qubes-doc/customization/dark-theme.md

---
layout: doc
title: Dark Theme in Dom0 and DomU
permalink: /doc/dark-theme/
---

Dark Theme in Dom0
==================

Dark KDE in Dom0
----------------

The following text describes how to change the default light theme to a dark theme. This is just an example, feel free to adjust the appearance to your taste.

The image below shows the default light theme after installation.
![begin light theme](/attachment/wiki/Dark-Theme/kde-fresh-installed-standard.png)

This is the result after applying the steps described here.
![end result dark theme](/attachment/wiki/Dark-Theme/kde-end-result.png)

1. Change `Workspace Appearance`

    1. Open the `Workspace Appearance` window

            Qubes Menu -> System Tools -> System Settings -> Workspace Appearance

        ![Workspace Appearance](/attachment/wiki/Dark-Theme/kde-app-appearance-menu-style.png)

    2. Go to `Desktop Theme`

        ![Desktop Menu](/attachment/wiki/Dark-Theme/kde-appearance-settings-desktop-theme-oxygen.png)

    3. Select `Oxygen` and `Apply` the change

2. (Optional) Remove blue glowing task items

    ![blue glowing task bar items](/attachment/wiki/Dark-Theme/kde-taskbar-blue-glowing-border.png)

    1. Adjust Oxygen `Details`

            Qubes Menu -> System Tools -> System Settings -> Workspace Appearance -> Desktop Theme -> Details (Tab)

    2. Select `Oxygen`

    3. Change `Theme Item -> Task Items` from `Oxygen Task Items` to `Air Task Items`

        ![Change Task items look](/attachment/wiki/Dark-Theme/kde-desktop-theme-details.png)

    4. Apply changes

        ![task bar items blue glowing removed](/attachment/wiki/Dark-Theme/kde-taskbar-blue-glowing-removed.png)

3. Change `Application Appearance`

    1. Open the `Application Appearance` window

            Qubes Menu -> System Tools -> System Settings -> Application Appearance

    2. Go to `Colors`

        ![colors tab](/attachment/wiki/Dark-Theme/kde-app-appearance-menu-colors.png)

    3. Select `Obsidian Coast`

        ![set to Obsidian Coast](/attachment/wiki/Dark-Theme/kde-app-appearance-menu-colors-set.png)

    4. Apply Changes

            Qubes VM Manager should now look like the image below.

        ![result black Qubes Manager](/attachment/wiki/Dark-Theme/kde-black-qubes-manager.png)

**Note:** Changing the `Window Decorations` from `Plastik for Qubes` will remove the border color and the VM name. The problem with `Plastik for Qubes` is, that it does not overwrite the background and text color for Minimize, Maximize and Close buttons. The three button are therefore hard to read.

Dark XCFE in Dom0
-----------------

The following text describes how to change the default light theme to a dark theme. This is just an example, feel free to adjust the appearance to your taste.

The image below shows the default light theme after installation.
![begin light theme](/attachment/wiki/Dark-Theme/xfce-fresh-installed.png)

This is the result after applying the steps described here.
![end result dark theme](/attachment/wiki/Dark-Theme/xfce-end-result.png)

1. Change Appearance

    1. Open the `Appearance` dialog

            Qubes Menu -> System Tools -> Appearance

        ![appearance dialog](/attachment/wiki/Dark-Theme/xfce-appearance-dialog.png)

    2. Change Style to `Albatross`

    **Note:** The black appearance theme `Xfce-dusk` makes the VM names in the `Qubes OS Manager` unreadable.

2. *(Optional)* Change Window Manager Style

    1. Open the `Window Manager` dialog

            Qubes Menu -> System Tools -> Appearance

        ![window manager dialog](/attachment/wiki/Dark-Theme/xfce-window-manager-theme.png)

    2. Change the Theme in the `Style` Tab (e. g. Defcon-IV). All available themes work.


Dark App VM, Template VM, Standalone VM, HVM (Linux Gnome)
==========================================================

Almost all Qubes VMs use default applications based on the GTK toolkit. Therefore the description below is focused on tools from the Gnome Desktop Environment.

Using "Gnome-Tweak-Tool"
------------------------

The advantage of creating a dark themed Template VM is, that each AppVM which is derived from the Template VM will be dark themed by default.

**Note:** Gnome-Tweak-Tool crashes under Archlinux. A workaround is to assign the AppVM to another TemplateVM (Debian, Fedora) which has Gnome-Tweak-Tool installed. Start the AppVM and configure the settings. Shutdown the machine and switch the template VM back to Archlinux.

1. Start VM

    **Note:** Remember that if you want to make the change persistent, the change needs to be made in the TemplateVM, not the AppVM.

2. Install `Gnome-Tweak-Tool`

    - Fedora

            sudo dnf install gnome-tweak-tool

    - Debian

            sudo apt-get install gnome-tweak-tool

3. *(Only AppVM)* Stop template and start AppVM

4. Add `Gnome-Tweak-Tool` to the Application Menu

    1. `Right-click` on VM entry in `Qubes VM Manager` select `Add/remove app shortcuts`

    2. Select `Tweak Tool` and press the `>` button to add it

        ![Application Dialog](/attachment/wiki/Dark-Theme/dialog-add-gnome-tweak-tool.png)

5. Enable `Global Dark Theme`

    1. *Debian only*

            cd ~/.config/
            mkdir gtk-3.0
            cd gtk-3.0/
            touch settings.ini

    2. Start `Tweak Tool` from the VM application menu and set the `Global Dark Theme` switch to `on`

        ![Global Dark Theme enabled](/attachment/wiki/Dark-Theme/gnome-tweak-tool.png)

6. *(Optional)* Modify Firefox

    **Note:** Firefox uses GTK style settings by default. This can create side effects such as unusable forms or search fields. There are two different ways to avoid this. Either by using a add-on or by overwriting the defaults.

    - use the theme [GTK+ Dark Theme Global Fixes](https://userstyles.org/styles/111694/gtk-dark-theme-global-fixes) and the [Stylish](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/stylish/) addon

    - or add the following line to `/rw/config/rc.local`

            sed -i.bak "s/Exec=firefox %u/Exec=bash -c 'GTK_THEME=Adwaita:light firefox %u'/g" /usr/share/applications/firefox.desktop

7. Restart VM or all application

Manually
--------

Manually works for Debian, Fedora and Archlinux.

1. Start VM

    **Note:** Remember that if you want to make the change persistent, the change needs to be made in the TemplateVM, not the AppVM.

2. Enable `Global Dark Theme`

        cd ~/.config/
        mkdir gtk-3.0
        cd gtk-3.0/
        touch settings.ini

    add the following lines to `settings.ini`

        [Settings]
        gtk-application-prefer-dark-theme=1

3. follow step 6 and 7 in: Using `Gnome-Tweak-Tool`