{"id":45419,"date":"2026-06-16T18:00:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T22:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.ckms.ca\/?p=45419"},"modified":"2026-06-16T18:13:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T22:13:07","slug":"procedure-adjusting-windows-11-ui-metrics-and-applying-changes-without-sign-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.ckms.ca\/?p=45419","title":{"rendered":"Procedure: Adjusting Scrollbar Width in Windows 11 by Registry Settings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 1: Open the Windows Registry Editor<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"1\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Open the Run dialog box.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>a) Press the <code>Win + R<\/code> keys simultaneously.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Launch the Registry Editor.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>a) Type <code>regedit<\/code> into the text field.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>b) Press <strong>Enter<\/strong> or click <strong>OK<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Handle the security prompt, if required:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>a) If prompted by User Account Control (UAC), click <strong>Yes<\/strong> to grant administrator privileges.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 2: Navigate to the Window Metrics Key<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"1\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Locate the correct folder path.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>a) Copy the following full path line:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>i) <code>Computer\\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Control Panel\\Desktop\\WindowMetrics<\/code><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>b) Paste the path directly into the Registry Editor search bar at the top and press <strong>Enter<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 3: Modify Scrollbar and Border Dimensions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"1\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Update UI sizes.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>a) Double-click each of the specified string values (<code>REG_SZ<\/code>) in the right-hand pane.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>b) Modify their data fields according to your preferences (calculated using the formula: {Pixels} = {{Twip Value}} { -15}\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>ii) <strong>PaddedBorderWidth<\/strong>: Change the value from <code>-58<\/code> (approx. 4 pixels) to <strong><code>-120<\/code><\/strong> (8 pixels) or <strong><code>-180<\/code><\/strong> (12 pixels) to widen the invisible mouse-grab target area around window edges.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>iii) <strong>BorderWidth<\/strong>: Change the value from <code>-12<\/code> to <strong><code>-30<\/code><\/strong> or <strong><code>-45<\/code><\/strong> to increase visible window frame thickness.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>i) <strong>ScrollWidth \/ ScrollHeight<\/strong>: Change the value from <code>-255<\/code> (17 pixels) to <strong><code>-325<\/code><\/strong> or <strong><code>-400<\/code><\/strong> for a wider, high-contrast scrollbar target.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 4: Apply Changes Automatically Without Signing Out<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>If you don&#8217;t want to sign out or restart the PC, killing &#8220;explorer.exe&#8221; will do the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"1\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Force a desktop shell refresh to inherit the new UI sizes immediately without losing your running applications.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>a) Open <strong>Task Manager<\/strong> by pressing <code>Ctrl + Shift + Esc<\/code>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>b) Ensure you are on the <strong>Processes<\/strong> tab.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>c) Locate the Windows shell application.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>i) Scroll down to the <em>Windows Processes<\/em> section near the bottom.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>ii) Select <strong>Windows Explorer<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>(Protip: let the computer do the search by type &#8220;expl&#8221; in the search field)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>d) Execute the reload.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>i) Right-click <strong>Windows Explorer<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>ii) Click <strong>Restart<\/strong> from the context menu.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>e) Verify implementation.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>i) The taskbar and desktop interface will momentarily disappear and reload.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>ii) Updated dimensions will apply instantly to all active windows.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.ckms.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-3.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"401\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.ckms.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-3-1024x401.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-45420\" style=\"width:406px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.ckms.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-3-1024x401.png 1024w, https:\/\/blog.ckms.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-3-300x118.png 300w, https:\/\/blog.ckms.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-3-768x301.png 768w, https:\/\/blog.ckms.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-3-1226x480.png 1226w, https:\/\/blog.ckms.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-3-675x264.png 675w, https:\/\/blog.ckms.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-3.png 1345w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Here&#8217;s how chrome looks on my PC now.  Not sure why the vertical scrollbar is wider on the one in the background, but I&#8217;ll take it.  Note that the light blue thumb is set by the Chrome extension &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/chromewebstore.google.com\/detail\/custom-scrollbars\/ddbipglapfjojhfapmpmofnaoellkggc\">Custom Scrollbars<\/a>&#8220;; might get rid of it and see if the registry changes above are enough.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.ckms.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/win11-scrollbars-widened-registry.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"676\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.ckms.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/win11-scrollbars-widened-registry-676x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-45422\" style=\"width:362px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.ckms.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/win11-scrollbars-widened-registry-676x1024.jpg 676w, https:\/\/blog.ckms.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/win11-scrollbars-widened-registry-198x300.jpg 198w, https:\/\/blog.ckms.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/win11-scrollbars-widened-registry-768x1163.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.ckms.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/win11-scrollbars-widened-registry-1014x1536.jpg 1014w, https:\/\/blog.ckms.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/win11-scrollbars-widened-registry-675x1022.jpg 675w, https:\/\/blog.ckms.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/win11-scrollbars-widened-registry.jpg 1139w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Step 1: Open the Windows Registry Editor Step 2: Navigate to the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[282],"tags":[1239,1543],"class_list":["post-45419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-procedure","tag-windows11","wpcat-282-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.ckms.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.ckms.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.ckms.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.ckms.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.ckms.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45419"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.ckms.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45426,"href":"https:\/\/blog.ckms.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45419\/revisions\/45426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.ckms.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.ckms.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.ckms.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}