Light Switch: New PowerToys Feature Causes Chaos in Windows 11

In the latest PowerToys release, Microsoft’s open‑source utility suite, a new feature called Light Switch allows users to automatically toggle between Windows 11’s light and dark themes, such as enabling dark mode at a user-defined time. The feature fills a long‑standing gap, since Windows 11 lacks native automatic theme switching, with the functionality implemented externally by the PowerToys team in collaboration with the community.

However, Light Switch has begun to exhibit serious issues, with some users reporting that enabling it causes their systems to rapidly alternate between light and dark modes. The problem appears to occur after automatic updates to PowerToys when Light Switch activates, leading to incessant theme flickering for affected users.

It has been officially reported to the PowerToys development team for investigation, and no definitive fix has been released yet; users are advised to open PowerToys, disable the Light Switch utility to prevent further looping. October 21, 2025.