Share via

High contrast mode won't turn off?

Anonymous
2015-12-04T22:46:46+00:00

I know this seems like an ordinary issue, but I'm stuck in high contrast mode; I accidentally turned it on through the hotkey buttons. The problem is, I'm on a school laptop, so a, I don't have administrative properties to work around it, and b, the main problem, I'm a basic user, and one of the things we've been locked out of is directly editing our themes.

So what's happened is I'm stuck in high contrast mode, I can't open up the 'personalize' dropdown from the desktop to edit the theme directly, and I don't have admin privileges, so I can't work my way around this very easily. I've tried going into the theme folders and opening the .theme files directly, but nothing happens. I've tried doing stuff with the console root (mmc.exe), but so far everything's been denied since I'm a basic user. I really don't want to have to do anything sketchy like download some 3rd party program or something, but high contrast is not a fun thing to have. This is my second-to-last step to see if I can get answers here before I try glitching myself an admin account or just going to the admins directly.

Any tips would be great.

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Settings

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

4 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2015-12-07T17:14:42+00:00

    Try hitting Ctrl + Alt + Del while you're logged in so you get the menu where you change password and so on. In the lower left hand corner you should see the 'ease of access' icon. I believe you can turn it off and on from there.

    Let me know how it goes!

    200+ people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2015-12-05T01:47:39+00:00

    Hello Ahnock,

    I believe that the shortcut you used was left Shift + left Alt + PrtScn.

    Or if that doesn't work, try this.

    1. Open the Make the computer easier to see page by clicking Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking Ease of Access, clicking Ease of Access Center, and then clicking Make the computer easier to see.
    2. Under High Contrast, uncheck all the options under “High contrast”.

    Let me know how you get on.

    50+ people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2016-06-29T15:10:01+00:00

    Solved

    Go to the start bar, type "aero" and "Find and Fix issues" will pop up.  Run that (requires admin rights). Click Next. Issue will be fixed.

    Only trouble is you will need admin rights to run the fix.

    Good luck!!

    30+ people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2015-12-07T16:26:42+00:00

    Yeah, the shortcut I used was left shift + left alt + prtscn (or rather, alt + shift + fn + scroll).

    Pressing those again doesn't turn it off because the direct theme management is turned off for my account. Is there any way to change it other than through the usual ease of access center or personalization method?

    Thanks.

    10+ people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments