How to Enable Dark Theme in Windows 10

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Microsoft has unveiled its coveted Windows 10 and the new operating system is indeed way ahead of its predecessors. The Windows 10 operating system incorporates several features that were never a part of the earlier Windows operating systems. The design of Windows 10 is brilliant and is pleasing to the eyes. However, for users who wish to change the theme to something different, the OS has a ‘Dark Theme’ hidden somewhere secret! That’s right, just like the name, the theme too is hidden in the dark.

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Windows 10 allows users to personalize their OS and changing the theme is one such personalization option. By default, the native Windows applications have a light grey theme. However, this can easily be changed to a dark theme by following a few tricks and tweaks.

Enabling Dark Theme in Windows 10:

[post-step]1[/post-step] Select Win + R to open Run box, enter Regedit and hit enter to open Registry editor.

Navigate the following location in the Windows 10 Registry Database –

[post-code] HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes[/post-code]

[post-step]2[/post-step] At the above location, Right click on Themes and select New ->Key. Name the newly created key as ‘Personalize’or else this tweak will not work.

[post-step]3[/post-step]Select the newly created Personalize key and scroll towards its right pane.

[post-step]4[/post-step]Here right-click in empty space and select New -> DWORD Value. Again rename the new DWORD key to AppsUseLightTheme if you are in Windows 10 final build.

Newly created DWORD key value is automatically set to 0 so you don’t need to change it any further.

Follow the same steps in the following location as well.

[post-code] HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\Personalize[/post-code]

Once you have followed all the steps in the right manner, reboot the machine. After restarting the machine, open Settings and you will see that the dark theme is activated.

Before you edit the sensitive Registry Keys in Windows 10, it is a good idea to create System Restore point first. This will allow you to roll back to the restore point in the event the changes made to the registry create problems to the operating system.