How To Add A Background Image To The Taskbar In Windows 10
You can set a desktop background and lock screen background of your choice in Windows 10. Windows 10 offers images via Windows Spotlight for you to use, or you can use an image from your own collection of wallpapers. Windows is far less flexible with the taskbar. You can only enable or disable accent colors for it, nothing else. That said, outside of the default Windows settings, you can use third-party apps to customize the taskbar. Classic Shell is a popular app that you can use to add a background image to the taskbar in Windows 10.
Classic Shell is a tool known for restoring the Start Menu in Windows 8/8.1, and Windows 10 to the classic Windows 7 version. If you like the default Windows 10 Start Menu, you don’t have to change it. You can keep using it and still add a background image to the taskbar with Classic Shell.
Taskbar Background Image
You can use just about image for the taskbar background however, if you find one that is the exact size as the taskbar, you will get something that is aesthetically good looking. To find the size of your taskbar, take a screenshot and use a tool like IrfanView to select it and find its dimensions.
Next, find an image, and crop and resize it to fit those dimensions.
Background Image To The Taskbar
Download and install Classic Shell. The first time you run it, it shows you various settings that you can customize. Select the ‘Show all settings’ option at the top.
If you want to stick to the default Windows 10 Start Menu, go to the Controls tab. Under ‘Left Click opens’, select ‘Windows Start Menu’. Next, go to ‘Windows Key Opens’, and again select ‘Windows Start Menu’.
Next, go to the Taskbar tab. Select the ‘Taskbar texture’ option, and use the browse button to select the image you intended to use for the taskbar background. Click Ok, and you’re good to go.
This is what the taskbar looks like with a properly sized image as the background.
If you’re using a minimal wallpaper as your desktop background, a fun background image for the taskbar might make your desktop look better. This is all aesthetics of course. It’s not going to make anything work better. In fact, if you have a particularly old system, Classic Shell might slow it down a bit. You will need to set the app to start when you boot your system if you don’t want to start it manually and again, that will delay system start.
Classic Shell does not slow down on older PCs as the article claims. In fact it is extremely fast and more responsive than the Windows 10 Start menu.