[SOLVED] Restart/Power Off/Logout screen not following Accent color. 25$ for fix.

Sempiro · Mar 9, 2021

Hello there,

I have a weird issue with Restart/Power-Off/Log-out/ background color does not follow Accent color from Personalization settings + when the PC starts and loading into Log-in screen there is a Blue-flash (same happens each time I lock PC), and when I set accent to some other color there are two flashes (always blue, and the one I chosen).

I'm 100% sure it wasn't like this before. And everything was consistent with what Accent color I chosen: ex.: If gray Accent is chosen, then Restart/Power-Off/Log-out/ background color become gray and as well as transition to lock-screen flash color.

What I have tried:

1. Boot in Safe mode and Clean boot - issue persists.
2. Boot in Safe mode under another user account - issue persists.
3. Update to the latest version of Windows (20H0) - issue persists.
4. Reinstall Video card drivers/disable Video Card and make Windows to use generic video driver - issue persists.
5. Rolling back to default Aero theme through WinAero Tweaker and uninstalling UXthemepathcer - issue persists.
6. Reinstalling UXthemepatcher and changing to another graytheme - issue persists
7. Replace default boot SSD with one from another machine (both laptops, same OS, same build) - issue doesn't persist.
8. DISM and SFC checks - issue persists.

From point 7 I think it is safe to assume that the issue is purely OS/Software in nature.

System specs:

Win 10 Pro 20H0
X220 Laptop

I find this issue to be super annoying, since I like to my OS theme to be in dark colors, and mere fact that Restart/Power-Off/Log-out/ background color does not follow Accent anymore makes me supper irritated so I am willing to pay 25 USD to anyone who can help me to solve the issue without need of reinstalling or resetting my system (do not want to reinstall apps, drivers, system anew etc.)

Please find additional context below:

Here is an example of two flashes during transition to lockscreen (blue is a stuck Accent color, and red is the accent color I have set)

Same thing, but with accent color to be set as gray (stuck blue + custom gray)

Here are all the settings in registry that are related to themes in OS which I found:

Personalization settings for gray Accent color:

In Safe-Mode when I try to access Themes category, I get this, not sure if it is related to my issue, but still worth to mention (this does not happen in regular mode):

Restart/Power Off/Logout screen not following Accent color 25$ for fix-h77sd0gakk.png

xrobwx71 · Mar 9, 2021

Sempiro said:
I am willing to pay 25 USD

Hi, @Sempiro
If someone here solves your issue and you wish to donate, please see here. This is not a solicitation for a donation but a reference to your comment about paying someone. We do not accept personal payments at Sysnative but appreciate the donations to the site.

Try clearing your hibernation file.

Open an elevated command prompt and type powercfg -h off and reboot.
Once rebooted, you can turn it back on by replacing off with on. powercfg -h on

This deletes and replaces the hibernation file, hiberfil.sys in which sometimes gets corrupted.

xilolee · Mar 9, 2021

The reboot is not necessary by the way: hiberfil.sys disappears even without it.

britechguy · Mar 9, 2021

A Restart, and I do mean Restart, also gets rid of the special hibernation file used by Fast Startup and reloads Windows 10 from disk.

I absolutely despise Fast Startup because hiberfil.sys corruption (which always happens, eventually, it may take months, but . . .) can cause some of the most bizarre errors that are well-nigh impossible to diagnose or fix "by conventional means."

It can be turned off in Control Panel, Power Options, Choose what the Power Button does.

xilolee · Mar 9, 2021

Isn't that always hiberfil.sys?
Swapfile.sys is for win10 apps.

Sempiro · Mar 9, 2021

xrobwx71 said:
Hi, @Sempiro
If someone here solves your issue and you wish to donate, please see here. This is not a solicitation for a donation but a reference to your comment about paying someone. We do not accept personal payments at Sysnative but appreciate the donations to the site.

Try clearing your hibernation file.

Open an elevated command prompt and type powercfg -h off and reboot.
Once rebooted, you can turn it back on by replacing off with on. powercfg -h on

This deletes and replaces the hibernation file, hiberfil.sys in which sometimes gets corrupted.

Hello, thank you for the reply. Unfortunately this didn't fix the issue for me, flashes and unchangeable background color for aforementioned screens still persist.

All this situation reminds me Win7 times, when icon cache was messed up and you could see icons of others apps on another, like IE icon on Photoshop. You could easily fix this by deleting icon cash database file and refresh the explorer. Wonder if something similar happens here. Super annoying.

britechguy · Mar 9, 2021

It does not seem that you have yet tried: Doing a Windows 10 Repair Install or Feature Update Using the Windows 10 ISO file
And in this case you would be repair installing as you'll use the 20H2 ISO on a system already running 20H2.

If that doesn't fix the issue, then I'd say your only choice is doing a full system image backup of your current system so you have it to recover from, if needed, and then Doing a Completely Clean (Re)install of Windows 10 Using Media Creation Tool to Fetch the Win10 ISO File, and you'll already have the ISO file from having attempted the repair install.

There are sometimes things that do not get fixed except by wiping the slate clean and starting all over again. And, yes, I know pulling back all your user data and reinstalling your apps and desktop apps is a grand PITA, which is why doing a completely clean reinstall is a last option after all else has failed.

Sempiro · Mar 9, 2021

britechguy said:
It does not seem that you have yet tried: Doing a Windows 10 Repair Install or Feature Update Using the Windows 10 ISO file
And in this case you would be repair installing as you'll use the 20H2 ISO on a system already running 20H2.

If that doesn't fix the issue, then I'd say your only choice is doing a full system image backup of your current system so you have it to recover from, if needed, and then Doing a Completely Clean (Re)install of Windows 10 Using Media Creation Tool to Fetch the Win10 ISO File, and you'll already have the ISO file from having attempted the repair install.

There are sometimes things that do not get fixed except by wiping the slate clean and starting all over again. And, yes, I know pulling back all your user data and reinstalling your apps and desktop apps is a grand PITA, which is why doing a completely clean reinstall is a last option after all else has failed.

Thanks a lot, I will explore other options first and will try Repair/Reinstall as the last resort, but again, there is no guarantee that it won't happen on fresh system, since all the apps I am going to install again will be the same, as well as settings, hence to know reason behind this issue would be nice.

britechguy · Mar 9, 2021

Just to be clear, the Repair Install is NOT the last resort. I use these routinely to fix all sorts of problems and there is absolutely nothing to lose by trying one. Your apps and data are preserved.

It's the completely clean reinstall that's the last resort, as that means a clean slate and lots of reconfiguration work.

Sempiro · Mar 10, 2021

britechguy said:
Just to be clear, the Repair Install is NOT the last resort. I use these routinely to fix all sorts of problems and there is absolutely nothing to lose by trying one. Your apps and data are preserved.

It's the completely clean reinstall that's the last resort, as that means a clean slate and lots of reconfiguration work.

Oh, I misunderstood then, will try it out today

, thanks a lot!

Sempiro · Mar 16, 2021

Alright, I found out the reason.

When I was installing 3rd party theme, there was an instruction in README file:

For dark themes Windows 10 loads defaults from
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\DefaultColors]
after every lock/sleep/hibernate/crash.
Make a backup of that key, take ownership
(RegOwnershipEx)
of it, and then delete that whole key (defaultcolors)

So in order to not have these flashes and stuck blue accent + chosen accent color issue you should NOT delete the whole key "DefaultColors", but instead:

1. Delete every value except "Default" in "HighContrast"
2. Delete every value except "Default" in "Standard"

In the end it should look like this:

xrobwx71 · Mar 17, 2021

What was the name of the 3rd party theme?

Thanks for letting us know!

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[SOLVED] Restart/Power Off/Logout screen not following Accent color. 25$ for fix.

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