How to change Window title and border colors in High-Contrast Theme?

Question

How to change Window title and border colors in High-Contrast Theme?

Roger Brooks 1

I like the Aquatic High-Contrast theme but find the orange color of the window frames and title bars too garish. How can I change it? If I try to edit the theme, it only gives options for background and text elements, not for frame elements.

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3 answers

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Answer 1

Harold Milan 17,630 Independent Advisor

Hi Roger,

The high-contrast themes in Windows 11 are designed to improve accessibility, but they come with some limitations. While you can customize elements like background, text, hyperlinks, and buttons, title bars and window frames are not included in the editable options. The orange color in the Aquatic theme is hardcoded and unfortunately can’t be changed through the built-in theme editor.

What You Can Try is

Create a Custom Contrast Theme

You can still create a personalized version of the Aquatic theme:

Go to Settings > Accessibility > Contrast themes.

Select Aquatic, then click Edit.

Customize the available elements.

Click Save as, give your theme a name, and apply it.

Just note that this won’t affect the title bar or frame color but it can help tone down other elements to make the orange feel less dominant.

Use Accent Color Instead (if you’re open to switching)

If you’re okay stepping away from high-contrast mode:

Go to Settings > Personalization > Colors.

Choose a color under Accent color.

Toggle “Show accent color on title bars and windows borders” to On.

This gives you full control over those colors, but you’ll lose the high-contrast benefits.

Let me know how it goes, Happy to help!

Joachim Otahal 26 Reputation points

2026-05-28T20:47:04.1233333+00:00

This information, that you can change the "accent color" of a high contrast theme ist just wrong. That this ist still online here is so disappointing. See here: Accent color is greyed out.
F 0 Reputation points

2026-10-27T14:31:13.87+00:00

@Joachim Otahal @Roger Brooks @Harold Milan

The new settings app cant do that anymore but with this command you can access the old control panel and change the window border colors under high contrast mode there:

activate the high contrast mode first.

Then use win+r ("run" in search) and enter the command shell:::{ED834ED6-4B5A-4bfe-8F11-A626DCB6A921} -Microsoft.Personalization\pageColorization

It now opens the old control panel and the option to change it there. CAVE: The settings here do not have any other access, so save this command or take a screenshot.

I credit OrangeCatapult20 nine years ago in the Windows10 subreddit

Answer 2

The new settings app cant do that anymore but with this command you can access the old control panel and change the window border colors under high contrast mode there:

activate the high contrast mode first.

Then use win+r ("run" in search) and enter the command shell:::{ED834ED6-4B5A-4bfe-8F11-A626DCB6A921} -Microsoft.Personalization\pageColorization

It now opens the old control panel and the option to change it there. CAVE: The settings here do not have any other access, so save this command or take a screenshot.

I credit OrangeCatapult20 nine years ago in the Windows10 subreddit

Answer 3

The new settings app cant do that anymore but with this command you can access the old control panel and change the window border colors under high contrast mode there:

activate the high contrast mode first.

Then use win+r ("run" in search) and enter the command shell:::{ED834ED6-4B5A-4bfe-8F11-A626DCB6A921} -Microsoft.Personalization\pageColorization

It now opens the old control panel and the option to change it there. CAVE: The settings here do not have any other access, so save this command or take a screenshot.

I credit OrangeCatapult20 nine years ago in the Windows10 subreddit.