How to change the look and feel of Windows 11
Windows 11 lets you change colors, wallpapers, and other settings to make your experience a little more personal.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
OnWindows 11, you can customize many settings to change the desktop’s appearance and other elements to make the experience more personal or quickly refresh the feel to avoid the same look every day.
Although the experience is not as customizable asWindows 10, you can still change the desktop background with a personal picture or a theme from the Microsoft Store. You can switch between the dark and light color modes or use a custom accent color across the desktop. You can organize your favorite apps in the Start menu. You can change the alignment of the Taskbar, decide what items appear in the experience, tweak the system tray settings, and more.
In thishow-to guide, I will walk you through the different ways to customize the appearance to make your computer experience a little more personal.
How to change background on Windows 11
On Windows 11, the quickest way to personalize the desktop is to change the background image, configure a slideshow, or choose a solid background color. If you are using the virtual desktops feature, you can now set a custom background for each desktop.
Change desktop wallpaper
To change the desktop background on Windows 11, use these steps:
Alternatively, you can right-click an image and select the"Set as desktop background"option to make it your new desktop background.
Configure desktop slideshow
To set a slideshow on the desktop, use these steps:
Get the Windows Central Newsletter
All the latest news, reviews, and guides for Windows and Xbox diehards.
Once you complete the steps, the desktop will rotate the collection of pictures in the background at the intervals you specified in the settings.
Configure desktop solid color
To apply a solid color on the Windows 11 desktop, use these steps:
After you complete the steps, the desktop will show a solid color background.
Configure background per desktop
On Windows 11, it’s also possible to set a different background for each virtual desktop to make it easier to differentiate between them.
To set a different background per desktop (not monitor), use these steps:
Once you complete the steps, each virtual desktop will include a different desktop background.
Configure background per monitor
You can also set a different background image per monitor. However, the option won’t be available while using virtual desktops.
To set a custom background per monitor on Windows 11, use these steps:
After you complete the steps, you may need to repeat the instructions to apply another image to the remaining displays.
Enable desktop Spotlight
Similar to the Lock screen, you can also enable the Spotlight feature on the desktop to allow the system to refresh the experience with new wallpapers automatically.
To enable Spotlight for desktop on Windows 11, use these steps:
After you complete the steps, the desktop will rotate new wallpapers daily from the Microsoft Bing service.
If you’re showing icons on the desktop, you will notice a new “Learn about this picture” icon that allows you to get more details about the image if you double-click the icon, and if you right-click the icon, you will access a gallery of other images you can use on the desktop.
How to change colors on Windows 11
Windows 11 lets you choose different colors for elements across the desktop. You can choose between the light or dark mode, or you can select a custom accent color that will appear in the Start menu, Taskbar, Notification Center and Quick Settings, title bars, borders, and apps.
Enable light or dark color mode
To switch between the dark or light system on Windows 11, use these steps:
After you complete the steps, the desktop experience (including Taskbar, Start menu, and apps) will switch to the color mode you selected.
Configure custom color mode
To apply a custom system color mode, use these steps:
After you complete the steps, the custom color mode will apply on Windows 11, depending on your configuration.
Enable or disable transparency effect
Some elements like the Start menu, Taskbar, Quick Settings, Notifications, and apps can show semi-transparency effects, and in the “Colors” page, you can decide whether or not to use these effects.
To configure the transparent effect on Windows 11, use these steps:
Once you complete the steps, transparency effects will be available according to your selection.
Configure custom color accent
To apply a custom color accent to your Windows 11 experience, use these steps:
After you complete the steps, system icons, links, buttons, and many other elements will reflect the new automatic color.
Show accent color on Start menu and Taskbar
If you want the Start menu, Taskbar, Notifications, Quick Settings, and other elements to use the same color scheme instead of the system color mode, use these steps:
Once you complete the steps, the Start menu, Taskbar, and other visual elements will now use the color accent you selected in the settings.
Show accent color on title bars and borders
To enable accent color for title bars and borders, use these steps:
After you complete the steps, the accent color will show in the application’s border frames and title bars (except in File Explorer).
How to change themes on Windows 11
A theme is a package that includes one or more background images, accent color, mouse pointer customizations, and in some cases, sounds, and you can get them from the Microsoft Store (most of them are free, and others are paid).
Change themes
To change the desktop theme, use these steps:
Once you complete the steps, the theme will apply to your computer.
Download themes
To get new themes for your Windows 11 desktop, use these steps:
After you complete the steps, the newly downloaded theme will be reflected on the desktop and across the experience.
Contrast themes
As part of the accessibility experience, Windows 11 also offers four different high-contrast themes. Although these themes are reserved for individuals with low vision, anyone can use them.
To switch contrast on Windows 11, use these steps:
Once you complete the steps, the Windows experience will switch to the high contrast mode.
How to customize Start menu on Windows 11
On Windows 11, the Start menu is an essential component to launch apps and find virtually anything on your computer, including apps, settings, and files, and you can customize it in many different ways.
Change Start settings
To customize the Windows 11 Start menu settings, use these steps:
When enabling the recently added or most used apps options, the Start menu will show these items in the “Recommended” section and the “All apps” list.
Add or remove Folders on Start
To add or remove quick access to different locations like Documents, Downloads, etc., through the Start menu, use these steps:
After you complete the steps, the quick access buttons will appear next to the power button in the Start menu.
Pin apps to Start
To organize the Pinned section of the Start menu, use these steps:
If you don’t want a particular app in the Pinned section or want to get rid of it, right-click the app and select the"Unpin from Start"or"Uninstall"button. If this is a Microsoft Store app, the app will be removed without further steps. If this is a classic app, you may need to continue with the on-screen directions to complete the uninstall process.
Customize Recommended section on Start
The “Recommended” section is where you will find suggestions of recently opened files and installed apps. This area holds up to six items, but you can click theMorebutton to access more content (if applicable). Although you cannot remove this feature, you can customize it to make it more comfortable.
Remove Recommended items
To remove items from the Recommended section individually, use these steps:
Once you complete the steps, the item you selected will be removed from the Start menu.
Disable Recommended section
To prevent content from showing in the Recommended section, use these steps:
After you complete the steps, the Recommended section will no longer show any items. However, since you disable recently added apps and opened items, the recently added apps list will no longer appear in the All apps list, Jump Lists for apps in the Taskbar, and the Quick access page in File Explorer will no longer show recently opened items.
How to customize Taskbar on Windows 11
The Taskbar on Windows 11 isn’t as customizable as in previous versions, but you can still manage various settings to adjust the look and feel. You can change the alignment of items, remove the system items you don’t use, and manage various settings from the system tray.
Change alignment of icons
To align the Taskbar buttons and Start menu to the left, use these steps:
Once you complete the steps, the Taskbar items, including the Start menu, will shift the alignment to the left. If you want the items centered, use the instructions outlined above, but onstep 5, select the"Center"option.
Add or remove system app icons
To customize the system app icons that appear next to the Start menu, use these steps:
After you complete the steps, the system app icons you disabled will no longer appear in the Taskbar.
Add or remove corner icons
To decide the icons that appear in the system tray, use these steps:
Once you complete the steps, only the icons you enabled will appear in the system tray of the Taskbar.
Change corner overflow settings
To show or hide items from the Taskbar overflow, use these steps:
After you complete the steps, only the items enabled will appear outside the overflow flyout.
Show or hide app badges
To decide whether apps should display badge counters for unseen messages, use these steps:
Once you complete the steps, the badge counter will appear, depending on your configuration.
Enable Taskbar auto-hide
To hide the Taskbar automatically on Windows 11, use these steps:
After you complete the steps, the Taskbar will hide automatically as you move the mouse pointer away.
Show Taskbar on all monitors
To allow the Taskbar to appear on all monitors, use these steps:
This option is only available when you have multiple monitors connected to the computer.
Enable or disable desktop button
To disable or enable the option to show the desktop on Windows 11, use these steps:
Once you complete the steps, the button to show or hide the desktop will no longer be available in the Taskbar.
Show apps without combine
To uncombine Taskbar buttons from apps and show them separately with labels, use these steps:
After you complete the steps, apps will appear with labels and ungrouped in the Taskbar.
Hide time and clock from Taskbar
To show or hide the time and clock from the Taskbar on Windows 11, use these steps:
Once you complete the steps, the Taskbar will no longer show the time and date in the System Tray.
How to customize Lock screen on Windows 11
You can also customize the Lock screen, which is the screen that slides up every time you need to get to the Sign-in screen on Windows 11.
Set custom image on Lock screen
To use a custom image on the Lock screen, use these steps:
Once you complete the steps, the Lock screen will show the image you selected in the settings.
Set slideshow on Lock screen
To use a custom slideshow on the Windows 11 Lock screen, use these steps:
After you complete the steps, the Lock screen will rotate the pictures from the folder you selected in the settings as you start the computer.
Set Windows Spotlight on Lock screen
The Windows Spotlight feature is the default experience for the Lock screen, but if you were using something different or want to revert the changes, use these steps:
Once you complete the steps, you will see new fresh images from Microsoft Bing every time you are on the Lock screen.
Disable weather and widgets on Lock screen
On Windows 11, by default, the Lock screen now shows weather and other widgets with information for sports, stocks, and traffic, but if you don’t want the screen to display this information, you can turn this feature off.
To disable weather and widgets from the Lock screen, use these steps:
After you complete the steps, the Lock screen will show notifications of the app you specified.
Disable background on Sign-in screen
Windows 11 uses the same background on the Lock and Sign-in screens, but you can disable this behavior if you only want to show a solid-colored background.
To disable the Sign-in screen background, use these steps:
Once you complete the steps, the Sign-in screen will show a solid color background.
Things you can no longer customize on Windows 11
Although you still have many different ways to customize the look and feel of Windows 11, a lot has changed in this version, and there are many customizations you were able to use in the previous version, and now they are no longer available.
Here’s a list of visual and functional customization options that Microsoft has removed from Windows 11.
Taskbar
Start menu
More resources
For more helpful articles, coverage, and answers to common questions about Windows 10 and Windows 11, visit the following resources:
Mauro Huculak has been a Windows How-To Expert contributor for WindowsCentral.com for nearly a decade and has over 15 years of experience writing comprehensive guides. He also has an IT background and has achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft, Cisco, VMware, and CompTIA. He has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years.
