How to Enable Dark Theme for Run and Folder Dialogs in Windows 11

Microsoft has introduced dark theme support for several classic system elements in specific Windows 11 Insider Preview builds. In recent builds 26220.6972 (Dev) and 26120.6972 (Beta), you can have the dark theme applied  to additional components such as the Run dialog and Folder Options. However, not everyone is seeing the change. It is a gradual roll-out, so it may  be missing on your device. However, they can be enabled manually using the ViVeTool utility.

As you may remember, the initial implementation, introduced in builds 26220.6772 (Dev) and 26120.6772 (Beta), includes dark mode for file operation dialogs (copy, move, delete), progress indicators, chart views, and various confirmation or error prompts.

Subsequent updates extended dark theme support to additional components such as the Run dialog and Folder Options.

If you Windows Insider setup doesn't include those, here are the steps to enable Dark Theme for classic system dialogs.

Enable Dark Mode for Run and Folder Options on Windows 11

1. Download the ViVeTool utility from the official repository.
2. Extract the contents of the downloaded archive to a convenient location on your system. For example, create a folder named ViVeTool in the root of the C:\ drive and place the extracted files there.
3. Open Windows Terminal with administrative privileges. You can do this by right-clicking the Start menu button in the taskbar and selecting Terminal (Admin).
4. Now type the following command to enable the dark theme features, and hit Enter to execute it: c:\vivetool\vivetool /enable /id:58383338,59270880,59203365,48433719.
5. Verify that the output includes the message: "Successfully set feature configuration.", and restart your computer to apply the changes.

That's it! Now your Windows 11 has the dark Run theme.

Steps to Disable the Dark Theme

1. Open Terminal as administrator as described in Step 3 above.
2. Execute the following command:
   c:\vivetool\vivetool /disable /id:58383338,59270880,59203365
   Press Enter.
3. Restart your system to revert the changes.
4. Congrats, now you have the traditional appearance of the Run dialog box (and the folder options window).

That's it!

Thanks to @phantomofearth on X for the information!

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