Auto Dark Mode for Windows

12 pointshermitsings10 months ago11 comments

A very similar function was just added to Microsoft PowerToys 0.95 recently, called Light Switch[1]. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles, but basically does the same task, including switching modes automatically based on sunrise and sunset times.

[1] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/light-sw...

mrkramer 10mo

I had similar idea of changing my PC's brightness according to the time of the day. It probably could've been implemented pretty easily using Windows API and some little hacking.

sodaclean 10mo

Look at (Monitorian)[https://github.com/emoacht/Monitorian] for that.

gabrielsroka 10mo

Years ago, I wrote a very stripped-down version in a few lines of PowerShell. I'll upload it when I get home.

lostmsu 10mo

I did the same just a few days ago based on webcam, 26 lines of PowerShell.

See https://gist.github.com/lostmsu/cde4a8578d8e0ea1182f579f44bd...

gabrielsroka 10mo

my minimal powershell code

    $old = -1
    while ($true) {
        $d = Get-Date
        $hour = $d.Hour
        if ($hour -ge 6 -and $hour -lt 19) {
            $light = 1
        } else {
            $light = 0
        }
        if ($old -ne $light) {
            Set-ItemProperty HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\Personalize AppsUseLightTheme $light
            $old = $light
            echo $light $d
        }
        sleep -Seconds 2
    }

BoredPositron 10mo

Does it really matter if 60% of system dialogs are still a flash bang?

xaxaxb 10mo

Are you on Windows 11?

BoredPositron 10mo

They fixed the copy dialogs now but it's still not a full dark mode.

xaxaxb 10mo

That's true tho

lousken 10mo

It's honestly surprising that it took this long even on KDE. I was switching themes automatically for years with a preference setting in f.lux. Every app on system preference, dark reader as well.

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