desktopcolors.com
ABOUT

A small archive of the colors we booted into.

Every solid desktop background shipped by the operating systems that raised us — catalogued, named, and free to take with you.


Why I made this

It started with a single hex code: #008080. That specific teal was the first thing millions of us saw when a computer finished booting — and one day I realized I couldn't find it written down anywhere. Not the exact value, not what it was called, not which systems shipped it.

So I started collecting. Windows, Amiga, the Unix desktops, the forgotten ones in between. Every default background, every alternate the settings panel offered, pulled from screenshots, manuals, and disk images, then checked against the real thing.

These colors are small, ordinary, and easy to lose — which is exactly why they're worth keeping. This page is my attempt to hold onto them, and to let you take any one back to your own desktop.

Built & maintained by one person
A nights-and-weekends project · no ads, no tracking

Buy me a coffee

If this archive saved you a search — or brought back a memory — a coffee keeps the servers on and the next batch of colors coming.

Buy me a coffee
🇩🇪 FÜR DEUTSCHSPRACHIGE BESUCHER

Lieber etwas Gutes tun?

Statt eines Kaffees für mich: Die Straßenambulanz des KMFV in München versorgt wohnungslose Menschen medizinisch — kostenlos und unbürokratisch. Eine Spende dorthin ist mir mehr wert als jeder Kaffee.

Zur Straßenambulanz ↗
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