How do I make the taskbar solid instead of transparent on Win 8.1?

Hi Adam,

You will require third party software/utility to disable transparency for the taskbar in Windows 8.1.

Disclaimer: Using Third Party Software, including hardware drivers can cause serious problems that may prevent your computer from booting properly. Microsoft cannot guarantee that any problems resulting from the use of Third Party Software can be solved. Using Third Party Software is at your own risk.

You can however try these steps to modify registry and check if that helps.

a. Press Windows key + R and type regedit and hit enter to open the registry editor.

b. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM

c. Add DWORD value, name it as "ColorizationOpaqueBlend" without quotes, and set value data to 0.

d. Restart pc or change theme.

To do so: Important this section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs.

Hope this answers your query. You can write back to us for further queries/issues related to windows and we will be glad to assist you further.

Hi Adam,

Nothing will happen to your computer if you try the troubleshooting steps in the correct way. Its our responsibility to warn you about the possible issues occur while trying those steps. that option has been removed while upgrading the Operating System and we are really sorry if that causes an inconvenience for you.

Please post back if you have any issues related to Windows and we will be glad to assist you further.