Changing Desktop Solid Color Via Registry

Question

does anyone know where in the registry for a user the current solid desktop background color is set?

score 12 · Accepted Answer · answered May 11 '11 at 02:41

12

HKCU\Control Panel\Colors\Background

It's a string with a space between the numbers for red/green/blue, for instance for straight blue: "0 0 255"

answered May 11 '11 at 02:41

Shane Madden

116,404
13
187
256

score 9 · Answer 2 · edited Feb 06 '20 at 22:57

9

the command line "reg add" works well. You can also import this registry:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

; remove picture wallpaper
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]
"WallPaper"=""

; set RGB = black
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Colors]
"Background"="0 0 0"

edited Feb 06 '20 at 22:57

Tarulia

103

answered Dec 04 '19 at 22:12

Dave

91

score 4 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 31 '19 at 10:42

You can change the desktop background for a user in the registry.

First remove the wallpaper, if there is one:

reg add "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop" /v WallPaper /t REG_SZ /d " " /f

Then set you color. The values are in RGB so for example "255 0 0" would be red.

reg add "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Colors" /v Background /t REG_SZ /d "0 66 117" /f

score 3 · Answer 4 · answered May 06 '20 at 00:29

In Windows 10 1809, to set the wallpaper to Solid color: black (0 0 0)

:: BackgroundType: 0 -> Picture | 1 -> Solid color | 2 -> Slideshow
reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Wallpapers" /v BackgroundType /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
reg add "HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop" /v WallPaper /t REG_SZ /d "" /f
reg add "HKCU\Control Panel\Colors" /v Background /t REG_SZ /d "0 0 0" /f

Must logoff and login back to apply.

daniol · Answer 5 · 2020-01-13T10:31:14.007

2

The changes on the registry are not applied immediately.

A better alternative would be to use the windows function SetSysColors in C++.

See this answer: https://stackoverflow.com/a/19849675/3844137

edited Jan 13 '20 at 10:31

answered Sep 14 '17 at 12:08

daniol

54

score 0 · Answer 6 · edited Mar 28 '23 at 00:13

0

I changed my HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\Colors settings and later wanted to revert back to the original settings, but couldn't find the default colour codes. In case anyone finds it useful, here is a screenshot I made from another system showing the default colour values:

$HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop\Colors showing default values$

edited Mar 28 '23 at 00:13

fission

3,761

answered Mar 25 '23 at 12:25

Tiefklang

1

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Jun 02 '25 at 12:42

#!/usr/bin/env pwsh
#Requires -PSEdition 'Core'
#Requires -Version 7.6.0
#Requires -RunAsAdministrator
#Requires -Modules 'Microsoft.PowerShell.Management'

$Value = '0 0 0'
    # For `#000000`, as an example.

If ($IsWindows) {
    If ((Test-Path -LiteralPath 'HKCU:\Control Panel\Desktop') -NE $True) { New-Item 'HKCU:\Control Panel\Desktop' -Force -EA 'SilentlyContinue' }
    If ((Test-Path -LiteralPath 'HKCU:\Control Panel\Colors') -NE $True) { New-Item 'HKCU:\Control Panel\Colors' -Force -EA 'SilentlyContinue' }
    New-ItemProperty -LiteralPath 'HKCU:\Control Panel\Desktop' -Name 'WallPaper' -Value '' -PropertyType 'String' -Force -EA 'SilentlyContinue'
    New-ItemProperty -LiteralPath 'HKCU:\Control Panel\Colors' -Name 'Background' -Value "$Value" -PropertyType 'String' -Force -EA 'SilentlyContinue'
}

Changing Desktop Solid Color Via Registry

7 Answers7