# Resetting the terminal colors on Windows

**Date:** 2020-01-19  
**Author:** Kees C. Bakker  
**Categories:** PowerShell, Windows  
**Original:** https://keestalkstech.com/resetting-the-terminal-colors-on-windows/

![Resetting the terminal colors on Windows](https://keestalkstech.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/robert-katzki-jbtfM0XBeRc-unsplash-scaled-1.jpg)

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I have no idea how I came to this point, but the yellow colors in my terminal (both cmd and PowerShell) are not bright yellow anymore. So I want to reset my colors back to the old values! Turns out that getting them back is not as straightforward as I had hoped...

![](https://keestalkstech.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/2020-01-19_1240-scaled.jpg)
*The colors of my PowerShell admin windows are way more vibrant than my normal PowerShell window.*

## Install Color Tool by Microsoft

Fortunately, Microsoft has released a new terminal color tool which we can use to get the old colors back:

Sweet.

## Extract an existing color scheme

Let's extract the existing color scheme:

The color scheme is saved to the schemes directory and can be used later on.

## Color by hand

You don't have to generate the color scheme. You can add a file named `admin.ini` to the schemes directory. The contents should look something like this:

```
[table]
DARK_BLACK = 0,0,0
DARK_BLUE = 0,0,128
DARK_GREEN = 0,128,0
DARK_CYAN = 0,128,128
DARK_RED = 128,0,0
DARK_MAGENTA = 1,36,86
DARK_YELLOW = 238,237,240
DARK_WHITE = 192,192,192
BRIGHT_BLACK = 128,128,128
BRIGHT_BLUE = 0,0,255
BRIGHT_GREEN = 0,255,0
BRIGHT_CYAN = 0,255,255
BRIGHT_RED = 255,0,0
BRIGHT_MAGENTA = 255,0,255
BRIGHT_YELLOW = 255,255,0
BRIGHT_WHITE = 255,255,255

[screen]
FOREGROUND = DARK_YELLOW
BACKGROUND = DARK_BLACK

[popup]
FOREGROUND = DARK_CYAN
BACKGROUND = BRIGHT_WHITE
```

## Setting the color scheme as default

To reset the colors, do the following:

## Final thoughts

That's it! Our colors are back. BTW, the Color Tool comes packed with some schemes:

![](https://keestalkstech.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/2020-01-19_1352.png)
*8 themes for you to enjoy.*