How to fix issue with custom accent colour?

Hi Juliet, 

Thanks for reaching out to the Microsoft Community. I see that you wanted to customize the colors in settings to your preferred ones. With that you're experiencing with the accent color shifting after selection in Windows 11 appears to be a known issue or design change introduced in a recent update—specifically Windows 11 update KB5056580, released on July 8, 2025  

Here's what's happening: 

• Custom accent colors may appear altered (duller, more saturated, or different hues) after selection. 

This is not necessarily a bug, but rather a design change in how Windows 11 handles accent colors, especially in relation to light vs. dark mode. 

For example, the option to show accent colors on the Start menu and taskbar is now only available when dark mode is enabled. If you're in light mode, the system may override or adjust your selected color to maintain readability and contrast  

What you can try: 

1. Switch to Dark or Custom Mode: 

• Right click on the Desktop > Personalize > Colors. 
• Set "Choose your mode" to Custom. 
• Then set Windows mode to Dark and App mode to either Light or Dark, depending on your preference. 
• Reapply your custom accent color and see if it stays true. 

Enable Accent Color on Title Bars and Borders: 

• In the same Colors settings page, scroll down and enable: 
• "Show accent color on Start and taskbar" 
• "Show accent color on title bars and window borders" 

1. Registry Tweaks (Advanced): BEFORE PROCEEDING, PLEASE CREATE A RESTORE POINT FIRST. Search in Settings > Create a restore point >  “Create” button > Type a description you want for the restore point, and click/tap on **Create >**System Protection will now create the restore point. > Wait for it to finish successfully > Click Close > Tap OK.  

3.1 Some users have reported success by manually editing the registry to force specific accent colors, but this is more technical and should be done with caution. 

Add a Custom Accent Color Using the Registry 

If you have an exact color you want to use as an accent color, you need to edit the Windows registry to add it. The "color mixer" method described above just isn't precise enough.  

3.1.1. Open the registry editor by typing "regedit" into run box or the search box and hitting Enter. 

3.1.2. *Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_Machine\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes* by opening the folders in the left pane. 

3.1.3. Create the Accents key under Themes if it does not exist by right-clicking on the Theme folder and selecting New -> Key then renaming the key to "Accents." 

3.1.4. Open the Accents key. 

3.1.5. Create a subkey named "0" under Accents and another named "Theme0" under that. 

3.1.6. Create a new DWORD (32-bit) value named "Color" under Theme0. You can create new DWORD values by right-clicking in the right pane and selecting New -> DWord (32-bit) and then renaming the entry it creates. 

3.1.7. Open the Color DWORD value by double-clicking on it. 

3.1. 8. Enter a color value in ABGR (also called KML) format and click OK. ABGR stands for Alpha Blue Green Red and is composed of hexadecimal numbers. This tool will convert regular hex or RGB colors you get from an image editor into ABGR. 

3.1. 9. Close Regedit and restart your computer. 

 The new color will now appear at the bottom of the list of hues in the Accent color menu. 

You can add up to seven additional custom colors to the menu by creating additional theme folders under the Accents key in the Windows registry. You need to name these Accents\0\Theme1, Accents\1\Theme0, Accents\1\Theme1, Accents\2\Theme0, \Accents\2\Theme1, Accents\3\Theme0 and Accents\3\Theme1. 

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Cheers, 

Restee M. 

Microsoft Community Contributor