Can't change taskbar color

I just cold reinstalled 1903 18362.175 from USB via Media Creation Tool because of insufferable errors in the version I had upgraded to. For the foreseeable future I'll be reinstalling programs and trying to tame the interface. The taskbar, which I had a nice dark green, is now white. So I went to Settings/Colors and selected the green. As on the screenshot, the Title bars and borders were easily changed but the taskbar is greyed out and not responsive. What's going on?

I also attempted to add Classic Shell and the more recent Open Shell. Neither worked. The Start button graphic showed OK but was inoperable. Classic shell used to have a color choice for the taskbar but it's missing now.

tcebob said:

I just cold reinstalled 1903 18362.175 from USB via Media Creation Tool because of insufferable errors in the version I had upgraded to. For the foreseeable future I'll be reinstalling programs and trying to tame the interface. The taskbar, which I had a nice dark green, is now white. So I went to Settings/Colors and selected the green. As on the screenshot, the Title bars and borders were easily changed but the taskbar is greyed out and not responsive. What's going on?

I also attempted to add Classic Shell and the more recent Open Shell. Neither worked. The Start button graphic showed OK but was inoperable. Classic shell used to have a color choice for the taskbar but it's missing now.

You have to switch to Dark Theme.

tcebob said:

... As on the screenshot, the Title bars and borders were easily changed but the taskbar is greyed out and not responsive. What's going on?

Edwin said:

You have to switch to Dark Theme.

No, must be something else. I don't use the Dark Theme but the taskbar setting isn't greyed out in my 1903.


Edit: Ah, got it. It's not called the Dark Theme, it's the 'default Windows mode' that must be set to dark.

After a bit of fudging -- it worked!

Editorial: Why is it so obscure to do the simplest things in Windows? You have to stumble around or find a couple of really bright folks like Bree and Edwin. Thanks, guys!

Bree said:

No, must be something else. I don't use the Dark Theme but the taskbar setting isn't greyed out in my 1903.


Edit: Ah, got it. It's not called the Dark Theme, it's the 'default Windows mode' that must be set to dark.

I can't check the 'Start, Taskbar, Action center' box in light mode.
It works in Dark. I don't want dark.
Where can I find the 'Default Windows Mode'?

Donner11 said:

Where can I find the 'Default Windows Mode'?

The 'Default Windows mode' is in Settings > Personalization > Colors. The Windows mode just applies to the Start menu and taskbar bacgrounds, as shown in the preview image.

Dark



Light

I'm in the US. My system is different. And 'Color' is not 'Colour' on mine.

Donner11 said:

I'm in the US. My system is different. And 'Color' is not 'Colour' on mine.

Yes, I noticed you are in the US and used the US spellings in my reply, but drew the line at changing my system language before making the screenshots

It's not the language that make your system look different, it's the version. You must be on version 1809 (or earlier), my screenshots are from version 1903. The OP was using 1903 and it was this new 'Default Windows mode' setting that was causing them problems.

Bree said:

Yes, I noticed you are in the US and used the US spellings in my reply, but drew the line at changing my system language before making the screenshots

It's not the language that make your system look different, it's the version. You must be on version 1809 (or earlier), my screenshots are from version 1903. The OP was using 1903 and it was this new 'Default Windows mode' setting that was causing them problems.

I am in 1903, newest update. Did not have the problem until today when I turned it on.
I can't take a screen shot, won't let me on that page.

Donner11 said:

I am in 1903, newest update. Did not have the problem until today when I turned it on.
I can't take a screen shot, won't let me on that page.

Sounds like you may have deeper problem then. Try running SFC /ScanNow, if that finds issues it cannot fix, then try DISM's RestoreHealth option. You may need to use each several time to fix all issues, restarting between each. See these tutorials...

Run SFC Command in Windows 10

Use DISM to Repair Windows 10 Image