Windows 10 dark mode gets fixed – as well as the install bug

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By Darren Allan
published

Optional update that resolves dark mode glitch and problems with in-place repair install is now in testing

Windows 10 Dark Mode
(Image credit: Shutterstock; Future)

Windows 10 has a new optional update in testing which fixes a couple of thorny problems, including an annoying bug with dark mode, and an issue with doing an in-place upgrade.

As Windows Latest reports, build 19042.661 has been pushed out to Windows 10 testers in the release preview ring, and fixes what was a small but nonetheless somewhat irritating issue for those who make use of dark mode.

Essentially, this dark mode bug happened in certain scenarios, and it mixed elements of light mode in with dark mode, making the interface look odd at times.

One example is when right-clicking on a file, the ensuing properties menu contains elements from not just the dark theme, but also the light one. Windows Latest also observes that due to the bugbear, some bits of the Windows 10 interface can become unreadable in dark mode – like certain sections of the Control Panel or File Explorer, which can obviously be quite problematic.

Luckily, as mentioned this particular problem has been dealt with in the latest optional update which is still in preview, and Microsoft has also fixed a bug that occurs when doing an in-place upgrade with the Media Creation Tool.

Repair install

Specifically, the latter issue pops up when performing an in-place repair install to fix problems with Windows 10. When doing this, those running the latest October 2020 Update don’t get the ability to ‘keep personal files and apps’, which obviously isn’t ideal for those who want to run the process and do just that.

This problem is now resolved, and we’ve seen several reports online that the fix has been successful, so with any luck, that solution will be part of Microsoft’s next big round of patching for Windows 10 in December.

While we will get the usual security updates and important fixes arriving on the second Tuesday of December, Microsoft has made it clear that further optional updates won’t be worked on next month, as the software giant won’t have the same level of staffing due to vacations in the holiday period.

Darren Allan

Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).