The Windows 10 taskbar is, by default, slightly transparent and tinted to a color you choose. If you know where to look, and you can even increase its transparency with a registry hack. But you can’t make the taskbar completely transparent, so that only your icons show up against your wallpaper.
Unless, that is, you install TranslucentTB—a free, lightweight, and open source application that lets you quickly set your taskbar to be completely transparent. It’s also capable of blurring your taskbar, and even tinting it whatever color you want.
Windows 7: Transparency - Enable or Disable. A) Click on the download button below to download the file below. DisableTransparentGlass.reg Save the.reg file to the Desktop. Right click on the downloaded.reg file, and click on Merge. Click on Run, Yes (Windows 7) or Continue (Vista), Yes, and OK when prompted. How to make taskbar transparent in Windows 10. Also, you can increase the taskbar transparency level. However, you can’t make the taskbar totally transparent and use blur in this mode to make it look like Windows 7's taskbar with Aero Glass enabled.
How to Install and Use TranslucentTB
To get started, download the latest release. TranslucentTB comes in a ZIP file, so unzip it and put the EXE wherever you like.
We recommend you store the application somewhere in your user directory, but the root directory in your C drive is also a decent choice. Wherever you put the application, go head and launch it. You’ll see the effects immediately, as the taskbar becomes blurred.
You’ll find an icon for the application in your system tray, which offers two main options: Blur or Clear.
The transparent (Clear) option is nice if you want to see your entire wallpaper. The blurred look is nice if you want the taskbar to be distinct, but also want to see colors consistent with what’s in the bottom of the image.
How to Start TranslucentTB at Boot
Like the look, but want it to start when you boot Windows? That’s easy. First, press the Windows key and R to launch the Run command.
Type shell:startup and hit Enter. A File Explorer window will open to the Startup folder. Drag your TranslucentTB executable to this folder with the right mouse button.
When you let go, you’ll be asked what you’d like to do. Select “Create shortcuts here.”
You’ve now created a shortcut to your executable in the startup folder, meaning the application will launch at boot.
Accessing a Few Additional Options
If you want TranslucentTB to start transparent, instead of blurred, we need to learn about the command prompt options offered. They’re outlined nicely here, but here’s a quick summary.
--blurmakes the taskbar blurry, which is also the default offering.--opaquemakes the taskbar a single solid color (no transparency.) By default the color is black, but you can change it using--tint.--transparentmakes the taskbar transparent. With--tintyou can add a slight color highlight.--tintlets you select a color that works with the--opaqueortransparentoption (does not work with--blur.) You’ll need the hex code for the color you want; this site makes it easy to discover that number.
Simply pick the six-digit code for the color you want, removing the “#” from the front.
To test any settings, close TranslucentTB if it’s running already. Next, open the command prompt and head to the folder where you’re storing the application using cd. Then try running TranslucentTB.exe followed by the options you want. For example, if you want a transparent taskbar, this is the command:
Maybe you, like a friend of mine, really really like the color orange. If so, try this command:
You get the idea. If you used the steps above to make TranslucentTB start at boot, you can add the options we’ve discovered here to that shortcut. Simply right-click the shortcut, then click “Properties.”
Now, in the “target” box, we can add our options after the executable. Like this:
The program will now start at boot with your preferred options.
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I am a sucker for transparency. When the Aero glass theme first came out in Windows Vista, I was awed with how good it looked at the time. It still looks very nice to this day.
Unfortunately, starting from Windows 8, Microsoft has started to divert away from transparency. In Windows 7, the aero glass was there to beautify the screen. However, Windows 8, 8.1 and then the latest, Windows 10 don’t have anything that would even remotely resemble the transparency of aero theme.
I was searching on the web for enabling some ‘hidden’ theme of sort, which might allow me to get the transparent theme in Windows 10. This is when I came across the Classic Shell.
Eross Candra is currently working on his solo/side-project band called Jagostu. Sheila on 7 is an alternative rock band from Yogyakarta, Indonesia. They have changed their lineup several times since their formation on 6 May 1996. Their current lineup (2006) consists of Akhdiyat Duta Modjo (Vocal), Adam Muhammad Subarkah (Bass), Eross Candra (Guitar) and Brian Kresno Putro (Drums). Their first lineup consisted of Akhdiyat Duta Modjo (Vocals), Saktia Ari Seno (Guitar), Eross Candra (Guitar), Adam Muhammad Subarkah (Bass) and Anton Widiastanto (Drum). 
The Classic Shell is a start menu replacement utility for Windows. It can be used to get the older Windows 7 style start menu on any Windows version. I personally really like the newer start menu, so I have no reason to ever use it.
Or this is what I thought until I came across the setting which allowed me to tweak the taskbar transparency. In this post, I’ll be showing you the instructions on how to adjust the taskbar opacity and transparency.
Adjust the taskbar transparency with Classic Shell
For making the taskbar transparent, you will need to use the Classic shell. It has the option to set the taskbar transparency to our liking. To make it transparent, you can adjust the opacity value and get the results. Let’s continue with the steps.
Enable Taskbar Transparency Windows 10
- Downloadthe latest version of the Classic Shell.
- Once downloaded, open the exe file downloaded and proceed with the setup by clicking on Next button on the first screen. Then, accept the license agreement and again click on Next button. This is when you’ll see the Custom setup screen.
- On this screen, you have the option of selecting the components which you want to install via the Classic shell. For the purpose of making the taskbar transparent, you only need the Classic Start Menu and Shell Update. However, I’ll be installing all fours given in the list for the sake of the tutorial.
- Once you have made your choice, click Nextand then Install button. This will start the installation process which will take a few seconds to complete. Once done, click on Finish.
- Once the setup completes, you will be automatically greeted with the shell settings screen. Here, you can adjust the style and appearance of the taskbar and start menu. On this screen, click on the “Show all settings” checkbox. This will reveal a plethora of hidden settings for you to adjust including the one which you are after.
- Click on Taskbar tab and then check the “Customize taskbar” checkbox. This will reveal the options which can be used to make the taskbar transparent, opaque or whatever you want.
- In the Taskbar look heading, click on “Transparent” radio button. After this set the opacity to a number less than 50. You will need to edit the value from 85 (default) to 50 and then press enter.
- Depending on how you like, you can even set the value to 0 for truly hiding the taskbar. I generally set it to somewhere between 15 to 35. Once you have decided what value you want, click on OK to close the settings box.
How To Make Taskbar Transparent Windows 7
This is it. You can also reset to the default settings if you think that something doesn’t look right. For that, again head over to the settings for Classic shell. You can access the settings by right-clicking on the start menu icon and selecting Settings. From there, go the Taskbar tab again, select the opacity and press Ctrl + Space keys. This will set the default values for the taskbar.