Switch between light and dark modes and schedule Dark Mode in Windows 11 using Light Switch, an official Microsoft PowerToys module. Here’s how to use it.
By default, Windows 11 uses Light mode. If you want to change it to Dark mode, you’d have to open the Settings app, go to the “Personalization” > “Colors” page, and select “Dark” from the dropdown. While this manual method is fairly easy, it doesn’t allow quick switching or scheduling. For example, doing this every day just to switch between light and dark mode will be frustrating.
Thankfully, Microsoft recently updated PowerToys (v0.95) with a new module called Light Switch. Using it, you can either switch between light and dark modes with a keyboard shortcut or schedule the dark mode. For example, I scheduled the dark mode to activate from 6 PM to 7 AM.
In this quick and easy guide, I will show you the steps to activate the Light Switch module in PowerToys, how to switch between light and dark modes with a keyboard shortcut, and how to schedule dark mode using the PowerToys Light Switch. Let’s get started.
Good to know: Create desktop shortcut to switch between light and dark modes (using a batch file)
Before You Start
- Before proceeding, make sure you’ve installed PowerToys v0.95 or higher. If you haven’t, download PowerToys from this official GitHub page and install it.
Activate the Light Switch in PowerToys
Before you can use the keyboard shortcut to schedule dark mode, you need to activate the Light Switch module in PowerToys. Here’s how:
- Open the Start menu.
- Search and open “PowerToys“.
- Select “Home” on the left sidebar.
- Turn ON the “Light Switch” toggle under the “Utilities” section.
- With that, you’ve activated the Light Switch module in PowerToys.
Note: If you don’t see the Light Switch toggle, please update PowerToys to the latest version. To do that, go to the “General” tab and click the “Check for updates” button.
Keyboard Shortcut to Switch Between Light and Dark Modes in Windows 11
Once the PowerToys Light Switch module is activated, press the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl + Windows + Shift + D” to switch between light and dark modes.
Schedule Dark Mode in Windows 11 Using Light Switch
To automatically switch between light and dark modes in Windows 11, you must first schedule it. Here’s how.
- Open the Start menu.
- Search and open “PowerToys“.
- Click “System Tools” on the left sidebar to expand it.
- Select the “Light Switch” tab under “System Tools”.
- Select “Fixed hours” from the “Mode” dropdown under “Schedule”.
- Select the turn-on and turn-off time.
- Close the PowerToys window.
- With that, you’ve scheduled dark mode using PowerToys Light Switch.
Detailed Steps (With Screenshots)
First, open the PowerToys tool. To do that, open the Start menu by pressing the “Start” button. Next, search for “PowerToys” and click the result or the “Open” option in the right panel of the Start menu.
In the PowerToys window, click on “System Tools” to expand it. Next, select the “Light Switch” tab under it.
Here, you have three ways to schedule the dark mode.
Option 1: Schedule Based on Fixed Hours:
If you want to use dark mode in specific hours, like 6 PM to 7 AM, you can use the fixed hours option. On the right panel, select “Fixed hours” from the “Mode” dropdown under the “Schedule” section.
Next, select the time from the “Turn on dark mode” and “Turn off dark mode” time pickers. For example, if you want the dark mode from 6 PM to 7 AM. Select 6 PM from the first time picker and 7 AM from the second time picker.
Option 2: Schedule Based on Sunset and Sunrise:
Note: This requires Location Permissions to be enabled so the Light Switch module knows the exact times of sunset and sunrise at your location.
Rather than fixed hours, you can also configure Light Switch to activate dark mode from sunset to sunrise time in your location. For that, select “Sunset to Sunrise” from the “Mode” dropdown under the “Schedule” section.
Next, click the “Set Location” button.
Now, click the “Detect location” button. Click “Yes” if you see a prompt asking for location permission.
Note: If you don’t want to give location permission, you can also manually enter the latitude and longitude.
Click the “Save” button.
(Optional) If you want, you can offset the dark mode schedule so that it starts and stops earlier or later using negative and positive values. For example, to start dark mode earlier, you can enter a negative number (e.g.,-30) in the “Sunset” field next to “Offset” to start dark mode 30 minutes earlier. If you want it to start later, enter a positive number.
Option 3: Schedule Based on Night Light:
If you are already using Night Light, you can use its schedule to enable dark mode automatically. To do that, simply select “Night Light” from the “Mode” dropdown menu.
Finally, close the PowerToys window.
That is all. No matter which of the above three options you use, Light Switch will automatically switch between light and dark mode in Windows 11 according to the schedule.
Do keep in mind that you can always forcefully enable or disable the dark mode using the keyboard shortcut (Ctrl + Windows + Shift + D).
If you have any questions or need help, comment below. I’ll be happy to assist. In addition to this official method, you can use another free, open-source app called Auto Dark Mode to schedule dark mode in Windows 11. Follow that guide if you don’t like the official method or want more advanced options, such as skipping, setting conditions, and more.
