{"id":17909,"date":"2020-08-15T11:04:21","date_gmt":"2020-08-15T05:34:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=17909"},"modified":"2023-08-08T20:02:33","modified_gmt":"2023-08-08T14:32:33","slug":"show-accent-color-start-taskbar-action-center-grayed-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/show-accent-color-start-taskbar-action-center-grayed-out\/","title":{"rendered":"[Fix] &#8220;Start, Taskbar, and Action Center&#8221; Accent Color Setting Greyed Out"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After installing the Windows 10 Feature Update 1903 or higher, you may have noticed that the accent color checkbox <strong>Start, taskbar, and action center<\/strong> is grayed out. The recent Windows 10 versions come with a new Light Theme (&#8220;Light&#8221; color mode) that displays the Taskbar, Start menu, action center, notification area pop-ups, etc., in light grey color.<\/p>\n<p>When the light color mode is enabled for Windows, the Taskbar, Start menu, and the action center can&#8217;t be colorized, which is why those settings are dimmed out. This is by design. You&#8217;ll be able to show an accent color for window title bars and borders, though.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-17910\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/taskbar-accent-disabled-1.png\" alt=\"show accent color on taskbar start menu disabled or greyed out\" width=\"367\" height=\"126\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Here is how to enable the dark color mode for Taskbar, Start Menu, and the Action Center. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/find-windows-10-build-version-edition-bit\/\">current version<\/a> of Windows 10 is 20H2 as of this post, and the instructions apply to version 20H2 as well.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<h2>[Fix] &#8220;Start, Taskbar, and Action Center&#8221; Accent Color Setting Greyed Out<\/h2>\n<p>To colorize the Taskbar, Start menu, and action center, follow one of these methods to enable the dark theme for Windows.<\/p>\n<h3>Option 1: Change the default Window mode to dark color<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>Open Settings, Personalization, and click Colors<\/li>\n<li>Under the Choose your color dropdown box, choose <strong>Custom<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Select the Windows mode to <strong>Dark<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>For the default app mode, you can either select <strong>Light<\/strong> or <strong>Dark<\/strong> as you&#8217;d like.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-17911\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/taskbar-accent-disabled-2.png\" alt=\"show accent color on taskbar start menu disabled or greyed out\" width=\"628\" height=\"703\" \/><\/li>\n<li>Enable the checkbox for <strong>Start, taskbar, and action center<\/strong> which should be available now.\n<div class=\"newline\"><em>(And, if you want your taskbar to change colors when your desktop changes the background, select <strong>Automatically pick an accent color from my background<\/strong>, under &#8220;Choose your accent color&#8221;.)<\/em><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-6338 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/icotip.gif\" alt=\"tips bulb icon\" width=\"34\" height=\"34\" \/>Note:<\/strong> If the Windows mode and default app mode options are missing even after choosing <strong>Custom<\/strong>, then select either the <strong>Light<\/strong> or <strong>Dark<\/strong> option under &#8220;Choose your color&#8221; dropdown box. Then revert to <strong>Custom<\/strong>. This enables the Windows mode and default app mode option radio-buttons.<\/p>\n<h3>Option 2: Revert to the default Windows theme<\/h3>\n<p>Alternately, you can revert to the default theme to get the accent color checkbox option back:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In the Personalize settings window, click on Themes.<\/li>\n<li>Select the default <strong>Windows<\/strong> theme.<br \/>\n(<em>you can change the background image to your desired wallpaper later &#8212; no issues<\/em>)<\/li>\n<li>Click on the <strong>Colors<\/strong> option on the left.<\/li>\n<li>Enable the Show accent color checkbox option <strong>Start, taskbar, and action center<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I hope you were able to colorize your Taskbar, Start menu, and Action Center now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After installing the Windows 10 Feature Update 1903 or higher, you may have noticed that the accent color checkbox Start, taskbar, and action center is grayed out. The recent Windows 10 versions come with a new Light Theme (&#8220;Light&#8221; color mode) that displays the Taskbar, Start menu, action center, notification area pop-ups, etc., in light &#8230; <a title=\"[Fix] &#8220;Start, Taskbar, and Action Center&#8221; Accent Color Setting Greyed Out\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/show-accent-color-start-taskbar-action-center-grayed-out\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about [Fix] &#8220;Start, Taskbar, and Action Center&#8221; Accent Color Setting Greyed Out\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-windows-10"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3666,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/show-color-title-bar-not-taskbar-start\/","url_meta":{"origin":17909,"position":0},"title":"Show Color on Title bar, but not on Taskbar and Start Menu in Windows 10","author":"Ramesh","date":"August 2, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"With the Anniversary Update, you can show color on the title bar and still have the default (black) color for the Start menu and Taskbar. In earlier Windows 10 builds, you needed a registry edit to independently colorize the title bar. You don't need to hack it anymore, as it's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"colorize title bar but not for taskbar and start menu","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/title-bar-colorization-20h2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1649,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/high-oled-taskbar-transparency-windows-10\/","url_meta":{"origin":17909,"position":1},"title":"How to Make the Taskbar Fully Transparent in Windows 10","author":"Ramesh","date":"February 17, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/w10\/oled-trans-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/w10\/oled-trans-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/w10\/oled-trans-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2278,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/add-taskbar-date-time-clock-missing-windows-10\/","url_meta":{"origin":17909,"position":2},"title":"Date\/Time (Clock) Missing in Taskbar in Windows 10. 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If it's missing suddenly, here is how to add it back: Right-click notifications area in the Taskbar and click \"Customize notifications icons\" Click Turn system icons on or off Enable the Clock toggle button Taskbar fonts\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/w10\/w10-clock-tray.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1582,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/personalize-some-settings-managed-organization\/","url_meta":{"origin":17909,"position":3},"title":"Personalize Settings Says &#8220;Some settings are managed by your organization&#8221;","author":"Ramesh","date":"February 5, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"If the Personalize settings page show the red text message Some settings are managed by your organization at the top, it means that some of the settings in that particular page are locked down by an administrator in that computer, via Group Policy Editor or through the registry. 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