Yesterday, we reported that support for Windows 10 Dark mode is coming to Google Chrome. It turns, out that Windows 10 Dark Mode support might have come sooner if it wasn't for a missing laptop.

According to research by Kyle Bradshaw from 9to5google.com, it appears that Dark Mode support was being added for both Mac and Windows PCs at the same time. You can see below a patch that was added by the Chrome developers to provide Windows 10 Dark Mode support.

Source code for Windows 10 Dark Mode Support

Along the way, though, there was an issue with the Windows implementation and one of the developers needed a Windows laptop to debug the problem.

This is where things start to go downhill for Windows users as it appears that it was taking too long to get the Windows laptop. So instead of waiting and completely halting the Dark Mode development, they removed the Windows code so they could continue.

What does this tell us? Google is like every other company out there. When a developer really needs something, it takes forever to get it.

With that said, the developers did leave in a command line argument called --force-dark-mode that allows you to start Chrome Canary in an in-development Dark Mode if you want. This mode will not respect Windows 10 Dark Mode settings and is very far from complete. It can, though, give you a small glimpse on the direction the Chomium developers are taking.

Update 1/3/19: According to Catalin, Google HQ does not allow Windows devices at their headquarters due to security and Windows development is usually done via virtual machines. This was probably the reason it took so long as it would need to have been cleared by various departments.

With that said, if Windows VMs are more commonly used, I would think a Windows OS to test on would have been easier to find and not sure the reason a laptop would even have been needed.

It's not missing. Windows devices aren't allowed at Google's HQ due to security reasons. Only Linux/macOS. You need special permission (and reasons) to run Windows at Google. Windows-related dev work usually gets done via a VM. This is probably an edge case. — Catalin Cimpanu (@campuscodi) January 3, 2019

Enabling Dark Mode in Chrome Canary

To test Google Chrome's current Dark Mode implementation, you can download Chrome Canary and install it. Once Chrome Canary is installed, you will see a shortcut for it on the desktop. Right-click on this shortcut and go into its properties.

When its properties open, add --force-dark-mode to the end of the target field as shown below and then press the OK button.

Chrome Canary Shortcut Properties

When you use the shortcut to open Chrome Canary it will now be in a pseudo-Dark Mode as shown below. The address bar below looks good and so do the tabs and navigation area.

Dark Mode Address Bar

Unfortunately, the menus still need a lot of work as you can see from the black text on a dark background.

Menus need a lot of work

With that said, this is clearly in development and you should not expect a working Dark Mode yet. Only test this if you want to see how it progresses over time.