Dark mode: How to use on older Windows versions, known problems

[ghisler(Author)]

Currently the new dark mode functions are only enabled on Windows 10 version 1809 (Fall 2018) and newer. They can be found in
Configuration - Options - Color

To try the dark mode on older Windows versions, including Windows XP and 7, please choose Configuration - Change settings files directly.
Then look for [Configuration] in wincmd.ini. Below, add a new line containing:
ForceDarkModeOptions=1
Then restart Total Commander.

Here are some known problems:

1. On Windows versions older than Windows 10 version 1809, the scrollbars in all listboxes cannot be shown in dark mode.
2. On Windows versions older than Windows 10 version 1809, the context menus are all bright (no dark mode).
3. On ALL Windows versions, standard Windows dialogs including "Properties" and "Connect network drive" are all bright (no dark mode).
4. On Windows 10 versions older than Windows 10 version 1809, the title bar is white by default. However, you can choose to use the Windows 10 accent color for all the title bars, e.g. dark blue.
5. On Windows 10 version 1809 or newer, the context menus do NOT change between light and dark mode when you change the mode in Configuration - Options - Color until you close and re-open Total Commander
6. On Windows 7 with themes disabled, changing between light and dark mode causes problems in the Lister main menu until you close and re-open lister

Please contact me if you havr an idea how to resolve one of these problems.

Please also report other problems in this forum, if possible one major problem per thread.

[petermad]

2ghisler(Author)

ForceDarkModeOptions=1

Is there any reason that this cannot be the default setting? The user is not forced to enable it in the configuration - but many users that would like to use Dark Mode would never know that they have the possibility, since it is only mentioned here and in the "Whats new in this version" in the Help.

[Usher]

2ghisler(Author)

ForceDarkModeOptions=1

Is there any reason that this cannot be the default setting?

Yes, there is. It's not finished yet. I suppose it will be enabled in the final TC version.
Oh, and I'd like to have automatic switch to dark mode in the night time

[petermad]

It's not finished yet

Sure - but you can say that about TC 9.5 as well - we are in betatest, no need to hide stuff.

[Usher]

2petermad
What if Microsoft marketing staff change their mind and they start to implement dark mode in completely other way? See MS Edge case…

[petermad]

What if Microsoft marketing staff change their mind and they start to implement dark mode in completely other way

Then that would only apply to Windows 10 - and the Dark Mode options are already visible in TC 9.5b1 under Windows 10 even without the ForceDarkModeOptions=1 setting.

So actually it is more likely that TC's implementation of Dark Mode under older OS'es will work in the future, since Microsoft won't change older OS'es in that respect.

[Usher]

I mean rather: If MS make any serious changes or there are any other troubles, TC implementation will stay incomplete/unfinished/buggy for a long time, and dark mode may be a beta experiment which won't be included in final TC 9.5 release. Removing unfinished features isn't new, see "Options added during the development of 9.22 (but only added to 9.50)" in TC history.

[ghisler(Author)]

Is there any reason that this cannot be the default setting?

Dark mode will only work perfectly in Windows 10 1809 and newer. Why? Only here Microsoft added functions to apply dark mode to
1. The window title bar
2. Listbox scrollbars

I tried to find solutions for these for many days without any success. Therefore I have disabled dark mode on older systems for the normal user.

[iteg]

Why does Lister use a dark theme for the system and context menus, but not in the main window and dialogs? Does Lister have its own customization? (Windows 7 x64 SP1. Classic theme)
Image: https://dropmefiles.com/yyFxb

[ghisler(Author)]

cudalister is a plugin. Plugins need to be updated to support dark mode.

[DrShark]

2iteg
The dark title system menu on old Windows has own limitations, described here:
viewtopic.php?p=366884#p366884
viewtopic.php?p=368721#p368721
I only tested it on 32-bit Windows. Currently I can also add that at least 32-bit TC uses title's dark system menu also on 32-bit Windows XP Luna theme.
Also, if the system menu is called with mouse, whether it will be dark depends on how exactly it is called:
* left mouse button click on TC or Lister title icon: the menu will be dark.
* right mouse button click on TC or Lister title icon, or the rest of the title: the menu will be light.