Intended For Windows XP Windows 2003 Windows 2000 Windows Me Windows 98 Windows 95

Windows XP

• Open System Properties in Control Panel, choose the Advanced tab, and click Settings in the Performance section. Turn on the Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop option, and click Ok.
• You can also try MicroAngelo (v5.5 or later), which allows you to change the text color, configure custom icons, and change other aspects of Windows.
• Another utility of this type is WindowFX.

Windows 2000

• Obtain and install the Transparent utility.
• You can also try the "On Display" feature of MicroAngelo for lots of extra features.

Windows 95, 98, Me

• Obtain and install the Disappear utility (4 kb). You'll need VB40032.DLL (381 kb) if you don't already have it.
• You can also try the "On Display" feature of MicroAngelo for lots of extra features.

Note: in all versions of Windows, Microsoft provides no way to change the color of the text under desktop icons, which can make it very difficult to read in some circumstances. In Windows XP, the text has a shadow underneath, but this only goes so far. To change the font, open Display Properties in Control Panel, choose the Appearance tab (then click Advanced in Windows XP only), and choose Icon from the Item menu.

Written by: Annoyances.org
Last updated: Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Previous discussions about this article:
(open a message to see applicable responses, if any)

• [Windows 98] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (Chad English: Sunday, September 30, 2001)
• [Windows 2000] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (Robert S. Rawding: Tuesday, October 16, 2001)
• [Windows XP] reply to 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (Paul Humphrey: Thursday, November 1, 2001)
• [Windows 98] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (Bean: Wednesday, November 7, 2001)
• [Windows 98] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (Bean: Wednesday, November 7, 2001)
• [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (WinstonRT: Thursday, November 22, 2001)
• [Windows ME] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (Krezno: Wednesday, December 5, 2001)
• [Windows 98] Question about transparency in windows 98 (Tim: Sunday, December 16, 2001)
• [Windows ME] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (Bill C.: Monday, January 7, 2002)
• [Windows XP] If the ''use drop shadows for icon labels'' option has no effect: (Shadow D. Wolf: Friday, February 1, 2002)
• [Windows 95] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (bobc: Saturday, February 16, 2002)
• [Windows 98] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text a certain color instead of transparent?' (Luke: Monday, February 25, 2002)
• [Windows Me] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (Anand: Monday, March 11, 2002)
• [Windows 2000] add-on to 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (Daniel Pumpkin: Tuesday, April 16, 2002)
• [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (Tim Dutton: Saturday, April 27, 2002)
• [Windows 98] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (Vic Jones: Thursday, May 2, 2002)
• [Windows 98] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (Stu Greaves: Tuesday, May 7, 2002)
• [Windows 98] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (Ed: Sunday, August 18, 2002)
• [Windows 2000] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (adobepro: Saturday, August 24, 2002)
• [Windows 2000] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (adobepro: Saturday, August 24, 2002)
• [Windows 98] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (Chuck: Sunday, September 8, 2002)
• [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (Cliff Lui: Sunday, December 29, 2002)
• [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (Pam: Wednesday, January 1, 2003)
• [Windows 98] Tried to make the text transparent - went from blue backround to white (not transparent). (Beth: Monday, January 20, 2003)
• [Windows XP] Here is the answer !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For Transparent Text (baddog5454: Tuesday, January 28, 2003)
• [Windows Me] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (beck: Monday, March 17, 2003)
• [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (Ray: Saturday, June 7, 2003)
• [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (Victoria: Monday, June 30, 2003)
• [Windows Me] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (Morgan: Monday, June 30, 2003)
• [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (zak: Sunday, July 6, 2003)
• [Windows 2000] Comment about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (Bill Wimbish: Monday, July 28, 2003)
• [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (Laine: Sunday, August 3, 2003)
• [Windows 2000] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (zvehn: Saturday, August 30, 2003)
• [Windows XP] Cannot get desktop icons transparent - need activedesktop on & pref. drop shadows off. (Patrick: Monday, May 31, 2004)
• [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (juan: Thursday, July 1, 2004)
• [Windows XP] the actual way without downloading anything (anthony king: Friday, September 10, 2004)
• [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (Fabio R. V.: Sunday, October 31, 2004)
• [Windows Me] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (Larry Hill: Saturday, January 1, 2005)
• [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (Swingheim: Friday, January 21, 2005)
• [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (TVX: Sunday, June 5, 2005)
• [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (Joanne: Monday, June 6, 2005)
• [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (Gary: Thursday, June 16, 2005)
• [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (Greg: Monday, September 26, 2005)
• [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (Rizwan Siddique: Saturday, November 19, 2005)
• [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (hasi60: Sunday, January 22, 2006)
• [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (Josh: Wednesday, March 29, 2006)
• [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (Krishna: Thursday, September 14, 2006)
• [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' -- no "stretch" (annoyances: Thursday, September 14, 2006)
• [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (Albert: Tuesday, October 24, 2006)
• [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (octopuss: Monday, February 19, 2007)
• [Windows XP] Weird internet page in the corner of desktop (GinaG: Wednesday, April 4, 2007)
• [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (Blue: Tuesday, April 24, 2007)
• [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I make the background of desktop icon text transparent?' (Matthieu: Wednesday, March 5, 2008)
• [Windows XP] Here is a way to modify icon label text and other things in any folder. (mezzatorre: Saturday, April 19, 2008)