6.1: how to get rid of the dark theme?

ParaView Support
13

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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