How to Make the Taskbar Transparent in Windows 10

It’s true that there are several ways you can optimize the Windows 10 experience, but it’s also true that this operating system is a frustrating mess. We’ve highlighted many of the things that annoy us in Windows 10, such as Microsoft forcing updates on users, but one sticks out in particular.


There’s a disturbing lack of personalization and customization options, especially when compared to previous versions of the operating system. If you want to tweak Windows 10, you’ll have to rely on third-party utilities — assuming such utilities exist for what you want to do.

TranslucentTB is one such example.

Once downloaded, just double-click the EXE and your taskbar will turn transparent. By default, it will use the Blur setting which makes the taskbar look like frosted glass, but you can use the system tray icon to switch to Clear mode which makes it totally transparent.

Note that some antivirus programs may flat TranslucentTB as a virus or malware. Feel free to ignore such warnings and add it to the antivirus whitelist. It’s an open source program so if you’re skeptical or suspicious, you can check out the code for yourself.

How to Start TransparentTB 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 TransparentTB 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.

• --blur makes the taskbar blurry, which is also the default offering.
• --opaque makes the taskbar a single solid color (no transparency.) By default the color is black, but you can change it using --tint.
• --transparent makes the taskbar transparent. With --tint you can add a slight color highlight.
• --tint lets you select a color that works with the --opaque or transparent option (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:

TranslucentTB.exe --transparent

Maybe you, like a friend of mine, really really like the color orange. If so, try this command:

TranslucentTB.exe --opaque --tint FF8000

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.

Source: Makeuseof, Howtogeek