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When Windows 8 color setting are set to a very dark color, such as black or navy blue, the title bar text and the minimize/maximize buttons are nearly invisible. This makes dark colors difficult to work with.

In Windows 7 there was an advanced color options, this is gone in 8. The registry keys associated with this seem to still be present, but they have no effect.

Is there a way to change this? Or a third party application that can do it? I don't want to use the ugly high contrast theme, I want to use the nice Win 8 theme with a dark color.

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1
  • uxstyle.com may be help, I can't check it because it doesn't support my processor :P
    – avirk
    Nov 1, 2012 at 17:08

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
3

What I did was go to this website http://virtualcustoms.net/showthread.php/51048-Aero-8 and download the theme. Then go to this website http://uxstyle.com/ and install the download from there.

What to do:
Install UxStyle - enables third party themes. Be sure to get the Windows 8 download.

Install Aero 8 theme - makes your windows look like the following pic...

enter image description here

I hope this was useful for you as it did the trick for me.

Here is a screen to show that this is on Windows 8.1 worked on Windows 8 before I upgraded as well.

enter image description here

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  • @Mokubai Why did you down my answer? I am new user and the does not allow me to post more than 1 link in a reply, nor does it let me post a pic. Says I need 10 rep. So you edit my post and fix what I am not allowed to do yet and mark my answer bad even though it is the only real solution.
    – jmc302005
    Nov 3, 2013 at 10:20
  • 1
    I did not down vote your answer, I only edited in the links you had. I was not meaning to be rude but only trying to be helpful. This is a collaborative site and editing posts in a beneficial fashion is encouraged. superuser.com/help/editing . As it stands your answer has neither up votes nor down votes that I can see.
    – Mokubai ♦
    Nov 3, 2013 at 10:26
  • oh, when I clicked the notification and it showed your edits, it showed 2 down in spot and 1 down in another spot. Like I said I am new so maybe I read it wrong.
    – jmc302005
    Nov 3, 2013 at 10:34
  • Tried it, but it did not fix the problem.
    – zeel
    Nov 5, 2013 at 17:44
  • Make sure you follow directions on the theme site to get it to work. The screen above is from my Windows 8.1 desktop. It works. If installed correctly.
    – jmc302005
    Nov 5, 2013 at 17:57
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Save the following as Dark.theme and run it:

[CLSID\{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}\DefaultIcon]
DefaultValue=%SystemRoot%\System32\imageres.dll,-109
[CLSID\{59031A47-3F72-44A7-89C5-5595FE6B30EE}\DefaultIcon]
DefaultValue=%SystemRoot%\System32\imageres.dll,-123
[CLSID\{F02C1A0D-BE21-4350-88B0-7367FC96EF3C}\DefaultIcon]
DefaultValue=%SystemRoot%\System32\imageres.dll,-25
[CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\DefaultIcon]
Full=%SystemRoot%\System32\imageres.dll,-54
Empty=%SystemRoot%\System32\imageres.dll,-55

[Control Panel\Colors]
ActiveTitle=255 255 255
InactiveTitle=255 255 255
InactiveTitleText=255 255 255
TitleText=255 255 255

[Control Panel\Desktop]
Wallpaper=
TileWallpaper=0
WallpaperStyle=10

[VisualStyles]
Path=%SystemRoot%\resources\themes\Aero\AeroLite.msstyles
ColorStyle=NormalColor
Size=NormalSize

[MasterThemeSelector]
MTSM=RJSPBS

Then select the dark color you want:

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  • This creates strange glitchy transparency. The title bars are no longer black at all, they have no color. Also, as I mentioned, the registry keys do not do anything. This answer is not correct.
    – zeel
    Nov 1, 2012 at 16:17
  • @zeel as far as I can tell, the registry keys work if you switch to a high contrast theme, just not the auto-color themes
    – ernie
    Nov 1, 2012 at 16:18
  • It may be possible in HC themes. But this dose not fix my problem, as I wish to use normal themes.
    – zeel
    Nov 1, 2012 at 16:21
  • Updated answer.
    – Elmo
    Nov 1, 2012 at 16:52
  • This gives me a 100% transparent task bar, and still doesn't fix the buttons. Though it is certainly on the right path.
    – zeel
    Nov 1, 2012 at 18:27
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Looks like if you're using themes that are auto-color enabled, you don't have any options.

If you switch to a high contrast theme, then you can change the font colors. Font sizes can be adjusted at Control Panel > Appearance and Personalization > Display

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  • 6
    I don't want to use the ugly high contrast theme, I want to use the nice Win 8 theme with a dark color.
    – zeel
    Nov 1, 2012 at 16:24
0

A theme with white Titlebar text and white button graphics is available here: http://maddada1.deviantart.com/art/Windows-8-default-theme-White-TitleBar-Text-v1-1-347611536

You will need a UXtheme patcher to make this work. The only one I found that actually works is the one at uxstyle.com. However, the Windows 8 version is currently down, pending a "critical bug." Still, since it worked for me, despite this bug, I will provide a personal link to a beta version (for 64 bits). Use at your own risk.

When the official version is updated and available, please delete my personal link and the sentences describing it.

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