Windows login form fields color black during startup

Submitted by Jochus on Sat, 12/09/2015 - 21:57 | Posted in: Windows


I recently had a strange login issue when firing up an old Windows 2003 Server. When I wanted to login, the form fields were colored black (see screenshot on top). The text color was black. When you typed a letter, you could not see what exactly you were typing.

After Googling a while, I ended up on this article.

Problem:

This issue occurs if all the values under the following registry subkey are set to "0 0 0":

HKEY_USERS\.Default\Control Panel\Colors

Solution:

The correct colors

Value name Value data
ActiveBorder 212 208 200
ActiveTitle 10 36 106
AppWorkSpace 128 128 128
Background 102 111 116
ButtonAlternateFace 181 181 181
ButtonDkShadow 64 64 64
ButtonFace 212 208 200
ButtonHilight 255 255 255
ButtonLight 212 208 200
ButtonShadow 128 128 128
ButtonText 0 0 0
GradientActiveTitle 166 202 240
GradientInactiveTitle 192 192 192
GrayText 128 128 128
Hilight 10 36 106
HilightText 255 255 255
HotTrackingColor 0 0 128
InactiveBorder 212 208 200
InactiveTitle 128 128 128
InactiveTitleText 212 208 200
InfoText 0 0 0
InfoWindow 255 255 225
Menu 212 208 200
Menubar 212 208 200
MenuHilight 210 210 255
MenuText 0 0 0
Scrollbar 212 208 200
TitleText 255 255 255
Window 255 255 255
WindowFrame 0 0 0
WindowText 0 0 0

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