dark

One-click Windows dark/light switch⚡️PowerShell script for Win 10/11

Features

• Instant toggle between dark and light without signing out.
• Supports Windows 11 and Windows 10 (21H2+).
• No admin rights required (modifies only HKCU registry hive).
• Works with batch wrappers, scheduled tasks, or as a PowerShell module.
• Returns structured objects so you can pipe the result to other cmdlets.

Demo

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• PowerShell 5.1 (Windows) or PowerShell 7+ (cross‑platform)
• .NET Framework 4.7.2+ (already present on Windows 10/11)

Installation

PowerShell Command

git clone https://github.com/fabianserna/dark.git
cd script
mkdir C:\utl\
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable('Path', "$env:Path;C:\utl", 'User')
Get-ItemProperty -Path HKCU:\Environment -Name Path
Copy-Item -Path "dark.bat" -Destination "C:\utl\"
Copy-Item -Path "dark.ps1" -Destination "C:\utl\"

Manual clone

English You can create a separate folder where you can store your bat files or executables that you want to access quickly. In my case, do the following:

1. Create a folder in c:/utl/
2. Enter it in your PC's path. I won't explain this here because it's very easy.
3. Paste the files found in the script, both dark.bat and dark.ps1
4. Run it from Win + R or run "dark"

Español puedes crear una carpeta propia donde tengas tus bat o ejecutables a los que quieras acceder rapidamente para mi caso realice lo siguiente:

1. Crea una carpeta en c:/utl/
2. Ingresala en el path de tu pc, aqui no te lo explico porque es muy facil.
3. pega los archivos que se encuentran en script tanto el dark.bat como el dark.ps1
4. ejecuta desde win + r o ejecutar "dark"

Usage

# Toggle both system and app themes automatically
dark.bat

Batch wrapper example

@echo off
powershell -NoLogo -NoProfile -File "%~dp0scripts\\dark.ps1" %*

Add the wrapper to a folder in your PATH and you can type dark from cmd or Run...

How It Works

The script flips two registry values under HKCU:\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Themes\\Personalize:

• AppsUseLightTheme — app ("App mode")
• SystemUsesLightTheme — system surfaces ("Windows mode")

A value of 0 = dark, 1 = light. The change is pushed to the shell with user32.dll broadcast messages, so no reboot or log‑off is required.

Uninstallation

simply delete the folder c:/utl/.

Roadmap

• GUI tray companion
• Scheduled automatic switch at sunset/sunrise
• Localization support

Development

# Lint
Invoke-ScriptAnalyzer -Path scripts\\dark.ps1

# Tests
Invoke-Pester -Path tests

CI runs on Windows Server 2022 and PowerShell 7.4 using the workflow in .github/workflows/ci.yml.

Contributing

Pull requests are welcome! Please open an issue first to discuss big changes.

1. Fork the repo
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feat/awesome)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add awesome feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feat/awesome)
5. Open a PR

Make sure Invoke-ScriptAnalyzer and Pester pass.

Security

If you discover a security vulnerability, please email security@fabidev.io for responsible disclosure.

License

Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for more information.

Credits

Created with ❤️ by FabiDev and the help of his faithful artificial intelligence companion Cleo.

Acknowledgements

• PSScriptAnalyzer
• Pester
• Inspired by countless Stack Overflow answers and cups of coffee ☕