The Dark Mode is a great way to make your UI aesthetically pleasing and save some battery if you have an AMOLED screen. However, we have noticed that sometimes, File Explorer is unable to adopt the Dark Mode properly and we can see that things such as the context menu or lines dividing the toolbar are still in the light mode on Windows 11/10. In this post, we will discuss what to do when the Dark Mode is not working for Windows File Explorer
Why is File Explorer dark mode not working?
If you have installed any custom theme on your computer that can alter the look of File Explorer, system-wide dark mode will not be applied. However, if no custom theme exists and File Explorer has white lines or patches in Dark Mode, your Windows has a bug. Follow the solutions mentioned here to resolve the issue.
Explorer Dark Mode not working in Windows 11/10
This is a known bug for which Microsoft is working to roll out a fix. It seems unexpectedly light-themed UI elements (e.g., address bar) in File Explorer and unreadable text in context menus when using a dark theme.
Before you bein, diable any third-party themes that you may have applied and see if that helps.
1] Run System File Checker
We recommend you Run System File Checker in Safe Mode or Boot Time to repair potentially corrupt explorer.exe and other system files.
2] Re-apply the Dark Mode
Next, perform Clean Boot and open Settings > Personalization > Themes
Choose the default theme on your PC and Apply to switch back to the default theme.
Now apply Dark Mode in Clean Boot State and see.
This will fix your problem.
The same fix applies to a similar problem: when viewing a file in the Explorer window, the icon labels are in black text and almost impossible to read against the dark background.
If nothing is working, it’s best to switch back to light mode and wait for Microsoft to roll out an update to fix this problem.
Also Read: Windows stuck in Dark Mode.
