The Author – Bart Busschots
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Nov
19
Breaking News – Leopard Menubar Transparency Fix
Filed Under Computers & Tech on November 19, 2007 at 5:46 pm
Yesterday I pointed out that OS X Leopard actually looks BETTER on old hardware because some of the fluff is turned off. This obviously implies that there is some hidden internal setting for controlling the fluff. Well, someone has found that setting! With a simple terminal command you can now get the nice solid Menubar on any Mac. Just fire up a terminal and enter the command (all on one line):
sudo defaults write /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.WindowServer 'EnvironmentVariables' -dict 'CI_NO_BACKGROUND_IMAGE' 1
You can only do this from an administrator account and you’ll have to enter your password. The command won’t have an immediate effect. You have to reboot your Mac to see your new and improved Menubar. I’ve tested this on my G5 PowerMac and my MacBook Pro, it seems to work flawlessly.
You can get more details in this ars technica article.
w00t!!! This works great!!!
I’m curious why we have to reboot – I tried logging out and back in just in case, but you’re right, we do have to reboot.
now find me one that gets rid of the transparent menu pulldowns from the menu bar! that’s the one that REALLY bugs me!
is this going to be in your podcast entry this week? If not I definitely want to point to it!
Allison
NosillaCast at http://podfeet.com
A technology geek podcast with an EVER so slight Macintosh bias!
[…] Leopard Stuff Bart wants to get in: I found a way to fix the stooopid transparent menubar bartbusschots.ie/blog link to the transparent menu bar fix I installed my first quicklook extension – VERY nerdy one but nice bartbusschots.ie/blog link to […]
Cool! It works!
How do I put it back?
Hi James,
You can apparently un-do the hack by repeating the command but with a 0 in the end instead of a 1.
I haven’t tested it myself but I’ve seen is recommended on a number of sites.
Hope that helps,
Bart.
That one made it more gray than transparent. I think I’ll keep it like that. The original hack made it too white. This one gets a little more compliant with the rest of the UI (although the shade isn’t spot on… almost, just a little light).
DO YOU KNOW HOW TO GET RIDE OF THE LEOPARD FOLDER SETS AND SWAP THEM OUT FOR THE TIGER FOLDER IMAGES? I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO FIND THE PNG FILES TO SWAP THEM OUT FOR IN THE SYSTEM DIRECTORY BUT HAVE BEEN THUS FAR UNABLE TO?
Hi Matthew,
I’m afraid I don’t have the answer to your question but the line of attack I’d take on the problem is to look for an icon set which I know exist and which can be applied to an OS X install. I’ve never done this so I can’t really give you anthing more than this very vague answer.
Also, are you aware that writing in ALL CAPS is referred to as shouting and is just as rude as shouting in the real world. If you’re going to post back here I’d appreciate it if you could use good netiquette and use capital letters as they were intended to be used.
Bart.
bart, I am really sorry about shouting, I didnt even realize I had caps on this morning I didnt have my contacts in. and thanks for the suggestion, I will check it out