Doesn't change theme when scheduled, and "Try to fix the theme" sometimes doesn't work

[AgusssChh]

Description

I scheduled it to change the theme at a certain time, it doesn't change, regardless of whether or not the laptop was powered on.

I tried to fix the theme by rightclicking the tray icon, then force the theme/try fix the theme, that doesn't work neither (or it works for one desktop, and the other desktop still gets stuck with the old theme. In the log you'd see me try wayyy to many times to force it/fix it, I just don't get it.

I tried deleting the app and cleaning the config folder (I did save a backup just in case) but in the windows Configuration it would still be locked in ADM light/darkTheme and won't let me change the theme. I deleted the ADM themes in the themes folder, reopened the windows config tab, now it will show the whatever windows theme I had installed, but still won't let me choose anything else. It is stuck in that theme just like how the app forces the ADM theme.

Log Data

service.log
config.yaml

I am on Windows 11 Pro, 25H2, OS Build 26200.6901

Expected Behaviour

It should change the theme at X time.

Commit Hash, Version and Windows Build

• Commit: 5678573e
• Service/App: 11.0.0.54
• Updater: 4.0.3
• Shell: 1.3.3.0
• .Net: 9.0.8
• Windows: 26200.6901
• Arch: X64

Screenshots / Videos

No response

Thanks!

[Spiritreader]

Hi.

Please update to the latest beta version. I always recommend doing that, because the beta is in active development. V11 just released and we're still collecting feedback.

Some fixes were made to the wallpaper detection logic.

After that, from the logs, I can see that you're actually not switching the App mode, which is what most people think of as "Dark mode" in Windows.

You want this configuration here:

Also, your latest config.yaml file has windows theme mode enabled. The themes need to exist that you want to set.

If you're having trouble with wallpapers, follow these instructions: #469 (comment)

Try to fix theme will not change the theme, it will just attempt to fix broken UI elements.

[AgusssChh]

Hi, I've installed the latest beta. I'm in 11.1.0.5 now. After some trial and error, here's my experience:

I disabled Windows Theme Mode. Then opened ADM System Areas Settings, changed both Windows Mode and App Mode to "Disabled" and later changed them to "Adapt to System" to test it, neither of them worked. "Always Light" and "Always Dark" didn't work neither.

I tried wallpapers settings, that works just fine, I'm only having troubles with the theme/mode settings.

Summary of my problem: the app thinks it switched theme, but it didn't (at least I don't see it).

Problem Details

During daytime I installed the beta and used the light theme, now when the scheduled time comes, the app clearly thinks that it did switch the theme, though most of my windows interface didn't switch. If I right click on the tray icon, it shows the menu in dark mode.

Furthermore, if I activate "Accent Color for the taskbar during dark mode, it does correctly enable the accent color, which means that the ADM app thinks I am in dark mode. And if I enable color filter during dark mode, it also correctly enables the filter, despite me clearly seeing a light mode interface.

If I force the light theme the tray menu and taskbar accent color goes back to light theme. If I use dark theme, accent color is enabled, and the tray icon menu gets correctly switched to dark mode. So the problem here is that my interface, most of my apps (even ADM itself), still stay in light theme. As you can see in the screenshot.

My chrome app is in follow device mode, the app interface appears in light mode but google search results page appear in dark mode. The inconsistency here is kind of annoying too. For now, I'd have to go back to manually switching dark mode in Windows Settings.

Sidenote: in Windows Settings, it doesn't show ADM Light/ ADM Dark anymore, just "ADMTheme". It used to be ADM light or ADM Dark. I don't know if this is relevant.

I have checked \AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Themes, and the theme files are correctly stored. These are the 4 files I have there:
ADMTheme.theme
ADMUnmanagedDark.theme
ADMUnmanagedLight.theme
DwmRefreshTheme.theme

Log and Config data

Here are the log and config file
service.log
config.yaml

PD: Thanks for helping and building the app! I appreciate you!

[Spiritreader]

Hi, thanks for the update and for the detailed screenshots.

The somewhat good news is that we're now getting "good" log data where we are at a known state.

Since you also confirmed that ADM has set its internal theme state to dark, we can start isolating the issue a bit.
Something weird is going on, because if we look at this section in the logs:

2025-10-31 20:39:40 | Info | ComponentManager.GetComponentsToUpdate: components queued for update: [AppsSwitch, SystemSwitch] 
2025-10-31 20:39:40 | Info | ThemeFile.SyncWithActiveTheme: theme used for syncing is ADMTheme, path: C:\Users\aczj2\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Themes\ADMTheme.theme 
2025-10-31 20:39:40 | Debug | ThemeFile.PatchColorsWin11InMemory: patched colors from [2 0 0] to [3 0 0] 
2025-10-31 20:39:40 | Info | AppsSwitch.HandleSwitch: update info - previous: Light, pending: Dark, mode: Switch 
2025-10-31 20:39:40 | Info | SystemSwitch.SwitchSystemTheme: update info - previous: Light, pending: Dark, mode: Switch, accent: no 
2025-10-31 20:39:40 | Info | Tm2Handler.SetTheme: applied theme ADMTheme, from origin: C:\Users\aczj2\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Themes\ADMTheme.theme directly via IThemeManager2 

The necessary data for a switch has been written into the theme file (we get patch confirmation and the modules state that they updated the file correctly.

And it also looks like ADM has called the Windows API successfully that actually instructs Windows to perform the switch itself.

Which means it's quite unlikely that the bug is somewhere in the ADM theme switching code, but rather there's an issue interacting with Windows.

Could you please upload the ADMTheme.theme file from here?

C:\Users\aczj2\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Themes\ADMTheme.theme

My current assumption is that there is some issue with the upstream theme file (the one ADM tries to read) which causes components not to be switched correctly.

---

Sidenote: in Windows Settings, it doesn't show ADM Light/ ADM Dark anymore, just "ADMTheme". It used to be ADM light or ADM Dark. I don't know if this is relevant.

ADMUnmanagedLight and ADMUnmanagedDark are used for the Windows theme mode. But it's easier to debug with the Managed mode (the one you're currently using) as ADM has more control over the theme that way.

[AgusssChh]

Hi, I couldn't upload .theme file, so I renamed it to .txt

This is the file:
ADMTheme.txt

Thanks

[Spiritreader]

Hm, that looks correct.
Can you try applying this theme by copying it back to %localappdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Themes, renaming the file back to ADMTheme.theme and double clicking on it?

ADMTheme.txt

That should have the effect of your theme switching to dark.

[AgusssChh]

Alright so I copied the new theme file, replaced it and applied it. It fixed 1 issue but the app still thinks it switched when it didn't. Weird.

"Try to fix the theme" now works for fixing the UI (Good news!)

I tried "Try to fix the theme" and it fixed all the apps except the windows bar, which stayed in light theme. Then I forced the theme switch and tried again. This time it worked, all my interface went dark mode, including apps, window bar and tray icon menu.
So: The new theme file fixed the issue of the entire interface staying in light mode even after I press "Try to fix the theme". Now that option works and does fix the UI.

---

Scheduled autoswitch still doesn't work.

It still has the same problem, the tray icon menu switched, the app still thinks it switched but it didn't.

I scheduled it to autoswitch, only tray icon menu switches, but app interfaces doesn't. If Imanually press "Try to fix the theme", it gets fixed it and my interface actually goes dark. But that point, I'd just manually switch every time.

---

Night Light issue I forgot to mention earlier

For some reason Windows Night Light Settings can't activate correctly with ADM Theme. Not a new issue, I just forgot in the first post.

I have Night Light scheduled. When the scheduled time comes, windows configuration gives me the option to turn off the Night Light, even though the interface looks exactly the same as if night light were already off. In other words, windows settings thinks it did activate night Light but the interface doesn't look more yellow-ish, exactly the same issue with my theme switches.

And Try to fix the theme doesn't fix Night Light.

---

Log and Config file

config.yaml
service.log

Thank u

[Spiritreader]

To be honest, I have no idea what's happening with your system.

I can't reproduce any of what you're encountering on all of our test machines.

Could you please

• Turn on "trace mode" in the settings
  

• Close the Auto Dark Mode service

• Select Windows ("light") as your theme
  

• Start Auto Dark Mode

• Check if it switches

If that still doesn't work, there's no way for me to troubleshoot this other than having access to the machine you're having issues with, because I need to run ADM via Visual Studio in the debugger to see exactly what's being set.

You seem to be an isolated case, if this were a common issue we'd get more issue reports for this.