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Windows 11 keeps changing my accessory color to "dark yellow"

Cassidy Reed 20 Reputation points
2025-09-07T13:52:18.2766667+00:00

I recently reinstalled windows 11 on my pc and when I went to customize my settings I noticed the accessory color was set to "dark yellow" I changed it to blue but as I was using my pc it would randomly keep changing the accessory color back to dark yellow, every time I keep changing it back to blue it always puts it back to dark yellow, I've tried looing online for answers and everything I've tried doesn't work, I tried resetting settings, restoring windows explorer to default, doing the "fix problems using windows update", I tried multiple reddit forum posts from 3 years ago, more youtube videos about changing the accessory color, nothing works (note: when I go into devise manager and tell windows explorer to restart the color changes to dark yellow, in case this might be helpful)

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Settings
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IGYQ 19,185 Reputation points Independent Advisor
2025-09-10T02:51:59.4433333+00:00

You can add your files to a shared location

  1. Log into the old (source) user account:
    • Go to C:\Users\OldUsername
    • Copy the files you want to transfer (example from Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Pictures).
    Copy files to a shared location: Paste them into a shared folder like C:\Users\Public or onto a USB drive.
  2. Switch to the new (target) user account:

Navigate to the location where you placed the files.

  • Copy them into the appropriate folders (example. Documents, Desktop, etc.).

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  1. IGYQ 19,185 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2025-09-09T14:37:59.0733333+00:00

    You can try this and reset the theme cache (main account with issue)

    1. Log into the main (broken) account.
    2. Open File Explorer and go to: %localappdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Themes
    3. Delete or move all the .theme files and the CachedFiles folder.
    4. Reapply your wallpaper + accent color from Settings > Personalization.

    If still not fixed, proceed with the steps below. (need to have a USB to copy some files)

    1. Sign into your new working account (test user account)
    2. Open File Explorer → enable Hidden items.
    3. Copy the following folders from the new profile into the old one (overwrite when asked):
      • C:\Users\NewUser\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Themes
      • C:\Users\NewUser\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer
    4. Log back into your old account and reapply your color preference.

    Technically, you copied a fresh copy of settings from this test account to the old one. (old one should work fine after doing this) if still not working then something else is triggering the problem on the main account which is tricky to track.

    Let me know once done with this.

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  2. IGYQ 19,185 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2025-09-08T14:24:48.27+00:00

    Next thing to do is to create a new user account(testing purposes)

    Here's how:

    1. Press Win + I → open Settings.
    2. Go to Accounts → Other users.
    3. Click Add account.
    4. In the Microsoft account sign-in window, click I don’t have this person’s sign-in information → then Add a user without a Microsoft account.
    5. Enter a test username (e.g., TestUser) and a password (optional).
    6. Finish setup.

    You can now switch to the test account. you can test the themes and mainly the accessory color and see it there would be any changes there (set a color and restart your computer). If it went well on the test account, that means there is a corrupt file/setting on the main profile itself.

    1. Press Ctrl + Alt + Del → choose Switch user. Or press Win + L to lock, then sign in with the new account.
    2. Once logged in, go to Settings → Personalization → Colors, and set your blue accent color.

    Let me know with the changes.

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  3. IGYQ 19,185 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2025-09-07T15:14:38.6333333+00:00

    Hi!

    Since you’ve already tried resets and Explorer restarts, here are other set of troubleshooting that might help to figure out why is it going back to dark yellow. (there might be some steps that you've already done, just skip them)

    Step 1: Turn off auto-accent

    a. Go to Settings → Personalization → Colors

    b. Scroll down to Accent color

    c. Turn OFF → “Automatically pick an accent color from my background”

    Step 2: Disable theme & color sync with Microsoft account

    If you’re signed into Windows with your MS account, sync may be forcing “dark yellow” back.

    a. Settings → Accounts → Windows backup

    b. Under Remember my preferences, toggle Color (and optionally Other Windows settings) to OFF.

    c. Sign out and back in, then set your accent color again

    Step 3: Reset the current theme

    a. Settings → Personalization → Themes

    b. Switch to Windows (light) or Windows (dark)

    c. Then set your accent color to blue.

    d. Save this as a new custom theme so it won’t pull the old yellow value.

    Let me know once done so I can assist you further.

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