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Command Prompt is Getting a New Color Scheme

The built-in command prompt in Windows did not change much for a long time. This changed in Windows 10, where the app got a lot of nice improvements. Yesterday, Microsoft announced one more improvement, which is a new color scheme for cmd.exe.

According to Microsoft, the classic color scheme has readability issues because of dark colors used in the command prompt. These colors are not suitable for modern bright IPS and TFT LCD screens with high display resolution. The old scheme was created for old CRT displays.

LegacyEchoOutput 600x131

In Windows 10 Creators Update, Microsoft updated the Win32 console, which is the underlying technology powering both Command Prompt and PowerShell with full 24-bit RGB true color support.

The same output with the new color scheme:

CampbellEchoOutput

Now, they have updated the pre-defined color scheme with new color combinations. The refined color scheme is more bright. This gives console apps a fresh look and feel. The following comparison demonstrates the difference between the old and new color schemes.

ConsoleChangesSideBySideNoBar1

To try out the new scheme, you need to install the latest Windows 10 Insider Preview release, Build 16257. Otherwise, the old color scheme will be used. This can be a bit complicated, since official ISO images have not been released yet for this build.

Microsoft is going to release an update to activate the new color scheme very soon. More details about this change can be found in the official announcement.

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Author: Sergey Tkachenko

Sergey Tkachenko is a software developer who started Winaero back in 2011. On this blog, Sergey is writing about everything connected to Microsoft, Windows and popular software. Follow him on Telegram, Twitter, and YouTube.

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