Windows 10 Night Light crashes Display Settings and CloudStore DefaultAccount is missing

Question

Windows 10 Night Light crashes Display Settings and CloudStore DefaultAccount is missing

Amir Heidari 0

Hello,

I have a strange Night Light issue on Windows 10 22H2.

Night Light was working normally until about a month ago. Now, when I open Settings > System > Display and try to open Night Light settings, the Settings app crashes after a few seconds.

The Display page itself loads correctly and shows my monitor information, resolution, and scaling settings. Other Settings pages such as Personalization > Colors work normally.

Event Viewer shows this crash:


Faulting application name: SystemSettings.exe

Faulting module name: msvcrt.dll

Exception code: 0x40000015

I checked the following:

Windows 10 version: 22H2
SFC /scannow: No problems found
Display adapter/driver appears normal
Another user account on the same PC does not have this problem

I noticed that the issue seems related to CloudStore.

On the affected user profile:


HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\CloudStore\Store

The DefaultAccount key exists, but its contents appear incomplete. It only contains:


default$windows.data.donotdisturb.quiethoursprofile$quiethoursprofilelist

The Night Light related entries are missing:

windows.data.bluelightreduction.settings
windows.data.bluelightreduction.bluelightreductionstate

I imported the DefaultAccount key from another working user account on the same PC. After importing it, Night Light started working immediately, but after restarting Windows the issue returned.

Later, after enabling Focus Assist (Alarms only), the DefaultAccount key was recreated automatically. However, it still only contains the Quiet Hours profile entry mentioned above, and the Night Light related CloudStore entries are still missing.

Is there a way to rebuild the missing CloudStore Night Light data for this user profile without creating a new Windows user account?

I cannot create a new Windows user account and migrate to it, because this is my main profile and moving everything to a new account is not a practical option for me.

Thank you.

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1 answer

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Answer 1

Sin-D 12,235 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi Amir Heidari,

I understand how frustrating this is, especially since you've already performed extensive troubleshooting and identified that importing the missing CloudStore entries temporarily restores Night Light functionality.

As a first troubleshooting step, I would recommend rebuilding the user-specific Night Light configuration:

Press Windows + R, type regedit, and press Enter.
Navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\CloudStore\Store
Export the Store key as a backup.
Rename the Store key to Store.old.
Sign out of Windows and sign back in.
Open Settings > System > Display and try enabling Night Light again.

If Windows successfully recreates the CloudStore data, the missing windows.data.bluelightreduction.* entries should be generated automatically.

If you have already tried rebuilding the entire CloudStore\Store branch (not just importing DefaultAccount) and the issue still returns after a restart, please let me know:

Whether the problem occurs immediately after signing back in or only after rebooting.
Whether you are using Microsoft account sync on this profile.
Whether any registry cleaners, optimization tools, or profile-management software are installed.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Yes" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

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Amir Heidari 0 Reputation points

2026-07-22T04:42:36.5266667+00:00
Hi,

I followed your suggested steps and renamed the entire:

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\CloudStore\Store

key to Store.old.

After signing out and signing back in, Windows recreated the CloudStore data successfully, but the issue remains.

The recreated CloudStore only contains:

default$windows.data.donotdisturb.quietmoment$quietmomentlist

The Night Light related entries are still not created:

windows.data.bluelightreduction.settings

windows.data.bluelightreduction.bluelightreductionstate

I also checked Quick Settings (Win + A). The Night Light toggle is still disabled/off.

Opening Night Light settings from Settings > System > Display still causes SystemSettings.exe to crash.

This seems like Windows is able to rebuild CloudStore, but the Night Light configuration data is not being initialized for this user profile.

Thank you.
Sin-D 12,235 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-07-22T05:11:37.5866667+00:00
Hi Amir Heidari,

Thank you for testing that and providing the results.

As a next step, could you please check the following:

Open Task Scheduler and navigate to: "Task Scheduler Library > Microsoft > Windows > WindowsColorSystem", please confirm whether the tasks in this folder are present and enabled.

Open Windows Terminal (Admin) and run: DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth. Even though SFC reported no issues, DISM can sometimes repair component corruption that affects Settings features.

Check whether the following registry key exists under your affected profile: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\CapabilityAccessManager\ConsentStore\location. Night Light relies on location and display-related components, so it would be useful to know whether this key appears normal.
Amir Heidari 0 Reputation points

2026-07-22T12:57:10.9333333+00:00
Hi,

Thank you for your help.

I followed the troubleshooting steps you suggested. After running DISM and SFC, the original Night Light crash issue was resolved.

The Settings app no longer crashes when opening Night Light settings, and Night Light works again.

However, I noticed two additional behaviors that seem unrelated to the original affected user profile issue:

Night Light schedule behavior:

I tested this on another working user account on the same Windows installation, and the same behavior happens there.

For example:

Turn on: 3:00

Turn off: 6:00

Windows does not interpret the schedule correctly. The displayed status is reversed compared to the configured times. For example, it may say Night Light is off until 6:00 even though it is configured to turn on at 3:00.

The Night Light schedule appears to be using the wrong time state, while manually enabling Night Light with "Turn on now" or from Quick Settings works correctly.

Automatic time zone:

On both user accounts, I cannot enable "Set time zone automatically" from Windows Settings.

The current time zone and system clock are correct.

Since these behaviors also occur on another user account, they seem to be system-wide rather than related to the affected CloudStore profile.

The original Night Light Settings crash appears to be fixed after DISM/SFC repair.

Thank you.
Sin-D 12,235 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-07-23T03:05:40.46+00:00
Hi Amir Heidari,

Regarding the two remaining behaviors, they appear to be separate from the original CloudStore issue because they occur on multiple user accounts on the same Windows installation.

For the Night Light schedule showing the wrong status, my first suspicion would be that Windows is having trouble determining location or time zone information, because scheduled Night Light relies on time-related services even when the system clock itself appears correct.

Could you check the following:

Open Settings > Privacy > Location and verify that Location services are enabled.

Open services.msc and confirm that Geolocation Service is present and running.

Open Windows Terminal (Admin) and run: tzutil /g

Please let me know which time zone is reported.

Could you also clarify what happens when you try to enable Set time zone automatically?

Is the toggle greyed out and unavailable?

Does it switch back to Off immediately?

Do you receive any error message?
Amir Heidari 0 Reputation points

2026-07-23T12:58:14.7766667+00:00
Hi,

Thank you for your reply.

I checked the requested items:

Location services are disabled. They have been disabled for several years on this Windows installation.

Geolocation Service is present and running.

Running tzutil /g returns: Iran Standard Time

Regarding "Set time zone automatically":

The option is disabled and I cannot enable it.

I also cannot manually change the time zone from Windows Settings.

There is no error message displayed when trying to change these settings.

The current system clock and time zone are correct.

Thank you.
Sin-D 12,235 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-07-26T01:53:46.3633333+00:00
Hi Amir Heidari,

Thank you for taking the time to test the additional items and provide detailed feedback.

Based on your latest findings, the two remaining behaviors appear to be separate from the original Night Light profile corruption issue:

Night Light schedule is interpreted incorrectly on multiple user accounts.

"Set time zone automatically" is unavailable, and manual time zone changes through Settings are also blocked.

Since both behaviors occur across multiple user accounts, this no longer points to a single-profile problem.

To better narrow this down, could you check the following:

Open “Settings” > “Time & Language” > “Date & time” and confirm whether “Set time automatically” is enabled or also unavailable.

Open Windows Terminal (Admin) and run: w32tm /query /status

Please share whether the command returns normal status information or any errors.

Open “Services” (services.msc) and check whether Windows Time is running and its startup type is set to Automatic.

Since you mentioned Location Services have been disabled for several years, as a temporary test, could you enable “Location services”, reopen “Date & time”, and see whether “Set time zone automatically” becomes available afterward?
Sin-D 12,235 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-07-27T00:28:12.5+00:00

Hi Amir Heidari,

Have you had the chance to check my answer yet?

Please do keep me updated.
Amir Heidari 0 Reputation points

2026-07-27T06:20:49.4233333+00:00
Hi,

Thank you for your reply.

I checked the requested items:

Set time automatically is enabled.

I ran w32tm /query /status. The command completed successfully and reported time.windows.com as the source. (I've included the output below.)

Windows Time service is running and its startup type is Automatic.

I temporarily enabled Location services as requested, but it did not make any difference. The "Set time zone automatically" option is still unavailable, and I still cannot manually change the time zone from Windows Settings.

Output of w32tm /query /status:

Leap Indicator: 3 (not synchronized) Stratum: 0 (unspecified) Precision: -23 (119.209ns per tick) Root Delay: 0.2835570s Root Dispersion: 8.3653358s ReferenceId: 0x00000000 (unspecified) Last Successful Sync Time: 7/26/2026 2:46:57 PM Source: time.windows.com,0x9 Poll Interval: 10 (1024s)

Thank you.
Sin-D 12,235 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-07-27T07:04:43.9466667+00:00

Hi Amir Heidari,

Thank you for providing the additional test results.

At this point, I'd like to narrow down whether the problem is related to Windows' ability to modify time zone settings rather than time synchronization itself.

Could you please check the following:

1, Open Command Prompt (Administrator) and run: tzutil /l

Then try: tzutil /s "UTC"

(You can change it back afterward.)

Please let me know whether the command succeeds or returns an error.

2, Open "Local Group Policy Editor" (gpedit.msc) if available on your edition of Windows and check: "Computer Configuration" > "Administrative Templates" > "System" > "Locale Services"

Are any policies configured there?

3, Open Registry Editor and check whether the following key exists: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\tzautoupdate

If it exists, please confirm the value of "Start".
Amir Heidari 0 Reputation points

2026-07-27T16:13:05.15+00:00
Hi,

I completed the additional tests.

I ran:

tzutil /s "UTC"

The command completed successfully and changed the time zone.

I then changed it back using:

tzutil /s "Iran Standard Time"

which also completed successfully.

I checked Local Group Policy Editor under:

Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Locale Services

All policies are set to Not Configured.

I checked the registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\tzautoupdate

The Start value is 3.

Additionally, even after confirming that tzutil can successfully change the time zone, I still cannot manually change the time zone from Settings, and the "Set time zone automatically" option remains unavailable.

It seems the command-line tool can change the time zone successfully, but the Windows Settings interface still cannot.

Thank you.
Sin-D 12,235 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-03T02:15:17.2366667+00:00

Hi Amir Heidari,

Thank you for performing those additional checks and for providing the detailed results.

As one final verification step, could you try creating a new local test account (if practical) and check whether Settings > Time & Language > Date & Time behaves the same way there? Since the issue now appears system-wide rather than profile-specific, I would expect the behavior to be identical, but confirming this would help determine whether the problem is tied to the Settings interface itself.

Also, when viewing Settings > Time & Language > Date & Time, is the Time zone drop-down completely greyed out, or is it selectable but unable to save changes? A screenshot of that page (with any personal information removed) may also help clarify the exact state of the controls.

At this stage, the Night Light scheduling behavior may simply be a side effect of the same Date & Time Settings issue, especially since manual Night Light activation is working correctly and the original crash has been resolved.
Amir Heidari 0 Reputation points

2026-08-04T15:13:31.25+00:00

Hi,

I created a new local test account and tested the same settings there.

The behavior is identical. The issue also occurs on the new local account, so it does not appear to be specific to a particular user profile.

The Time zone drop-down is greyed out, and I cannot manually change the time zone. The "Set time zone automatically" option is also unavailable.

Thank you.
Sin-D 12,235 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-05T04:46:36.3566667+00:00

Hi Amir Heidari,

Thank you for performing those additional checks and for providing the detailed results.

As one final verification step, could you try creating a new local test account (if practical) and check whether Settings > Time & Language > Date & Time behaves the same way there? Since the issue now appears system-wide rather than profile-specific, I would expect the behavior to be identical, but confirming this would help determine whether the problem is tied to the Settings interface itself.

Also, when viewing Settings > Time & Language > Date & Time, is the Time zone drop-down completely greyed out, or is it selectable but unable to save changes? A screenshot of that page (with any personal information removed) may also help clarify the exact state of the controls.

At this stage, the Night Light scheduling behavior may simply be a side effect of the same Date & Time Settings issue, especially since manual Night Light activation is working correctly and the original crash has been resolved.