Pressing CTRL+ALT+ DEL changes High Contrast colors

shoober420 · May 9, 2025

When pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL with high contrast mode enabled using a custom theme, the colors will change to another theme. This would also change the wallpaper back to default blue flower thing but these reg keys fixed that.

Code:

rem # Disable Wallpaper changes
rem # Fixes wallpaper switching to default when pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL in high contrast mode
reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\ActiveDesktop" /v "NoChangingWallPaper" /t REG_DWORD /d "1" /f
reg add "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\ActiveDesktop" /v "NoChangingWallPaper" /t REG_DWORD /d "1" /f

is there a reg key policy i can tweak to disable high contrast theme color changes when pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL?

dacrone · May 9, 2025

dont think you can, but you can use autohotkey to automatically reapply the high contrast theme on queue. which theme are you wanting to use?

shoober420 · May 10, 2025

its a custom windows 95 theme i apply via batch

windows11-scripts/AccentColor.bat at main · shoober420/windows11-scripts

Windows 11 Scripts. Contribute to shoober420/windows11-scripts development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

shoober420 · May 10, 2025

to see any sort of changes happening under the hood, i pressed crtl alt del and then ran regscanner to see if any keys were changed. oddly enough nothing theme related was changed. the colors do revert back to normal after a restart so i think its a windows bug

shoober420 · May 10, 2025

i just discovered that the "Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\DefaultColors" reg path effects theme colors when pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL. i deleted the reg key when googling for a fix that didnt work. could someone paste their reg keys and values for the "HighContrast" and "Standard" paths under "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\DefaultColors"?

dacrone · May 10, 2025

shoober420 said:
i just discovered that the "Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\DefaultColors" reg path effects theme colors when pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL. i deleted the reg key when googling for a fix that didnt work. could someone paste their reg keys and values for the "HighContrast" and "Standard" paths under "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\DefaultColors"?

sorry, heres your answers.

CTRL+ALT+DEL triggering application of .theme file (so it will 'reapply' your theme when that key combo is pressed, thus fixing your current issue). you can modify this AHK and compile the script yourself, or give me the path to your .theme and i will make it for you.

Code:

#Persistent
#SingleInstance Force

^!Del::
Run, "C:\Path\to\.theme"
WinWaitActive, Settings
WinClose, Settings
return

shoober420 · May 11, 2025

i got it to a point that it doesnt revert the theme in explorer, only in task manager are the colors changed.

i also cant seem to get the background for the CTRL+ALT+DEL screen to change to the desktops. it stays black

shoober420 · May 12, 2025

come to think of it, i think thats how the task manager should look. the light blue usage bars and teal processes bar threw me off at first, but i think that microsoft chose "Background" color to be used for processes section.

i think microsoft chose that light blue color for usage bars. there must be a way to change that color somewhere.

what color theme is everyone elses task manager? i know canary builds might have a newer version of task manager, but could everyone post their task manager using their theme settings? im curious to see how it looks on other peoples machines.

Pressing CTRL+ALT+ DEL changes High Contrast colors

shoober420

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dacrone

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shoober420

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windows11-scripts/AccentColor.bat at main · shoober420/windows11-scripts

My Computer

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shoober420

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My Computer

System One

shoober420

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My Computer

System One

dacrone

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shoober420

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My Computer

System One

shoober420

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My Computer

System One

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