These settings permanently apply their color schemes until you manually change to the other one. Windows 11 doesn’t include any additional options that enable you to schedule times for dark and light modes to automatically come on. Nevertheless, you can still configure dark/light mode to automatically change with the Auto Dark Mode app.
Set Dark and Light Mode Times With Auto Dark Mode
Auto Dark Mode is a nifty piece of freeware software that lets you schedule dark and light mode. For example, you can use Auto Dark Mode to change to light mode at 9 AM and back to dark mode at 6 PM. The app gives you full control over the times, so you can set it to your heart’s content.
Here is how you can set dark and light mode times with Auto Dark Mode:
Open Auto Dark Mode’s GitHub download page within a browser. Click AutoDarkModeX_10. 1. 10. exe to download Auto Dark Mode’s installer. Bring up File Explorer’s window (you can press the Win + E hotkey to open it). Open the folder you saved the installer in. Double-click the AutoDarkModeX_10. 1. 0. 10. exe to open its setup wizard and install the software. Auto Dark Mode should automatically launch after installation. If, however, it doesn’t for some reason, enter Auto Dark Mode in Windows 11’s search box to find and open it. Select Auto Dark Mode’s Time tab shown directly below. Then click the Set custom hours radio button. Click the Light clock setting to choose a time for the mode. You’ll need to click the up/down arrows on the time selector and the tick button to choose and apply a time. To set a time for the dark mode to come on, click the Dark clock setting. Then select a time for that mode to start, and click the tick button. Thereafter, wait for the times you chose for the light and dark modes to start at.
The program will still be running after you close its window, so you don’t need to minimize it. To close Auto Dark Mode, right-click the app’s system tray icon and select Close.
Other Auto Dark Mode Settings
Auto Dark Mode also has quite a few other settings on different tabs. For example, you can set up dark and light mode hotkeys. To do so, click in the Force Light Mode Hotkey or Force Dark Mode Hotkey boxes on the Switch Modes tab. Then press a hotkey like Ctrl + L or Ctrl + D for your chosen mode. To apply the hotkeys, turn on the Enable system-wide hotkeys option.
You can select different desktop wallpapers for light and dark modes. To do that, click the Pick a wallpaper option on the Personalization tab.
Turn on the Enable wallpaper switch setting, and select a mode in Mode drop-down menu. Select the Picture option on the Type drop-down menu, and select Pick a file to choose a wallpaper. Then the desktop wallpaper will change to your chosen background when light or dark mode comes on.
Auto Dark Mode Is a Great Freeware App
An option for setting dark and light mode times in Windows 11 is something Microsoft should have added to its latest desktop platform. Who knows, maybe one day Microsoft might add such a feature to Windows 11 with an update. For now, you can configure dark/light mode times with Auto Dark Mode.
Overall, Auto Dark Mode is a decent app for configuring and customizing Windows 11’s dark and light modes. With its Set custom hours option, you can get the best of both the dark and light mode worlds by setting start times for them. Auto Dark Mode’s hotkey and wallpaper customization settings are also good additional options for the color modes.
