CODEWITHSUNDEEP
windowsthemesdarkmodelightmode
Mahmoud
Mahmoud

Reputation: 41

Instantly switch between dark and light mode for Windows

How to programmatically switch between dark and light mode for Windows. I used registry keys,

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\Personalize\AppsUseLightTheme
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\Personalize\SystemUsesLightTheme

But it does not execute the command directly like a toggle switch in the Color Settings\Personalize\Colors window.

Windows does not respond immediately to dark or light mode changes via registry keys

Upvotes: 3

Views: 2606

Answers (3)

Jirik
Jirik

Reputation: 1512

Based on Bender's answer. I created one file, which can toggle between light and dark themes.

  1. Create toggleWinTheme.ps1.

  2. Paste the code below and save

  3. Then right click on the file and select Run with PowerShell

# Get the current mode
$currentMode = Get-ItemPropertyValue -Path HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\Personalize -Name AppsUseLightTheme

# Toggle the mode
if ($currentMode -eq 1) {
    # If currently in Light Mode, switch to Dark Mode
    Set-ItemProperty -Path HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\Personalize -Name AppsUseLightTheme -Value 0
    Write-Output "Switched to Dark Mode"
} else {
    # If currently in Dark Mode, switch to Light Mode
    Set-ItemProperty -Path HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\Personalize -Name AppsUseLightTheme -Value 1
    Write-Output "Switched to Light Mode"
}

Upvotes: -2

Natacha
Natacha

Reputation: 1250

You can trigger an event in Windows tasks scheduler for every mode you want (light and dark, for example). There, in actions tab, set "start a program" with Powershell in program or script (type the following line):

%SystemRoot%\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe

And in "add optional args", insert this line (change AppsUseLightTheme for the var you wanna set and the value 0/1 depending on the time of day):

Set-ItemProperty -Path HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\Personalize -Name AppsUseLightTheme -Value 1

Also, to answer some of the comments in @Bender110001 answer, you got 2 vars for custom theme in Win11 (maybe 10 too):

  • AppsUseLightTheme for applications (Pycharm, browser pages, etc)
  • SystemUseLightTheme for system colors (as you can see in the Win customization manual config: taskbar, windows, OS style out of apps).

Upvotes: -1

Bender110001
Bender110001

Reputation: 331

You can use PowerShell scripts to achieve that. Example:

Enable Darkmode on Apps

New-ItemProperty -Path HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\Personalize -Name AppsUseLightTheme -Value 0 -Type Dword -Force

Enable Lightmode on Apps

Remove-ItemProperty -Path HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\Personalize -Name AppsUseLightTheme

Upvotes: 2

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