Windows 11 launched in October 2021 and has become Microsoft’s go-to operating system thanks to the impending end of life of Windows 10. After all this time, there are still significant parts of the operating system that don’t work in dark mode. However, Redmond is making significant progress, bringing a few key dialog boxes into compliance.
Starting with Windows Insider Build 26120.6972 (Beta channel) and 26220.6972 (Dev channel) or higher, you can now bring up the Run and Folder Options dialog boxes in Dark Mode. However, to darken them, you need to use ViVeTool, a utility that activates hidden features.
To enable dark mode first, go to Settings->Personalization->Colors and select Dark from the “Choose your mode” menu.
Enable Dark Mode – Click to enlarge
Now download ViVeTool if you don’t already have the utility. Create a folder called C:vive and unzip the contents of ViVeTool there.
Launch an elevated command prompt by searching for cmd, right-clicking it, and selecting “Run as administrator.”
Launch an elevated cmd prompt – Click to enlarge
In the Command Prompt terminal that appears, change your directory to C:vive.
cd vive
Then enter the following command, which will enable dark mode for the Run dialog box, folder options, as well as file progress windows and “are you sure” pop-ups that appear when you try to delete or rename certain files or folders. The last two instances of Dark Mode were added as hidden features in August, but they are still not part of the default Windows 11 configuration.
vivetool /enable /id:57857165,57994323,48433719,49453572,58383338,59270880,59203365
Use vivetool to enable dark mode – Click to enlarge
After entering the command, restart your computer. You should now be able to see Dark Mode when you press Windows + R to open the Run dialog box and in Explorer when you select Options from the menu….
Dark Mode Run and Folder Options – Click to enlarge
You’ll also see Dark Mode in action when copying files and looking at the progress bar.
Dark Mode File Progress Bar – Click to Enlarge
And you will see dark mode when you try to rename or delete a folder that requires a higher level of permissions.
Folder access denied in dark mode – Click to enlarge
But no, you still won’t see Dark Mode when you right-click a file or folder and select Properties.
Folder properties do not have dark mode – Click to enlarge
And you don’t see it when you try to rename something that you have permission to access but requires confirmation. For example, when I tried to rename cmd.exe to cmd.ex, I received a dialog box warning me about the dangers of changing a file extension, but it was blank.
Name change confirmation doesn’t have dark mode – Click to enlarge
It’s clear that some of the Windows features that don’t obey Dark Mode are legacy apps that Microsoft doesn’t really want you to use anymore – the entire Control Panel has a white background for this reason. However, we expect Microsoft to roll out more dark mode features in File Explorer and make these features work in production versions of Windows in the near future, as the company has no plans to replace its tried-and-true file management utility. ®