# 6.1: how to get rid of the dark theme?
**URL:** https://discourse.paraview.org/t/6-1-how-to-get-rid-of-the-dark-theme/17280
**Category:** ParaView Support
**Created:** [November 2, 2025, 1:35am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/6-1-how-to-get-rid-of-the-dark-theme/17280 "2025-11-02T01:35:07Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@PetrKryslUCSD](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/PetrKryslUCSD)
#### Post date: [November 2, 2025, 1:35am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/6-1-how-to-get-rid-of-the-dark-theme/17280/1 "2025-11-02T01:35:07Z")
I don’t see any controls in the settings. The dark theme is really hard to read – it is too dark.
On Windows 11.
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### Author:  [@ANON1](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/ANON1)
#### Post date: [November 2, 2025, 4:53pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/6-1-how-to-get-rid-of-the-dark-theme/17280/2 "2025-11-02T16:53:50Z")
Check this post: [Switch off dark mode in 6.0?](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/switch-off-dark-mode-in-6-0/17181)
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### Author:  [@PetrKryslUCSD](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/PetrKryslUCSD)
#### Post date: [November 2, 2025, 11:33pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/6-1-how-to-get-rid-of-the-dark-theme/17280/3 "2025-11-02T23:33:12Z")
Yes, paraview came up light. But: the “open file” dialog ended up stretched to unbelievable width (many multiples of the window width). Not clear why…
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### Author:  [@wascott](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/wascott)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2025, 6:41pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/6-1-how-to-get-rid-of-the-dark-theme/17280/4 "2025-11-03T18:41:35Z")
Try resetting your configuration files. Edit/ Reset to Default Settings.
Restart ParaView.
Does that help?
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### Author:  [@PetrKryslUCSD](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/PetrKryslUCSD)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2025, 3:40am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/6-1-how-to-get-rid-of-the-dark-theme/17280/5 "2025-11-04T03:40:52Z")
Not with the “light” paraview. The “File open” dialog is still so wide as to accommodate ALL possible input file types. The “dark” paraview is fine.
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### Author:  [@wascott](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/wascott)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2025, 6:29pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/6-1-how-to-get-rid-of-the-dark-theme/17280/6 "2025-11-04T18:29:07Z")
How big is your display in pixels?
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### Author:  [@PetrKryslUCSD](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/PetrKryslUCSD)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2025, 6:52pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/6-1-how-to-get-rid-of-the-dark-theme/17280/7 "2025-11-04T18:52:08Z")
2880x1920 (Surface Pro 9).
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### Author:  [@wascott](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/wascott)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2025, 6:57pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/6-1-how-to-get-rid-of-the-dark-theme/17280/8 "2025-11-04T18:57:19Z")
@mwestphal @cory.quammen
Do we support Surface Pro’s?
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### Author:  [@PetrKryslUCSD](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/PetrKryslUCSD)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2025, 7:02pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/6-1-how-to-get-rid-of-the-dark-theme/17280/9 "2025-11-04T19:02:48Z")
Even if you don’t, the dark-mode Paraview is fine (6.0.1). And I’ve used previous versions on it as well.
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### Author:  [@cory.quammen](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/cory.quammen)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2025, 7:46pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/6-1-how-to-get-rid-of-the-dark-theme/17280/10 "2025-11-04T19:46:23Z")
> [@wascott](#):
>
> Do we support Surface Pro’s?
They run Windows, so yes.
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### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [November 5, 2025, 9:07am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/6-1-how-to-get-rid-of-the-dark-theme/17280/11 "2025-11-05T09:07:22Z")
This is probably caused by the hack of the Qt style you are using as provided in [Switch off dark mode in 6.0? - #6 by s1291](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/switch-off-dark-mode-in-6-0/17181/6)
A proper setting to control theme should be added to ParaView in my opinion.
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### Author:  [@PetrKryslUCSD](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/PetrKryslUCSD)
#### Post date: [November 5, 2025, 4:30pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/6-1-how-to-get-rid-of-the-dark-theme/17280/12 "2025-11-05T16:30:35Z")
I don’t see any size control (except padding) in the style file…
As you say, a proper selection of theme from Paraview would be ideal.
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### Author:  [@Eastwave](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/Eastwave)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2026, 2:03am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/6-1-how-to-get-rid-of-the-dark-theme/17280/13 "2026-03-30T02:03:30Z")
If ParaView 6.1 launches in dark mode even though your ParaView color theme settings are correct, the issue is that **Qt (the UI framework ParaView is built on) automatically detects Windows dark mode and overrides the app’s theme settings.**
**Solution: Set a Windows Environment Variable**
1. Press `Win + S` and search for **“Edit the system environment variables”** , then click it
2. Click **“Environment Variables…”**
3. Under **User variables** , click **“New…”**
4. Enter the following:
| Variable name | Variable value |
| --- | --- |
| `QT_QPA_PLATFORM` | `windows:darkmode=0` |
1. Click **OK** on all windows
2. Restart ParaView
That’s it! No need to modify the registry or change your Windows theme.
**Why this works**
ParaView stores its color theme in the registry under `HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ParaView\ParaView\6.1`, but Qt6 detects the system dark mode and overrides it automatically. Setting `QT_QPA_PLATFORM=windows:darkmode=0` tells Qt to ignore the system dark mode detection, letting ParaView run in light mode without affecting any other apps or your Windows theme.
> **Note:** This environment variable only affects Qt6-based applications. Your Windows system theme remains unchanged.
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### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2026, 7:19am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/6-1-how-to-get-rid-of-the-dark-theme/17280/14 "2026-04-03T07:19:27Z")
TLDR: Set `QT_QPA_PLATFORM` env var to `windows:darkmode=0`
Please note I have not tested this.
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### Author:  [@s1291](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/s1291)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2026, 1:10pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/6-1-how-to-get-rid-of-the-dark-theme/17280/15 "2026-04-03T13:10:04Z")
Thanks for sharing! That’s actually the cleanest solution so far. I tested it on Windows 11 and it works!
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### Author:  [@Eastwave](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/Eastwave)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2026, 2:18am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/6-1-how-to-get-rid-of-the-dark-theme/17280/16 "2026-04-07T02:18:58Z")
Good !
Thank you
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### Author:  [@MGnad](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/MGnad)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2026, 8:45am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/6-1-how-to-get-rid-of-the-dark-theme/17280/17 "2026-04-13T08:45:53Z")
also works on Windows 11 and ParaView 6.0.0 💟