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Translucent Selection Rectangle: Turn It On/Off, and Troubleshoot
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Published onAugust 14, 2024
published onAugust 14, 2024
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If you wish to enable, disable, or troubleshoot the translucent selection rectangle on Windows, read this in-depth guide until the end.
Windows OSuses the translucent selection rectangle feature to show you the items or areas you’ve selected on the PC screen. It’s a semi-transparent and blue-tinted overlay indicating the boundaries of the selected content.
Luckily, Windows allows you to customize this feature to suit your usage. I’ll show you how to activate and deactivate it and troubleshoot it if it’s not working.
How To Enable the Translucent Selection Rectangle in Windows
This feature is activated by default in all Windows 10 and 11 PCs. However, if it’s for some reason disabled, here’s how to turn it on:
Using Performance Options
Using the Registry Editor
If you’re a power user and don’t mind going throughRegistry editing, you can follow these steps:
You’ll see the translucent selection rectangle when selecting directories or text on your PC after the reboot.
Using the Windows 11 Terminal
Stop-Process -Name explorer -ForceStart-Process explorer
How To Disable Translucent Selection Rectangle in Windows
You can simply reverse the steps performed in the Performance Options dialog box. If that doesn’t work for you, try any of these methods:
Using the System Properties Shortcut
Using the Windows 11 Terminal
Follow all the steps mentioned previously in the PowerShell-based method. Just replace the previous script with the following to deactivate the feature:
The script forrebooting the File Explorewill remain the same as outlined above.
How To Fix Translucent Selection Rectangle in Windows
If this feature works intermittently or doesn’t work at all, try these troubleshooting ideas in the order they appear. I organized the methods based on complexity.
Perform Basic Troubleshooting
Use the Default Windows 11 Theme
Did you customize the Windows 11 theme to increase device performance? If so, undo those changes.
Here are the default settings:
Reboot Windows Explorer
Restart the GPU
The translucent selection rectangle is a graphics processing-dependent feature. If the GPU isn’t working appropriately, it also won’t work.
To fix this, close all open apps on your Windows PC. Now, press theCtrl+Shift+Windows+Bkeys altogether.
You might hear a beep sound and the screen might go dark once or twice. However, in most PCs, you won’t see any changes.
Now, test if the selection rectangle is working or not.
Summary
So far, you learned how to enable or disable the translucent selection rectangle feature in aWindows 11PC. If you have a Windows 10 PC, you can still use the same steps.
You’ve also seen how to troubleshoot this Windows Aero feature if it isn’t working.
If you facescreen problems in Windows 10or experiencea pixelated screen after an update, we can help you out!
More about the topics:windows 10,Windows 11
Vlad Turiceanu
Windows Editor
Passionate about technology,Windows, and everything that has a power button, he spent most of his time developing new skills and learning more about the tech world.
Coming from a solid background in PC building and software development, with a complete expertise in touch-based devices, he is constantly keeping an eye out for the latest and greatest!
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Vlad Turiceanu
Windows Editor
Coming from a solid background in PC building and software development, he’s a Windows 11 Privacy & Security expert.
