How to Make Alt+Tab Background Fully Transparent

On Windows 10, when you use Alt + Tab to switch windows, the grid background is black by default, and the background windows and desktop icons are displayed as shown in this image. This post unveils some hidden registry settings to configure how the Alt+Tab switcher displays.

(Desktop icons shown in the background)

Hidden Registry Settings for Alt + Tab

Hide Desktop Icons and Windows during Alt+Tab

To hide the desktop icons and windows in the background (so that only the Alt+Tab switcher shows up on the screen), here is the registry edit:

1. Open regedit.exe and go to:

   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MultitaskingView

2. Create a subkey and name it as AltTabViewHost
3. In the right-pane of AltTabViewHost key, create a REG_DWORD value named Wallpaper
4. Double-click Wallpaper and set its data to 1

   

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Make Alt+Tab Transparent

In the AltTabViewHost registry key, create a DWORD value named Grid_backgroundPercent

Double-click “Grid_backgroundPercent” value and set its data accordingly. 0 means fully transparent. 100 is fully opaque. You may set something around 5 to 10.

After setting it to 0, here is how it appears.

If the window titles are not clear, you may want to set the opacity to 10 or more.

Alternatively, create a value named BackgroundDimmingLayer_percentif you want to dim the background wallpaper (not the grid background) and set the opacity as required. Here I set the BackgroundDimmingLayer_percent to 40% (decimal: 40), and here is how it looks.

Exit the Registry Editor.

There are plenty of other settings related to Alt +Tab, but most are trivial.

Registry File for the Above Settings

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MultitaskingView\AltTabViewHost]
"Grid_backgroundPercent"=dword:00000000
"BackgroundDimmingLayer_percent"=dword:00000028
"wallpaper"=dword:00000001

That’s it!

(Originally published on 22-Jun-2016, and Last Reviewed on 04-Sep-2022)