You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

qubex Author

Level 1

49 points

Menu bar turning black in full-screen mode

Hello.

I am running OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.3 on an 11.3" MacBook Air (i7, 2012).

A few days ago the menu bar suddenly became black while in full-screen mode (as you can see in the screenshot attached below, a typical example of a Safari browsing session). This occurs for all applications.

This was unprompted, undesired, and has so far resisted all attempts at repair. It persists resolutely through reboots.

I welcome any plausible suggestions (which is to mean, anything that does not involve reinstalling the OS for such a minor niggle, which I suspect is a semirandom corruption somewhere).

Thanks to all.

//JJ

MacBook Air, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.3), 11.3", 1.8 GHz Intel Core i7, 4GB

Posted on May 8, 2013 1:29 AM

Top-ranking reply

Paul_31

Level 6

14,160 points

Posted on May 8, 2013 2:10 AM

If Translucent Menu Bar is ticked, try unticking it:

System Preferences>Desktop & Screensaver>Desktop tab. I did find this discussing a similar sounding problem:

https://getsatisfaction.com/apple/topics/macbook_air_osx_menu_turns_black

View in context

26 replies

qubex Author

Level 1

49 points

May 10, 2013 2:18 AM in response to Linc Davis

Paradoxically that almost worked, in the sense that it restored the black menubar to white when in fullscreen mode.

Unfortunately, it also makes the white menubar black for all applications not in fullscreen mode, so it's definitely an untenable solution.

And besides, it's rather pointless to be piling an artificie upon a corruption, simply to hide what is clearly an underlying flaw that has developed somewhere in the system.

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,655 points

May 10, 2013 7:50 AM in response to qubex

I didn't suggest running that application unless you had already done so. Somehow you changed a hidden setting in a preference file. I'm not sure which one.

Triple-click anywhere in the line below to select it:

defaults read -g | grep Menu | open -f -a TextEdit

Copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C).

Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.

Paste into the Terminal window (command-V).

A TextEdit window will open with the output of the command. Post the contents of that window, if any — the text, please, not a screenshot.

qubex Author

Level 1

49 points

May 10, 2013 7:51 AM in response to Linc Davis

AppleEnableMenuBarTransparency = 1;

NSFullScreenDarkMenu = 1;

userMenuExtraStyle = 1;

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,655 points

May 10, 2013 8:15 AM in response to qubex

Next, back up all data.

Then enter the following command in the Terminal window in the same way as above (copy and paste):

defaults delete -g NSFullScreenDarkMenu

Log out and log back in. Test. If there's no change, repeat with this command:

defaults delete -g userMenuExtraStyle

qubex Author

Level 1

49 points

May 10, 2013 12:13 PM in response to Linc Davis

The first step worked! Thank you very much!

May 29, 2013 2:06 AM in response to qubex

I too had this exact same issue.. Hideous Black Menu bar and I could not make out any of the menubar items

The terminal command

[code]defaults delete -g NSFullScreenDarkMenu [/code]

fixed my issue on logging out and back in again... Eternally Grateful!

Yet another Horrible Faux-Pas from Apple - Shocker!

Sep 18, 2013 10:24 AM in response to Paul_31

Thanks you, unticking the translucent menu bar option solved this issue for me...no idea how it got ticked in the first place.

Oct 3, 2013 10:24 AM in response to Linc Davis

Hi Linc

I've exactly the same problem. But the TextEdit window opened as no text.

What shall I do now?

Thanks in advance

Sep 30, 2014 6:47 AM in response to qubex

From a post on Hinesight....in Safari, click on full screen, then go back to regular screen. It worked for me.

Oct 13, 2014 7:43 AM in response to qubex

If you use OnyX there is a setting in Parameters that sets the menu bar to dark in full screen mode.

jaw444

Level 1

22 points

Apr 15, 2015 3:08 PM in response to Paul_31

Thanks for this suggestion. I just went to system prefs/desktop-screensaver and sure enough, the translucent box was checked and unchecking it brought the visible menu bar back.

i wish i knew the cause of this incident.

It's never happened before. I have not had system prefs open in the past few days. So how it got checked, no idea. i hope it's not a harbinger of some kind of creeping corruption. For now, just good to be able to see the menubar again.

thanks

(OS10.8.5)

Menu bar turning black in full-screen mode