Strange "problem" occured during startup. Cannot cast 'System.String' to 'System.Int32'

[beatsbury]

Microsoft PowerToys version

0.87.1.0

Installation method

WinGet

Running as admin

Yes

Area(s) with issue?

General

Steps to reproduce

Was just restarting my pc. PT initialized, threw cast error window at me, but started anyway.

This is the log file.

2025-02-04.txt

And this here is stack trace excerpt.

Version: 0.87.1.0
OS Version: Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.19045.0
IntPtr Length: 8
x64: True
Date: 04.02.2025 7:52:25
Exception:
System.InvalidCastException: Unable to cast object of type 'System.String' to type 'System.Int32'.
   at PowerLauncher.Helper.ThemeExtensions.IsSystemDarkMode()
   at PowerLauncher.Helper.ThemeExtensions.GetCurrentTheme()
   at PowerLauncher.Helper.ThemeManager.UpdateTheme()
   at PowerLauncher.Helper.ThemeManager..ctor(PowerToysRunSettings settings, MainWindow mainWindow)
   at PowerLauncher.App.<>c__DisplayClass20_0.<OnStartup>b__0()
   at Wox.Infrastructure.Stopwatch.Normal(String message, Action action)
   at PowerLauncher.App.OnStartup(Object sender, StartupEventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Application.<.ctor>b__1_0(Object unused)
   at System.Windows.Threading.ExceptionWrapper.InternalRealCall(Delegate callback, Object args, Int32 numArgs)
   at System.Windows.Threading.ExceptionWrapper.TryCatchWhen(Object source, Delegate callback, Object args, Int32 numArgs, Delegate catchHandler)

✔️ Expected Behavior

I grew not to expect anything growing old.

❌ Actual Behavior

Strange error which didn't prevent PT to start up normally.

Other Software

No response

[beatsbury]

It is reproducible. Just stopped PT and started it again. Same error occured, and PT started succesfully despite the error.

[daverayment]

@beatsbury I think I know what is causing this. If you're comfortable with opening up the Registry Editor, could you hit Windows Key, run the following in, and paste in a screenshot of what RegEdit shows you, please:

regedit "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\Personalize"

For example, mine looks like:

(There's no need to change any settings if they don't match these.)

I wonder if your "AppsUseLightTheme" value is either a different type or an unexpected value (or is absent!). This is used to determine whether Dark Mode is active or not for applications.

Thank you!