Make desktop icons background colour as transparent in windows xp and vista
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I have been juggling around for so many days in order to find the correct settings in Windows XP , so as to make the icons appear smooth with each and every desktop wallpaper. ( as shown in the image below ).
Icons With Background Colour
Icons Without Background Colour
Out of the above two which one do you like, your choice is up to you but most people like the second one ( icons without background colour ).
The only problem with the icons with background colour is whenever you set a new desktop wallpaper you may need to select different background colour for your icons too so that they look better with your new wallpaper.
But there is setting both in windows XP and vista to make the background colour of icons as transparent.
Let’s see how to do it.
For windows XP and Vista
1. Right click on the My Computer, select properties.
2. Click on the Advanced Tab ( as shown in the image below ).
3. Click the on the Settings button, you will see a new window showing numerous number of options related to the GUI of windows. ( as shown in the image below).
4. As highlighted in the image above make sure to check the box which says “Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop“. and click Ok 2 times.
5. That’s it ! Done.
Update:
We have just found that some of the users did not get this issue resolved even after applying the above mentioned tweak, In that case you may have some web page set as your desktop background, so these comments from some readers can help you.
Solution By Lisa [ Thanks Lisa ]
“ 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.”
I had a jpeg as my desktop background and somehow a web page was still clicked in this menu. gotta love the logic of windows!
1.Control Panel-System-Advanced-Performance Settings.
Check “Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop” on the Visual
Effects tab.
2.Right-click on Desktop – “Arrange Icons by” and ensure Lock Web
items is cleared.
3.Transparency will not work if you have web content on your desktop,
Control Panel – Display Properties – Desktop tab – Customize Desktop -
Web tab. Clear all check boxes or just delete all web content.
Author + Admin: Abhishek BhatnagarSoftware Engineer by profession and blogger by passion, I blog about computer tips and tricks and solutions for computer problems. You can connect with me at twitter or know more about me on www.abhishekbhatnagar.com.
I too like the second layout.
glad to know, our choices are similar
Very nice trick
I love the shadow effect beneath text
Undoubtedly, Second one is better. As in first one you always need to change the background color. Also the icons without background color looks nice on any wallpaper. It gives good looks.
Neat
, do mention about the resourcehacker also 
its also one of the neat tricks
Hey just select “Let windows choose best settings for me” u”ll find it in…. Right Ckick My Computers –>Properties–>Advanced–>Settings–>Let windows choose best settings for me….Hope it woked….!!!
i have a vista.i try eveything and it still not working.
i tried second option but it not works in windows xp itself what to do?
i tried this as well…still showing a background color! grrrr!
Try this:
“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.”
I had a jpeg as my desktop background and somehow a web page was still clicked in this menu. gotta love the logic of windows!
dear thanks for solution as i was trying from long time and was not able to get rid of shadows behind icons……….it worked.
I have tried all of the above suggestions and still cannot get the shadows off my desktop. Any other suggestions besides a reburn!
THANX A LOT LISA IT WORKED
i m not able to open gmail account, i tried so many proxies but..yahoo & rediff can open pls suggest some more proxy
LISA thanks alot for the info .. tried everything to get rid of that background , went to “performance” and everything to no avail … but your info solve it!
thanks a lot
thanks it worked
I’ve deselect “Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop” and also web pages in desktop properties. I don’t know what to do. I already restart my computer, but without any change. Does anybody else know what can I do, except formatting my notebook? This problem also makes my programs go slowly. I’m sick of it! Help me, please!
Armin,
Four things are required for transparent icon backgrounds:
1.Control Panel-System-Advanced-Performance Settings.
Check “Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop” on the Visual
Effects tab.
2.Right-click on Desktop – “Arrange Icons by” and ensure Lock Web
items is cleared.
3.Transparency will not work if you have web content on your desktop,
Control Panel – Display Properties – Desktop tab – Customize Desktop -
Web tab. Clear all check boxes or just delete all web content.
4. Ensure the Wallpaper is an image file not HTML.
Thats it.
thank u very much lisa
Awesome… solutions by Lisa and Fransis Worked… Thanks a Ton guys…
thnk u vry much…
Thanks all for the info.. It worked perfect !!!
thankx a lot.. it works perfectly..
Unfortunately, ive done the 4 things mentioned here but no luck the icon label text is still got the ugly background!
What should i do to make this thing transparent??
Actually in the past it was transparent and just yesterday i dont know whats happening on my pc suddenly poof it went with the background after i change my desktop wallpaper.
I’ve tried the iconoid too it resolve for a moment but then the drawbacks of that program is that whenever i refresh the desktop the icons label turn back to ugly background again. Plus i hate the program delay time on the point an arrow at desktop and the icons appear…
ANy suggestion on how to resolve this messy problem??
Just choose: “let windows choose what is best for me”, worked for me. None of the above solutions fixed it.
[...] screens in case of windows xp and vista. We have previously written about some related tips like Change Desktop Icons Background Colour, Make Windows Transparent and Hide Desktop Icons Automatically As Per Mouse [...]
I had that problem when I was deciding betwen a few desktop pictures
At the last one, the background apeared in the back of the icons
I tried everything listed above but none worked
Then the idea that there may be something diferent about my last picture came to my mind
I remembered that it was the only one .gif format
Then I was like “Nah, can’t be, that’s just silly”
But I tried changing it with a .jpeg and it semed to work
I find it quite weird, meybe .gif format pictures influence whenever there’s a background color or not?
Is it possible?
Thankyou! now my mom is happy. less ugly desktop
this info is fantastic. thank you very much.
I have had this prob at work. I asked the IT dept how to fix it, and they didn’t know.
when my PC was replaced, of course I had no issues with the new PC, but for some reason, this morning, when I logged in, the background colour reappeared.
I knew I wouldn’t be able to get any answers about this from IT helpdesk, so googled it. came across this ‘fix it page’ and voila. I am so happy, because it’s very annoying not having transparent icon background
ps Francis’ update was the part I needed. the prob originally occured with some right click/quick clicking on desktop without actually selecting anything.