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Add custom colors to the Colors section of the Settings app in Windows 10

In Windows 10, it is possible to define 8 additional colors which will be displayed in Personalization -> Colors page in the Settings app. This can be done with a simple Registry tweak. In this article, we will see how it can be done.

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The Settings app in Windows 10 reads the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\Accents

There you can set your own custom colors which the Settings app will show on the Colors page of the Personalization section. Follow these instructions:

  1. Open Registry Editor.
  2. Go to the following Registry key:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\Accents

    Tip: You can access any desired Registry key with one click.
    This key might not exist by default. Create it yourself in that case.

  3. In the Accents key, create a new subkey named 0. So, you will get the following path:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\Accents\0
  4. In the 0 key, create a new subkey named Theme0. So, you will get the following path:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\Accents\0\Theme0
  5. In the Theme0 subkey, create a new a 32-bit DWORD value named Color. This value is the color expressed in the ABGR format, i.e. Alpha, Blue, Green, Red color channels. You can edit its value to specify your own custom color. For example, you can add a blue color by changing the SpecialColor value data to FF FF 00 00:Windows 10 custom color
  6. Now, you can set 7 additional colors using the same method described above. You need to specify the Color value in the following Registry keys:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\Accents\0\Theme0
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\Accents\0\Theme1
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\Accents\1\Theme0
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\Accents\1\Theme1
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\Accents\2\Theme0
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\Accents\2\Theme1
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\Accents\3\Theme0
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\Accents\3\Theme1
    

    In every Theme* subkey, you need to create a 32-bit DWORD value named Color with the color value in ABGR format as mentioned above.Windows 10 custom colors registry

  7. After you set all desired colors, you need to reboot your PC.
  8. Now, open the Settings app and you should see all the colors you added. Just for example, I set all colors to blue:Windows 10 custom colors all blueIn the picture above, you can see where the new colors will appear.

The same can be done using Winaero Tweaker. Go to Appearance -> Custom Accents:
Winaero Tweaker Custom accents
Use this option to avoid Registry editing.

That's it. Customize these 8 colors as you want so you can get a unique appearance in Windows 10 with these additional color presets. Note that this feature only works starting with build 10162 which was recently released for Slow and Fast Ring Insiders. You can use my Registry tweak which you can modify using your own colors or import it as is:

Download the Registry file (*.reg)

Remember there is an additional "SpecialColor" value which can also be used to add a custom color in the Settings app. See the following article for more details: Add a custom color for taskbar to Windows 10 Settings app. So, you are able to use up to 9 custom colors defined on your own in Windows 10.

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Author: Sergey Tkachenko

Sergey Tkachenko is a software developer who started Winaero back in 2011. On this blog, Sergey is writing about everything connected to Microsoft, Windows and popular software. Follow him on Telegram, Twitter, and YouTube.

13 thoughts on “Add custom colors to the Colors section of the Settings app in Windows 10”

  1. What code are the colors in (hex, kml or something else)? Is it case sensitive? Also, why is each color the same blue yet the keys have different values, does this mean they are slightly different shade (I just can’t see it)?

  2. I followed all of these instructions, and I really want to make them work, but for some reason nothing is changing at all. I didn’t have any accents key there, so I made it like you suggested. Is there any chance that windows just doesn’t know to look for the accents key that I put there? Really want to make this work.

    Any suggestions?

  3. I was looking for a tweaker that could help me get rid of the annoying line that Windows 10 adds below the taskbar active icons (tabs) …… and I thought with the custon color feature here I could make it to be same as Taskbar color (black) and hence hide the lines!!
    But sadly these custom colors don’t have any effect on the line color and the line color changes to default blue no matter which custom color you choose …… any ideas how to go about this? thanks!!

  4. gray colors cannot be selected, it makes everthing blue when i select gray tones, it works with any other colors except gray

  5. I downloaded your 8 custom colors and changed the first color to white and the second color to black. They showed up on the Colors of Settings but they will only give you blue. The other six colors, which you set, all appear. My build of Windows 10 is 14393. Is there any way to make this work?

  6. win 10
    real problem with themes, background color, title colors.
    have to enable colored title bars then
    light color scheme, then
    goto win personalize and
    set color as close to light grey as possible.
    could you add lightest to white for title bars thanks

  7. Is there a way to change the font color for the title bar text of an inactive window?
    The default light grey is almost impossible to see on just about any colored title bar.

  8. What is the point of having “8 custom colors” if there is zero description as to what each of the 8 colors applies to?

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