How to enable dark theme on Windows 11 and 10

The easiest route is already in the system. One switch turns every window, menu, Settings, File Explorer, the taskbar and Start dark at once, with no restart.

1. Open Settings (press Win + I).
2. Go to Personalization, then Colors.
3. Under Choose your mode, pick Dark.

Windows can keep just one thing dark. A common pick: a dark taskbar and Start but light app windows, or the reverse. Same Colors screen, the Custom mode.

1. Settings, Personalization, Colors.
2. Under Choose your mode, pick Custom.
3. Set the Windows mode (taskbar and Start) and the app mode separately: for example Windows dark, apps light.

The built-in dark mode is really dark grey, not black. For true black (which matters on OLED and AMOLED laptop screens, where black pixels simply do not light up and so draw no power) you need a black wallpaper and a dark accent.

1. Turn on dark theme from method 1.
2. Set a black wallpaper: right-click the desktop, Personalize, Background, and choose a black image or a solid black colour.
3. In Colors, turn off transparency and pick a dark accent so menu highlights do not dilute the black.

A reasonable wish: light by day, dark in the evening, automatically. But Windows has no built-in option for this, unlike phones. You need a third-party app.

1. The most popular free open-source option is called Auto Dark Mode: it switches the theme by time, or by your city's sunset and sunrise.
2. Install it, set the switch hours or the sun binding, and Windows will change the theme by itself.
3. Note: it is one more app in startup, running in the background.

Vealo hides your desktop icons into one beautiful panel and manages the colour of the whole system too. Pick a dark panel theme and Vealo switches all of Windows to dark along with it: taskbar, Start and system colours. One app instead of two.

1. Install Vealo, your desktop icons move into the panel, the desktop goes empty.
2. Open the panel with a click on an empty spot of the desktop or a hotkey, and go to settings.
3. Pick a dark theme (or black) and turn on match system: Windows switches to dark along with the panel.
4. The panel theme also tints the taskbar, so the whole interface reads as one piece.

• Dark and black themes in one click, plus custom colours
• Match system: Windows follows the panel's light or dark theme
• Taskbar in your theme colour, no TranslucentTB-style tools needed
• A clean desktop: icons hide into the panel, you finally see the wallpaper
• Glass style (Windows 11 acrylic) with transparency control
• Offline and private: no accounts, no telemetry, everything stays on your PC