How to Turn on or Enable Dark Mode or Theme in Windows 10

Windows 10 lets you easily enable or turn on the Dark Mode or Theme in Windows 10. When you do this, all UWP or Universal Windows Platform apps will use the Dark Mode. Earlier, one had to resort to a registry tweak to do it, which has been explained at the end of this post – but now, one can easily enable it via Settings. Let us see how to do it.

Enable Dark Theme in Windows 10 via Settings

To enable or turn on Dark Theme or Mode in Windows 10:

• From the Start Menu, open Settings
• Click on Personalization.
• From the left panel, select Colors.
• In the Choose your color dropdown menu, you will see 3 options:
  • Light
  • Dark
  • Custom
• Select Dark.

Your Windows 10 theme including the apps will go dark.

If you choose Custom, you can set your Default windows mode and the Default apps mode.

When you do this, even the apps like the Windows Store app, Mail app, Calendar app, etc, will use the power-saving and easy-on-the-eyes black background. Moreover, this Dark Mode is great for low-light conditions too.

Let us know if you plan to use the Dark Theme in Windows 10.

TIP: If you want, you can also switch between Light and Dark Mode automatically.

Turn on Windows 10 Dark Theme using Registry Tweak

It is always a good idea to create a system restore point first, before making any changes to the Windows Registry.

1. Press Windows Key + R combination, type put regedit in Run dialog box and hit Enter to open the Registry Editor.

2. Navigate here:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes

3. At this registry location, right click over Themes key and select New -> Key. Name the newly created key as Personalize. Highlight Personalize and come to its right pane.

Right click in blank space and select New -> DWORD Value. Name the newly created DWORD as AppsUseLightTheme if you’re on Windows 10 final build.

Since you’ve created the registry DWORD, obviously it will have its Value data set to 0. In case if the DWORD exists by default, no need to create anything. Just make sure that its Data is set to 0:

4. Repeat step 3 for the user key as well at the following location:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\Personalize

Once you’re done with the registry manipulation, close Registry Editor and reboot the machine.

After restarting the system, open Settings app and you’ll find the dark theme is activated now.

Windows 11 user? This post will show you how to enable Dark Mode on Windows 11.

If you like dark themes, you might want to take a look at these posts too:

1. Automatically enable Windows Dark Theme in Settings
2. Enable Dark Theme in Edge browser
3. Free Dark Themes for Windows
4. Enable Dark Theme in Microsoft Edge for iPad
5. Dark Mode Black Notepad
6. Switch to Dark Gray theme in Office
7. Enable Dark Mode in Movies & TV App
8. Enable Dark theme for Twitter App
9. Enable Dark Mode on Microsoft Teams.