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Problem

We have a few programs we run through RemoteApp in our organization. Upon testing them in Server 2012R2, some users have complained of very faint selected text highlights. I have also noticed this with the default theme in Server 2012 R2.

I run the same programs from our 2008 servers and the highlighted text is much darker and easier to see, but here is how it looks in Server 2012 R2:

Here is an example of the faint selected text highlight in Server 2012 R2

Thing I Tried

As I started looking into how to adjust this, I found that I was able to install the Windows Desktop Experience and apply a High Contrast Theme, which allowed me to changed the selected Text Highlight to a different color.

Here's how it looks with the High Contrast Theme applied: High Contrast Theme Applied

The problem is that I don't want to use a High Contrast Theme. I just want to use the standard Windows theme, albeit with a darker selected text highlight. I would contact the vendors about this, but the highlighted text looks fine outside of 2012 so I assume this can only be an OS issue.

It's a really silly problem to have. Hopefully there is some workaround. Any advice is appreciated.

Aaron
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  • Possible duplicate of [How to change color scheme in Windows Server 2012](http://serverfault.com/questions/432617/how-to-change-color-scheme-in-windows-server-2012) – pat o. Apr 01 '16 at 18:09
  • Hmm. Any color scheme ought to work properly if Desktop Experience is installed. It makes me think that the application is intentionally changing the selection color to something unusual. It could also be bad RDP settings, like too low bpp or connection speed. – Michael Hampton Apr 01 '16 at 18:18
  • Thanks for the suggestions. I'm at least pretty confident it's not the program as it changes with the High Contrast themes. Theme settings for basic Windows themes don't let me change that "Selected Text" color like it does in the High Contrast Theme settings. Also I considered the RDP connection. The software looks like this when standing in front of the server console, too. – Aaron Apr 05 '16 at 13:12

1 Answers1

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You need to add two rows to the file C:\Windows\Resources\Ease of Access Themes\basic.theme:

 [Control Panel\Colors]

 Hilight=0 0 128

To edit file "basic.theme" is prohibited, so in first you must change its owner to "administrator", set full permission for him and then edit.

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gWaldo
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