.

Windows lets you choose almost any accent color for title bars and other elements like the Start menu, taskbar, and the action center. As long as a window is active, the accent color is applied to the title bar of that window. On all other windows, i.e, inactive windows, the title bar color is set to the generic white color. If you don’t like it, you can change it from the registry.

Though changing the inactive title bar color is nothing hard, it can be a bit tricky. But I will try to be as simple and descriptive as possible in my explanation. So, it should be fine.

Without further ado, let me show you how to change the inactive title bar color in Windows 10 and 11 operating systems.

The steps below work the same in Windows 10 and 11.

Select a color for inactive title bar

First, you need to select a color of your choice to apply to the inactive title bar. Windows takes hex color codes for custom colors. So, go to this website site and choose the color of your choice and copy the Hex code.

In my case, I’m choosing a light blueish/purplish color and its hex code is 6F72BA. Ignore the # symbol, we don’t need it.

Generally, all color hex codes are in RGB (Red, Green, Blue) format. So, if you divide the 6F72BA hex code into RGB, you get:

• Red — 6F
• Green — 72
• Blue — BA

However, Windows needs a BGR hex code (Blue, Green, Red). So, switch red and blue places in the hex code you got earlier to get the BGR hex code. In my case, the BGR hex code will be BA726F. As you can see, I’ve shifted BA to the start of the hex code and 6F to the end.

Once you have the BGR hex code, follow the next steps to change the inactive title bar color.

Change the inactive title bar color

Back up the registry before making changes. The backup helps in restoring the registry if something goes wrong.

We need to edit the registry and add the BGR color to add color to inactive title bars. Here’s how to do it.

1. Press the “Start” key on your keyboard.
2. Search and open “Registry Editor.”
3. Go to the following folder.
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\DWM
4. Right-click on the “DWM” folder.
5. Name the new value as “AccentColorInactive.”
6. Double-click the “AccentColorInactive” value.
7. Add the BGR value in the Value Data field.
8. Select the “Hexadecimal” radio option.
9. Press the “Ok” button.
10. Close the Registry Editor.
11. Reboot Windows.
12. With that, you have successfully changed the inactive title bar color.

Steps with more details:

Press the Start key on your keyboard to open the start menu. Next, search for “Registry Editor” and open it.

Copy the below path, paste it into the Registry Editor’s address bar, and press the Enter key. You will be taken to the target folder. You can also navigate to this folder manually from the Registry Editor’s sidebar.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\DWM

Right-click on the “DWM” folder and choose “New > DWORD (32-bit) value”. Name the new value as “AccentColorInactive”.

Double-click on the newly created value and enter the BGR hex code you got in the Value Data field. Ensure the “Hexadecimal” radio option is selected. Press the “Ok” button to save the changes.

Close Windows Registry Editor.

The changes are instant and you will see the custom color on inactive title bars.

If you are not seeing the colored inactive title bars, reboot the system and check again.

If you ever want to revert back, simply delete the “AccentColorInactive” value we created and you are good to go.

—

That is all. It is that simple to change the inactive title bar color in Windows 10 and 11.

I hope this simple and easy Windows how-to guide helped you.

If you are stuck or need some help, send an email, and I will try to help as much as possible.