XP: Make the Background of Your Icon Text Transparent on the Desktop

Contributor Icon Contributed by MickeyMouse Date Icon October 21, 2004  
Tag Icon Tagged: Windows

One of the reasons XP’s desktop looks so much better is that you can make the background of your icon text transparent.


People ask me all of the time what program I use to make my icon text transparent. People are used to the pre-XP days when this was not easily possible.

This ability is currently very easily accomplished in XP. The feature is just not well named.

    1. Open the Control Panel
    2. Click System
    3. Click the Advanced tab
    4. Click Settings in the Performance section
    5. Check the “Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop” checkbox
    6. Click OK until you close the windows

“Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop” has to be the worst name ever. Not knowing what this is… people typically uncheck it to try to increase their computer performance. Then since it is named so poorly, people can’t figure out why their icon text now looks so windows 98ish.

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  • Azrael
    Doesn't work for me
  • darth_linux
    doesn't work me neither!!!
  • ciscomonkey
    For those of you that this doesn't work for. Make sure that you are using a .JPG file for your background. Personally, I usually use .PNG's, and ran across this issue. When you use a .JPG or .BMP it seems to work just fine.
  • Thank you Ciscomonkey. I'd tried everything else to no avail. Then I found your comment and discovered that I had indeed been using a PNG file as the wallpaper.
  • brassmonkey
    Changing the filetype still doesn't help
  • Anonymous
    Doesnt work for me either
  • Carolyn
    There's one more step that these instructions are missing. After you've done what the initial post said with the drop shadows, right click somewhere on an empty part of the desktop. Click on "Arrange Icons By" and turn "Lock Web Items on Desktop" off. If you leave them items locked, the background stays there.
  • K
    THANK YOU CAROLYN
  • Angie
    Thank you! That was what finally worked for me. I'd already had a jpg file for a background and had use drop shadows for icons checked. :)
  • Donna
    Thanks Carolyn, worked for me!
  • Anonymous
    Thank you caroline
  • Anonymous
    Worked for me, Thanks
  • Kaiwren
    Still Doesn't work for me.
  • Stiletto
    thank you carolyn
  • chessman21
    i got mine this way trying to trag a frontpage image onto my desytop

    nothing seems to have any affect ,,
  • nick513
    you are just right caroline
  • seldur
    doesn't work for me either... :?
  • Guest
    I LOVE YOU!! THANKS FOR THE INSTRUCTIONS :lol: :P
  • Anonymous
    I could kiss the ground you walk on Carolyn.

    I had it set right before and suddenly I had that stupid background colour on text labels. Fixed now.
  • newboy
    I also had an issue I could not resolve after dragging a piccie to my desktop.

    This was resolved by: -

    right clicking on desktop and selecting properties.

    select desktop tab and click on customize desktop

    select the web tab

    You may well find there is an entry that is checked in the Web pages box.

    Uncheck this and apply and as long as the other settings are as suggested in this topic, you should find transparency will return.
  • selvan777
    Thanks a bunch Newboy, your tip fixed mine.
  • mrGinipig
    this actualy worked... well done Newboy..... what Newboy was trying to say was
    when you select the web tab you will see a web pages dialog box, in side
    the dialog there are check boxes just make sure they are un checked and
    click ok then apply then ok... wella
  • Gia
    That was the best tip ever!!!
    I was desperately seeking help all morning...for HOURS...until I tried your resolution. IT WORKED!!!!!
    You are AWESOME!!!
    Grazie!!!
  • Mike
    This one fixed it for me when the ones above did not. Thanks.
  • Iffy
    Thanks a bunch newboy. Your fix worked for me too.
  • solved
    Thank You newboy
    This resolved my issue.
    Dont know why it happen. All I can remember is that I was dragging an Icon , the screen glitched and it was there.
  • gaurav
    awesome man ,, this tip worked so well for me. .u saved a lot time for me.. thanks
  • goku
    Hats off newboy!
  • N_ancy
    Thanks so much! After reading Caroline's instructions, it didn't change a thing. Thank you SO much newboy! I'm going to favorite this page. :)
  • ovi
    You r a genius
  • compufix
    Even after all this time this is the perfect solution to the problem.
    I was almost ready to re-install windows.
    Thanx a lot.
  • amulprajapati
    thnks a lot dude you had solved my problem
  • someone
    T H A N K S
    A
    L O T newboy !
  • Mastiha
    I've tried everything listed here and I still have the problem.

    ANy other ideas?
  • Anonymous
    I had this problem and my fix was to change the background picture from a .png to a .jpg. For some reason Windows cant make transparent text ontop off a .png file.
  • anon
    it still does not work for me... and I do not even use active desktop....
  • Anonymous
    THANKS CAROLYN
  • Anonymous
    IT FIXED IT------- THANK YOU "newboy" and "carolyn" thankyou bothH!!! guys if it didnt work for carolyn it should work after you do what new boy said which was:

    right clicking on desktop and selecting properties.

    select desktop tab and click on customize desktop

    select the web tab

    You may well find there is an entry that is checked in the Web pages box.

    Uncheck this and apply and as long as the other settings are as suggested in this topic, you should find transparency will return.

    but you should have done what carolyn said aswell which was:

    There's one more step that these instructions are missing. After you've done what the initial post said with the drop shadows, right click somewhere on an empty part of the desktop. Click on "Arrange Icons By" and turn "Lock Web Items on Desktop" off. If you leave them items locked, the background stays there.

    and ofcourse the main post from the forum which was:

    1. Open the Control Panel
    2. Click System
    3. Click the Advanced tab
    4. Click Settings in the Performance section
    5. Check the "Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop" checkbox
    6. Click OK until you close the windows


    so this message should clear it all.. hope it helps in some way. once again tahnkyou to carolyn and newboy!

    cheers

    :wink:
  • rahul999
    thanks guys !!!!!!!. This really works !!!. Once again thanks a lot.
  • Anonymous
    In case it's still not working,
    AND you have a TV out videocard and the option "extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor" is checked, follow the instructions above then go to display properties (right click desktop > properties) >settings , click monitor 2, give it a value of 800x600 or above.
    If it still doesn't work,
    BEATS ME!
  • Anonymous user
    rock on....


    just changing the resolution from 1280x800 to 1280x768 and then back fixed it!
  • Anonymous
    potzo, you genius you!! Thank you so much for that last tip! After trying everything else, this is what did it. Thank you thank you thank you!!!
  • Anonymous
    omg that totally worked...i tryed changing the colors in like the apearence tab...messed it up..the other thing works though
  • Anonymous
    I tried all of the above. The jpg, the active desktop, the web pages box, the lock web items on desktop, the "Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop" check box, and the "extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor" resolution above 800x600.

    What finally DID WORK was in the accessibility options. Some how it was changed to "high contrast". To fix, go to: Control Panel | Accessibility Options | Display Tab | uncheck the Use High Contrast check box.
    :D :D :D
    8)
  • jefflindell
    Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!!!!! That was the one that finally did it for me!
  • Hrs
    thanks
  • rick
    tks!!
  • kate
    EVERYBODY SAYS DO THIS.

    DONE IT TEN TIMES.

    DOES NOT WORK NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES I REPEAT!!

    ANYTHING ELSE NEW?????
  • anunumus
    carolyn I LUV U!!!!!!!
  • goran
    eXtra, thank you!
  • Pious
    Cool! works for me
  • xerp
    doesnt work for me, although i used to have it, one day it just stopped working. i suspect something wrong with a driver somewhere.
  • Thanks, this helped me. I have been trying to figure this out for a while
  • Mike
    What if this solution doesn't work on the target laptop? It worked on a test PC, but not the one where I wanted it to work.
  • Siddhartha
    Thanks it worked for me
  • anonymous
    i've done EVERYTHING in these comments, and everything online. i even downloaded a few programs to try to fix it and NOTHING HAS WORKED! i have a toshiba tablet laptop and ever since i've had the computer i havent been able to fix the icons... but i'm guessing there's a way. any more ideas????
  • vic
    Iv'e tried every solution on these pages and none
    of them work. Thank You
  • Dee
    Doesn't work for me, eityher.
    :-{
  • TY
    SICK this is really cool thx
  • Octavian
    thanks!
  • Marko
    Thank you for your help! Those icons were driving me crazy!
  • Mike
    Thanks Newboy!!!!!!!!
  • BabyBoy
    thank you!!! works great ))))
  • Alex
    I've got the same problem with me icon text and tried the solution and it did not work. No matter what I do it did not work. Any other solution?
  • anonymous
    LOVE YA!
  • jonah
    Your idea is not working
  • Rocky R.
    Weirdness - this happened to my cube neighbor's desktop - it used the background color for the icon text background. I though he must have turned it off, so I went to the Control Panel, and it's CHECKED!!! I logged him off and *I* logged in (thinking it might be something funky with Windows) and mine were transparent. Yet when he went back in - he's still getting a non-transparent background for his icons, even though the Performance settings are set to use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop.
  • mojtaba2009
    Thanx a lot. u don't know how long i search for this ..... problem. i love ya
  • 123456789987654321
    it wont work
  • jefflindell
    I have made sure the "Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop" is checked and I still have the blue background behind the icon text on my desktop. I have also made sure made sure that "Lock Web Items on Desktop" under "Arrange Icons By" is not checked and I have no webpages saved to the desktop. Any help?
  • benestanti
    Only thing that works is to set "Let Windows choose what's best for my computer" option in: right click on My computer ---> Advanced ---> Performance ---> Settings, and icons will become transparent
  • takeru
    it works for me...bleh!
  • Matthew
    Should work for most but i have tried soooooo many things and IDK what i did origionally to crate this problem but now that i have it it sucks so what i do is use my quicklaunch bar at the top of my screen and put all my icons their. All i have on my desktop is my documents and the recycle bin (if i wanted i could just use my start meny for my documents but 2 icons dont bother me and i make the background color as clode as i can to the background itself. Although this is no way to fix it it is a way to deal if you cant fix it (i have tried 4-5 different methods) and cant figure out how to correct this and none of them happens to work for me.
    Although i have had problems with this particular laptop for almost a month now and in that month i have formatted at least 10 times and even did a low level format once and still i have issues. or one issue no matter what at a point my computer just loads and freezes, of course i thought it was a program but restoring my comp to before i uinstalled it and not installling it when formatt it still keeps happening so I dont know how to fix it no one else online i talk to might know either (sorry for the rant but if anyone can help me with this i would be very appreciative if someone has an idea) I have absolutly have no problem with buying more ram (replacing it) or the same with a harddrive, although its a laptop so i am limited to testing only the ram as i have 2 chips and can check with one only then vice versa but I cannot with the harddrive as i have no other computers to hook it up to. anyway if you have an idea post it and if you want here is a temp email addy that will work for a limited time so you can contact me here mailto:/newave3009@temomail.fr
  • behapi4you
    There are 3 things to check. first make sure your desktop Icons are not locked. Secound make sure in the desktop properties, desktop tab, Custom desktop, Web tab-nothing is check marked. Then go to system settings, advance tab, performance settings, visual effects and make sure "use drop shadows for iconlabels on the desktop" is checked. Be advise when you uncheck items in the web tab, it can uncheck the use drop shadows and that is why you check that last.
  • I was downloading a new version of either Direct-X or Active-X and it threw my icons out of whack, eliminating the transparency. I've tried your troubleshooting but it still doesn't work (the download also changed other customized settings,such as screensavers, start windows sound and exit windows sound -- everything was returned to defau;t). I got everything back the way I want it -- except the transparency. Any other thoughts? Thanks, Harley.
  • onvideo
    I went back and tried everything all over again, then saw in the Web Tab of the Desktop Menu portion of Desktop Properties that, indeed, a file was checked. Unchecked it and, bingo, transparency returned. THANK YOU ONE AND ALL.
    Harley
  • Ambar
    I finally fixed it once and for all. In the system settings for performance, I just selected the radio button "let windows decide what's best for my computer".

    The fact that THAT was what worked kind of leaves me feeling very inadequate and disturbed.

    Cheers.
  • mikeaaaaaaa
    thank you carolyn. . work very good
  • hlaminswe
    In my computer, this does not work well. But here is my experience.
    Go to Desktop Property>Desktop> Customize Desktop> Click Web Tab> In the Web Pages List Box, Clear all check box and then OK.
    You can do as this message go.
    enjoy all

    hla min swe.....
    moon.gooogle@gmail.com
  • dudes_name
    You're the man dude! : )
  • frankvsmaximvs
    Love it. Couldn't remember the place to do this after I had to do a reinstall, and all my great desktop pics all had that crappy blue text under the few icons I do keep on it. Thanks a trillion!
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