Accent Color is Broken 22H2

mccnavy · Nov 20, 2022

For a long time I had a dark blue accent color set and no issue. I changed it to see if there was something else I liked better. Now, however, I have found that I can't change it back or set any "darker" colors, and that I really can't set any lighter or darker colors under custom colors. Standard Windows colors seems to work but any attempt to make darker or lighter results in making the color lighter and adding "gray." I did a SFC /scannow and no integrity violations were found. Some times moving the slider darker results in error message that color isn't supported (I believe this is normal) but I basically can't use any custom color it seems. Thoughts?

Reeeploi0 · Nov 20, 2022

I have an accent colour selected; however, it randomly reverts to grey in the Start Menu and File Explorer when I click something else and select it again. Sometimes it shows and sometimes it doesn't, depends on the app and program. In order to get the taskbar and start menu a lighter colour I did not select show accent colour but I found this odd because it sometimes is the accent colour. I have accent colour chosen for title bars and it sometimes shows but not always. It seems to work better using a built in theme/background but I don't like dark theme.

JohnnyFire · Nov 20, 2022

at start menu and mediaplayer for example is a difrent tone, its not matching the selected accent its from the first edition of windows 11 cant remember if this problem was at windows 10 tho.... but looks ugly for sure

Reeeploi0 · Nov 20, 2022

JohnnyFire said:
at start menu and mediaplayer for example is a difrent tone, its not matching the selected accent its from the first edition of windows 11 cant remember if this problem was at windows 10 tho.... but looks ugly for sure

If I run CMD as admin and enter sfc /scannow I will have the accent colour in File Explorer; however, once I restart it reverts to grey. Maybe because it is not configured to my user profile permanently?

JohnnyFire · Nov 21, 2022

CharmaineK said:
If I run CMD as admin and enter sfc /scannow I will have the accent colour in File Explorer; however, once I restart it reverts to grey. Maybe because it is not configured to my user profile permanently?

in that case i think your setup is corrupted maybe a clean install will help!

Edwin · Nov 21, 2022

It's strange how it works! It most often depends what accent color you choose, some times it looks great, other times it looks like crap, the way Windows will automatically choose complimentary opposites!
And, it doesn't seem to work worth a

in Light Mode!

I use Windows Color Control for my base color...,
then, I always make Accent Color and Accent Color Inactive the same, so the look remains consistent.

Really freaked me out when I chose 96/97/66 for my base color and Windows chose 197/198/164 as an opposite...

... it just happen to match my Explorer colors!!!

JohnnyFire · Nov 21, 2022

Edwin said:
It's strange how it works! It most often depends what accent color you choose, some times it looks great, other times it looks like crap, the way Windows will automatically choose complimentary opposites!
And, it doesn't seem to work worth a in Light Mode!

I use Windows Color Control for my base color...,
then, I always make Accent Color and Accent Color Inactive the same, so the look remains consistent.

Really freaked me out when I chose 96/97/66 for my base color and Windows chose 197/198/164 as an opposite...

View attachment 45839

... it just happen to match my Explorer colors!!!

View attachment 45840

Well its MS and its know to mess the things up,,,

Edwin · Nov 21, 2022

JohnnyFire said:
Well its MS and its know to mess the things up,,,

Yes, it often seems that way!

Reeeploi0 · Nov 21, 2022

JohnnyFire said:
in that case i think your setup is corrupted maybe a clean install will help!

I guess no one else has this issue or doesn't care about it. Someone must be able to replicate it. I've been replicating it several times even after 3 resets and an .iso recovery. As I take screen shots, I found that it involves the active and inactive title bars for the web browser from the Start Menu or Google Search - active and the Start Menu/title bars are grey, inactive it is accent colour - weird! As for the File Manager, the title bars are grey at startup, not the accent colour UNTIL I start to run sfc/ scannow. I don't even have to wait for the scan to complete. I select File Explorer from the Taskbar seconds after I start sfc and the title bar is the accent colour. It will be this way until I shutdown and restart (or just put machine to sleep) This is the only thing I do tio make thew totle bars in File Explorer the accent colour.

Edwin · Nov 21, 2022

@CharmaineK
Did you try the Active/Inactive reg tweak, making both the same then restarting the machine?

How to Change Color of Inactive Title Bar in Windows 10

How to Change Color of Inactive Title Bar in Windows 10 Information When you change the color in Windows 10, it will change the color of

www.tenforums.com

(You have to create the AccentColorInactive DWORD yourself)

garlin · Nov 21, 2022

When you run sfc /scannow, it resets some Registry keys to their installed defaults. You're not going to know which ones, because there isn't a provided list. While you figured out it resets the color settings, be careful you're not wiping other user settings.

Use System Restore to create a restore point, and you can roll back to that previous save without resetting other changes.

Reeeploi0 · Nov 22, 2022

garlin said:
When you run sfc /scannow, it resets some Registry keys to their installed defaults. You're not going to know which ones, because there isn't a provided list. While you figured out it resets the color settings, be careful you're not wiping other user settings.

Use System Restore to create a restore point, and you can roll back to that previous save without resetting other changes.

Nothing else is affected. All other settings are fine. Running it only changes File Explorer title bar from grey to a paler shade of the accent colour.

Reeeploi0 · Nov 22, 2022

Edwin said:
@CharmaineK
Did you try the Active/Inactive reg tweak, making both the same then restarting the machine?

How to Change Color of Inactive Title Bar in Windows 10

How to Change Color of Inactive Title Bar in Windows 10 Information When you change the color in Windows 10, it will change the color of

www.tenforums.com

(You have to create the AccentColorInactive DWORD yourself)

View attachment 45866

Thanks. I am not super techy and don't want to mess with regedit too much.

jimbo45 · Nov 22, 2022

working OK for me on a current 22H2 W11 Pro insider build.

cheers
jimbo

OrthodoxWin32 · Nov 22, 2022

@mccnavy Try using WinPaletter : GitHub - Abdelrhman-AK/WinPaletter: Advanced Colorizing Windows Accents
This can help determine the problem.

mccnavy · Nov 23, 2022

Thanks...when I get back from travel at the end of the week I'll try.

Reeeploi0 · Nov 24, 2022

Mine works...intermittently...it's grey all day after bootup and then SURPISE! by 3 in the afternoon, it's the accent color, and I made NO changes whatsoever, just opening and closing files and browsing the internet. Hopeful thinking made me restart to check and WAH back to grey! And no one here or on MS Support have a reason why or resolve that doesn't involve third party software or regedit manipulation. Back to the question - does anyone have the accent color permanently in File Explorer? 3 resets and in-place reinstall made no difference for me so maybe it's not a thing and I fluke I get it every so often?

imanlien2020 · Nov 24, 2022

Edwin said:
It's strange how it works! It most often depends what accent color you choose, some times it looks great, other times it looks like crap, the way Windows will automatically choose complimentary opposites!
And, it doesn't seem to work worth a in Light Mode!

I use Windows Color Control for my base color...,
then, I always make Accent Color and Accent Color Inactive the same, so the look remains consistent.

Really freaked me out when I chose 96/97/66 for my base color and Windows chose 197/198/164 as an opposite...

View attachment 45839

... it just happen to match my Explorer colors!!!

View attachment 45840

Do you Not have Transparency ON, I see all your windows are solid colors.

Edwin · Nov 24, 2022

imanlien2020 said:
Do you Not have Transparency ON, I see all your windows are solid colors.

It's set to Blur..., and, there's nothing behind them!

imanlien2020 · Nov 24, 2022

Edwin said:
It's set to Blur..., and, there's nothing behind them!

Blur? Must be a 22H2 thing. I dont see that in my 21H2 settings.

Accent Color is Broken 22H2

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