Windows 11's dark mode finally gets a long-requested update

It is no secret that Windows 11's dark mode is undercooked, to put it mildly. While modern parts of the operating system support dark mode and they look fantastic with it, plenty of commonly used UI surfaces and legacy parts are still stubbornly light. Those include common file action dialogs, such as copying/moving progress, deleting prompts, file properties dialog, and more. Nearly four years into Windows 11's lifecycle, Microsoft is finally fixing that.

@phantomofearh on X noticed that the latest Windows 11 Dev and Beta builds finally have dark mode support for file operations dialogs. Copy/move progress, delete confirmation, and other no longer flashbang users when in dark mode. However, Microsoft has not announced this yet, and for a reason: You can see that some buttons are still missing dark mode treatment.

If you are already on the latest builds, you can try the updated dialogs with dark mode support using the ViVeTool app:

1. Download ViveTool from GitHub and unpack the files in a convenient and easy-to-find folder.
2. Launch Command Prompt as administrator and navigate to the folder with ViVeTool files using the CD command. For example, CD C:\vive.
3. Type vivetool /enable /id:57857165,57994323,48433719 and press Enter.
4. Restart your computer.

Now, with more legacy parts of Windows 11 getting a fresh coat of dark paint, all we need is automatic theme switching without third-party apps. Until then, you can use free apps like Auto Dark Mode from the Microsoft Store.

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Posted Saturday 16 August 2025 at 5:08 am AEST (my time).

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