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Why Do My Icons Have a Background Color in Windows XP?

If you’ve been wondering why your XP desktop icons have a background color, you’ll be glad to know you can flip a checkbox and have them go back to a normal transparent background.

Here’s the two versions side by side.

  

To set the transparent background on the icons, we’ll need to open System Properties in Control Panel (or right-click on My Computer and select Properties).

In this dialog, click the Advanced tab, and then the Settings button under the Performance section.

Now scroll down to the button where you’ll find a checkbox for “Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop”. Make sure you check this box if you want transparent backgrounds on the icons.

Why this option isn’t just labeled “Enable Transparent Icons On the Desktop”, I just can’t say.

Update

If the above does not work, you might want to also check these additional settings suggested by readers in the comments.

  • You can’t be displaying a web page as your background. To check this, right-click on the desktop and choose Properties. Select Customize desktop on the Desktop tab, then select the Web tab on the desktop items window and deselect any web pages that are shown.
  • You need to make sure that High Contrast is not selected under Accessibility \ Display Options in your Control Panel.
The Geek is the founder of How-To Geek and a geek enthusiast. This article was written on 05/1/07 and tagged with: Windows

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Comments (112)

  1. Bob

    This has been driving me nuts on several (but not all) otherwise identical systems in our company. Thanks for the tip!

  2. Chad Everett

    I agree, nice tip – but it doesn’t (always) work. :)

    In other words, the box is checked, but my desktop still has the background. I think it may have something to do with another function (which, I can’t say).

    I’m running Windows XP SP2, and I’ve got no love for drop shadows here. Thanks though!

  3. AV

    Chad that could be because you may have set to display a web page in the background, To disable the webpage

    Right Click on your desktop–> Properties Select Customize desktop under Desktop tab.

    Now select Web tab in the Desktop Items window, and deselect if any web pages are shown.

    And you will have the transparant background

  4. The Geek

    Thanks AV… My readers are great!

  5. Shravan

    hey thanks for the TIP , the second one worked.

  6. Lips

    none of the suggestions worked, what next

  7. Siva Rama Krishna

    Thanks alol sir,

    It is very useful to getrid some problems

    Thanking you sir,

    yours sincerely,
    siva rama krishna

  8. Raj Nooti

    When both of these do not work, there is a third way (or an addition to the second step). Under web (Customize desktop -> Web), de-select ‘Lock desktop icons’ which then enables users to modify icon properties. I had the same problem and solved it this way.

  9. Prameet Sinha

    Hey, the second one worked its great to see the desktop. I need your help in an anoher problem, i have windows XP Media Center. I dont have sort by name option in Start -> Program Files.

    Can you help me in This??

  10. Shawn

    Thanks for the help, worked like a charm.

  11. Sweetest gibbon

    I’ve followed all of the above instructions, but still can’t get this to work! Any other suggestions?

    Cheers

  12. Ted McC

    HOW-TO GEEK,

    YOU ARE AWSOME. THANK YOU GREATLY FOR THE 2nd SUGGESTION. MY DESKTOP ICON LABELS’ BACKGROUNDS ARE NOW TRANSPARENT. I CAN’T THANK YOU ENOUGH.

  13. LeAnne W

    I had this same problem and the only thing that worked for me was this: In Display Properties, click the Desktop tab and then Customize Desktop. Under the Web tab, make sure that none of the web page checkboxes are selected to display on your desktop. I tried many other suggestions, and this was my winner

  14. Taboo Tongue

    If you still can’t get it to work, like myself, check the file type of your background image. I was always using PNGs because ‘why have any-loss when I can have lossless?’. Answer: it gives you that color behind the text and icons you hate…
    Convert your background image to jpg and you will probably be fine.

  15. Alex

    I’ve been having this problem for a while! The tip from Raj Nootie:

    ‘Under web (Customize desktop -> Web), de-select ‘Lock desktop icons’ which then enables users to modify icon properties’

    worked perfectly!

  16. Marilou David

    thanks for the help…..

  17. Cody

    Wow thanks a lot :) .

  18. paul

    I’m really getting frustrated, none of the above suggestions have worked for me, de-seclting web pages, lock desktop icons, checking the drop down menu box, none of them, but a few of you said that when you unlock the desktop icons it allows you to modify icon properties, how do i get to icon properties? If anyone has any other suggestions for me i would love it. I do have a brico pack installed on my system to make XP look like vista, would that have anything to do with it?

  19. Mohammed Malik

    Hi all,
    Thanks for the help! :)

  20. Suneel

    Thanks for the help guys.

  21. Deadpool

    Thanks a million! I have been looking everywhere for that!

  22. Tom McDonnel

    i spent WAY too much time trying to find a solution to remove this seemingly benign (but oddly irritating !!)artifact. your directions took me all of 15 seconds to finally rid my icons of its’ shadow. Thank you for the simple and useful info..

    .

  23. Diane

    I did what you stated in the web site.

    My icons have a background color in window and I was trying to make it transparent,
    and I did what you did in the web site.
    But it didn’t work.

    What else can I do to make it transparent?

  24. Paul

    I tried over 5 different things to try to fix this but nothing helped. I noticed that my Windows Picture and Fax Viewer was not working also. So I tried an old trick to fix that, and it fixed the icon issue also. I went to the command prompt (start, run) and typed in “regsvr32 shimgvw.dll” without the quotes, and then changed my resolution to a smaller one and back again, and both issues were fixed.

  25. Diane

    Thank you for your help but ooops! it didn’t work again!
    Is there any other solution for my problem? :(

  26. Diane

    Thank you for your help but that didn’t work well.
    Is there any other solution I can solve my problem? :)

  27. kim SR

    Thats great!!.Thanks for such a wonderful tip.

  28. Julian

    This was a lifesaver. Thanks. I can get back to work now.

  29. Chris

    Thanks AV! You saved me from having to go to an asylum for the rest of my life!

  30. metatlvi

    A big …Thank You!… You guys professionally answered an annoying XP question about how to make the desktop icon captions transparent. I agree.. the phrasing: “..use drop shadows..” must be Bill G’s practical joke! Thanks again.

  31. Ted

    My desktop icons still have the color behind them,

    i have tried and did not work for me, any other option??? please help.

  32. kishor

    i have tried all three options but still not got the solution , by unchecking the web i got the caption color with little colored
    background

  33. lakshmi

    Hey AV, awesome dude
    after trying for sooo long it worked… thanks for ur suggession.. u r genius :)

  34. lakshmi

    hey kishore.. delete that web page fror the list, it wud work.

  35. skynyrd

    nice tip! really helped me… thanx!!!

  36. Terry

    If anyone is still having this problem, also check the Accessibility–>Display options under the Control Panel. Make sure High Contrast is unchecked.

  37. gekko

    Thanks AV.. You are the man! It worked for me.. may god bless you..

  38. Happy Computer User

    Thanks AV…saved my life!

  39. Baboy

    thankz dude!!! when i follow ur first instruction its working!!!

  40. Christoffer

    I just went through this guide, and the tips in the comments but i still could not get the icons to be transparent. If anybody still have this problem, my solution is based on the tip from “Taboo Tongue”, but instead of using JPG (which in some sneaky way enables web content for the desktop without showing it anywhere) I converted the image to BMP to get it to work.

  41. Mattcthis

    To “The Geek”,

    Man I’ve been through so many forums looking for a solution…
    This one actually worked….. I was suprised myself. I guess been thru a lot forums that really don’t give you any soution does that to you. LOL

    Thank You

  42. Joel

    There is also another way that would cause such a thing. Make sure that your icons are not “locked.”

    Right click on the desktop and make sure they are not locked

  43. Puck Robinson

    so the 3 didn’t work for me, but going into the properties of the display settings / desktop / customize desktop / web tab / I clicked properties on ‘my current home page’ (it was the only web page in the selection) and then I deselected ‘make this page available offline’.
    that made the text background go away.

    I don’t know why I had to do this extra step since deselecting desktop web pages should have done it, but it worked for me. try it if the other three options didn’t work.

    good luck.

  44. Marcus

    Thanks it worked for me

    good blog

  45. Kevin

    I tried evry solutions and none did work =(

  46. Abouzar

    Thanks to AV. It worked for me!

  47. Lokesh

    Its wonderfull for my its works

  48. Sanket

    I was whacking my brains over this for a month.. I had a silly web page set under desktop –> customize –> Advanced… Thanks.. It works now..

  49. Raja

    Enabling drop shadows is fine and dandy unless you have a light colored background then it becomes difficult to read the captions.

    Microsoft provides no way to change the font color so you have to turn to a third party tool.

  50. Eddie

    I was fretting over this all day. This helped tremondously.

  51. ak

    I have tried each and evrything what u ppl have said but none worked for me ….plz help !!!

  52. Wally

    Even if you don’t have a web page selected as your background, you still need to uncheck the “Lock Desktop Objects” box in order to get transparent background for your icons.

  53. Beefcake

    Raj Nooti is the best the third option was the one that worked for me !!!! Now my desktop looks normal again; I don’t know how it got whacked out in the first place; but Thank God for the Smart dudes like you Raj Nooti !!!!!

  54. Ann Stevens

    Thanx a lot…..The third comment was wonderful and I cud change the background of icons.

  55. Erik

    Okay, I have tried every single suggestion posted here and NONE of them have worked. I didn’t have this issue until this morning when one of our IT people logged into my PC remotely, after that was when the background color appeared and not being able to get it back to transparent is driving me CRAZY.

  56. Krissi D

    Thanks to Raj Nooti. Nothing worked until I read your comment!

  57. Erik

    I’m still stuck with background color. Any other suggestions?

  58. Bill

    Thank you Paul! I tried 10 different things to fix this before I read your suggestion. I was getting ridiculously frustrated about this. Thank you.

  59. jaded

    Raj Nooti’s tip worked!!! thanks so much!!

  60. Shivajee

    Hey AV

    Great man,,,,i was dieing to solve this problem from last so many months,

    I did it today,,,,you really deserve a big THANKS man

  61. Dave Walton

    Thank you so much for this help,
    I have eventually worked out how to do it!!

    Raj Nooti
    When both of these do not work, there is a third way (or an addition to the second step). Under web (Customize desktop -> Web), de-select ‘Lock desktop icons’ which then enables users to modify icon properties

    This bit helped me so much and cracked my problem!!

    Thanks alot :)

  62. Arron

    I noticed it will do that with all my images unless they are saved as .bmp

  63. bob

    the second one helped me! thanks

  64. Adrian

    Thanks a lot man, this really helped me.
    I was driving nuts with that horibble look of my desktop….and can you imagine that I was using my computer like that since a few weeks. MMMM
    Apreciated man….

  65. Aman

    I hv the unique solution for this…..if all attempts fails and u still face the issue…
    Desktop> Right click> Properties> Desktop> Customize Desktop> Web> then u’ll see couple of web pages just uncheck all… and press OK…
    this will definitely help u

  66. rezzsa

    Thank you. That worked.

    AV May 3, 2007 5:11 am
    Chad that could be because you may have set to display a web page in the background, To disable the webpage

    Right Click on your desktop–> Properties Select Customize desktop under Desktop tab.

    Now select Web tab in the Desktop Items window, and deselect if any web pages are shown.

    And you will have the transparant background

  67. Shailesh Joshi

    Thanks a lot for the solution.

  68. Sherif

    This is really works :)

    THANKS

    Right Click on your desktop–> Properties Select Customize desktop under Desktop tab.

    Now select Web tab in the Desktop Items window, and deselect if any web pages are shown.

    And you will have the transparant background

  69. kalyan

    Thnx a bunch.. I never understood why the background color was showing even though I applied the “use drop shadow” option… :)

  70. George

    Raj Nooti

    this worked for me , 10x a lot

  71. bb161325

    I have tryed everything listed here and STILL have shadows the same color as my backgorund, and I would like to see no shadows and just the picture and icons, this is really irritating and I feel like breaking something now, is there ANYTHING else I can do?

  72. f2002246

    Thanks a lot for the tips…. Such a great relief man!!

  73. thesaleboat

    THank you very much, this was very useful, but it was actually AV’s solution from may 07 that worked for me… you should add that to the main part of the article. ~Thank Agian

  74. Kyle

    This was my issue listed below,

    Thanks

    You can’t be displaying a web page as your background. To check this, right-click on the desktop and choose Properties. Select Customize desktop on the Desktop tab, then select the Web tab on the desktop items window and deselect any web pages that are shown.

  75. hazelg

    thanks guys, esp. raj nooti. your third suggestion worked. thanks.

  76. Lambert

    Cool tip! i never thought i have a webpage displaying on my desktop, i can’t see a thing, my AV cant detect anything too, my anti-spyware too.. i most likely think that this thing was a trojan.. thanks for the tip…

  77. Mike Thompson

    For those of you who still are having trouble with this… try this option.

    START-RUN – TYPE “GPEDIT.MSC
    Go to User Congifiguration-Administrative Templates-desktop-active desktop
    Look to the right and find the setting that says disable active desktop..double click and choose enable…..
    then go to your desktop and hit refresh.

  78. Breathless

    THANKS PAUL!

    Paul’s fix was the only thing that did it for me. If you have tried everything except for Paul’s fix, please try, it will likely work.

  79. Praveen

    Dear Raj Nooti,

    thanks for the info..that solved my problem.

  80. Bijay Acharya

    Great.Thank you very much.The first step is known to me,but that was not working.The second step you provided that was absolutly perfect.Great work.Thank you.

  81. Stormrider

    Hey. Thanks for all the great advices. BUT I have a simpler and more complicated problem – I can’t find my ‘Web’ tab in my ‘Customize Desktop’ page!! Meaning: I don’t have one for me to click on. Why???!!!

    I have to say that this problem occurred after I downloaded some virul program and after having them removed by (AVG 8.0), all the backgrould colour of the icons appeared.

    Please advise in getting my Web tab back!! Thanks.

  82. Mike Thompson

    Click Start, Run and type REGEDIT

    Navigate to the following keys:

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ Explorer

    and

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ Explorer

    Delete the two values NoActiveDesktopChanges & NoActiveDesktop in the right-pane

    Navigate to the following keys:

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ ActiveDesktop

    and

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ ActiveDesktop

    Delete the value NoComponents in both the above locations.

  83. Mike Thompson

    Sorry, the above is for stormrider

  84. Danny Boy

    If all else fails with the desktop icons background try this. Right click on My Computer/properties/ (this brings up the system properties)click on the advanced tab/ then on the performace section, click settings this takes you to performance Options select the Visual Effects tab and scroll down to the second from the botttom “use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop” this should be ticked. Hope this helps

  85. Suneel

    Hey guys,

    If any of the above things dint work for you….then try the procedure as explained by Mike Thompson.
    It worked for me. Give it a try and see.Thanks Mike.

    Good luck

  86. Stormrider

    Hey. I got the icon back to tranparent mode already. Thnaks for all the great advices!!

  87. Blake88

    THANK YOU!!!!!

  88. Vadi

    Thanks a LOT. the second one worked perfectly.

  89. James

    THANK YOU!! as alot of other people said, the second one worked!

  90. Raju

    Thanks AV. The web setting Changes working fine for me.

  91. Ken

    Thanks, really got annoying after awhile, finally used the third option of “Lock desktop items” unchecked….then press OK!! :)

    Thanks again

  92. Gerhard

    Thanks to Mike Thompson 14 September 2008. The gpedit.msc bit did it for me. Also all credit to The Geek and others, I followed all the steps up to Mike’s suggestion. I guess Christoffer might also be on the ball with his BMP suggestion, because following Mike’s advice only allow BMP as background image.

    Thanks all!

  93. Danny

    “Chad that could be because you may have set to display a web page in the background, To disable the webpage

    Right Click on your desktop–> Properties Select Customize desktop under Desktop tab.

    Now select Web tab in the Desktop Items window, and deselect if any web pages are shown.

    And you will have the transparant background”

    HEY THIS ONE SURE WORKED FOR ME I TRIED EVERYTHING ELSE THANKS….

  94. Nikhil

    It took long but finally i was able to have my dektop icons without any background . Thanks to above solution

  95. Eric

    I have tried the original suggestions, there are no web pages checked, the icons aren’t locked and I have tried both of Mike Thompson’s suggestions. That should cover every suggestion that has been made thus far. Are there any other ideas?

    I have a dual monitor display, if that matters.

  96. Gopi Nath

    Thanx Raj Nooti… it’s worked

  97. gaurav--poddar

    thanks bro its work

  98. jumpogon

    thanx so much! iv been trying this for weeks (by myself ), when i have read this it workd thanx

  99. Liam D

    I dont understand why do i not have a ‘Web’ Tab on the ‘customize desktop’ bit?

  100. User

    why in the first place they have this ver BAD description in Windows software?
    and this is just a sample. In spanish version , several descriptions are very long, and without horizontal scroll, you have no clue on what are the remaining words of the “description”. aaaarrggh

    “usability 101″ remember that?

  101. Sanjoga Subudhi

    I have a suggestion to all those readers whose 1st solution don’t work.
    After changing(make tik) the option (right click my computer->properties->Advance tab->performance setting->use drop shadows for icon levels on the desktop)if it do not work then after changing you restart or (logon and logoff) your computer.After that the shadow will surely disappear.

  102. dave k

    the update under (Why Do My Icons Have a Background Color in Windows XP?)worked for me!!!!thanks a million how to geek!!!!

  103. Eric

    I found this fix that edits the registry. If you are nervous about running that Registry program, then you can just go into the registry and delete those values. The only one’s that I had were “…\Control Panel\Desktop”

    Hope this helps!

    -Eric

    Direct link:

    http://boardsus.playstation.co.....amp;page=2

    I finally got it fixed…

    Click “Start”, “Settings”, and then click “Control Panel”. Open the “Display” applet.
    Click on “Desktop”, “Customise Display…” and “Web”.
    In the box under “Web pages”, select all the checkboxes and click “Delete”.

    #2Next, launch Notepad (Start>All Programs>Accessories), and copy/paste all the blue REGEDIT below to it
    be sure the REGEDIT4 is included.
    Save in: Desktop
    File Name: fixme.reg
    Save as Type: All files
    Click: Save

    REGEDIT4

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Desktop\General]
    “WallpaperFileTime”=-
    “WallpaperLocalFileTime”=-

    [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Poli
    cies\System]
    “NoDispAppearancePage”=-
    “Wallpaper”=-
    “WallpaperStyle”=-
    “NoDispBackgroundPage”=-

    [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Poli
    cies\Explorer]
    “NoActiveDesktopChanges”=-
    “ForceActiveDesktopOn”=-

    [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]
    “Wallpaper”=-
    “WallpaperStyle”=-

    [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Colors]
    “Background”=”0 78 152″

  104. Sultana

    **** de-select ‘Lock desktop icons’ which then enables users to modify icon properties. I had the same problem and solved it this way. **** this option solved my problem. thanks a lot!!!

  105. Kevin

    Thanks AV!! Your method worked a treat! I now have a desktop that looks smooth again! Am wondering though how it came to have a web file all of a sudden…
    Cheers!

  106. Derek

    Another thing I just recently found was an image I did for my self, I had it saved as a .png image and for a few days I been going nuts trying to figure it out, I tried everything I could think of and I found, by saving it as a .gif or a .jpg will allow it to have the icons with the transparent background. I am not sure if it was caused by the layers in the image or if it was a matter of just being a .png file, not sure but if you have a .png file as a background, try saving it as a different file type and give that a try.

  107. Vlad

    Very useful discussion. After trying many things (not tampering with the registry though) what worked for me is unchecking the option Lock Web Items on Desktop that can be found right-clicking on Desktop -> Arrange Icons By -> Lock Web Items on Desktop. Thanks everyone!

  108. Michael

    Ok wtf. First none of the examples worked, then eventually I just made the visual effects “Let Windows choose what’s best for my computer” in the performance options and that was the ONLY thing that worked yesterday. Now once again today out of nowhere the all changed BACK to having the same backgronud color as whatever the desktop background color is set to.

    WTF. I’m about to throw my computer out the window this is pissing me off so much. Everywhere I look online gives the same damn advice that doesn’t work. So now what?

    Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

  109. Taz

    i done what you said but no luck!
    it didn’t work for my computer it still has a background anything else i can do?
    please help!!!

  110. akis

    The idea of TABOO TONGUE in converting the background to jpg and after this following the stepsof the How to Geek was fantastic. Everything works properly now. Thank you both of you

  111. EverSpike

    Yes, you`re the best AV you`re tip was perfect!!! I had this proble many times but no one could answer it! You`re a GOD!!!

  112. overmidnight

    Thanks AV. It worked.


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