From a325a2fa5a1cee7e46c23934fa6f82bc1922af3c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Sushaanth Srinivasan
 <80441330+SushaanthSrinivasan@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Tue, 5 May 2026 19:35:16 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] Fix settings error text legibility in High Contrast mode
 (#20098)

Closes #18147

`SystemErrorTextColor` doesn't adapt to High Contrast themes, so the
error details in the "Failed to reload settings" dialog are illegible
(yellow on cream in HC White, for example).

Fix: skip the `ErrorTextBrush` foreground override when High Contrast is
active, letting the text inherit the system HC text color from its
parent element. This matches the existing HC detection pattern used in
`TermControl.cpp` and `MainPage.cpp`.

Validated manually on High Contrast White and Night sky themes.

Co-authored-by: SushaanthSrinivasan <SushaanthSrinivasan@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 src/cascadia/TerminalApp/TerminalWindow.cpp | 18 ++++++++++++------
 1 file changed, 12 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/cascadia/TerminalApp/TerminalWindow.cpp b/src/cascadia/TerminalApp/TerminalWindow.cpp
index 0fafac603c..67110a1667 100644
--- a/src/cascadia/TerminalApp/TerminalWindow.cpp
+++ b/src/cascadia/TerminalApp/TerminalWindow.cpp
@@ -108,13 +108,19 @@ static Documents::Run _BuildErrorRun(const winrt::hstring& text, const ResourceD
     Documents::Run textRun;
     textRun.Text(text);
 
-    // Color the text red (light theme) or yellow (dark theme) based on the system theme
-    auto key = winrt::box_value(L"ErrorTextBrush");
-    if (resources.HasKey(key))
+    // GH #18147 - In High Contrast mode, don't override the foreground.
+    // Let the text inherit the system HC text color from its parent element,
+    // since SystemErrorTextColor doesn't adapt to High Contrast themes.
+    if (!winrt::Windows::UI::ViewManagement::AccessibilitySettings{}.HighContrast())
     {
-        auto g = resources.Lookup(key);
-        auto brush = g.try_as<winrt::Windows::UI::Xaml::Media::Brush>();
-        textRun.Foreground(brush);
+        // Color the text red (light theme) or yellow (dark theme) based on the system theme
+        auto key = winrt::box_value(L"ErrorTextBrush");
+        if (resources.HasKey(key))
+        {
+            auto g = resources.Lookup(key);
+            auto brush = g.try_as<winrt::Windows::UI::Xaml::Media::Brush>();
+            textRun.Foreground(brush);
+        }
     }
 
     return textRun;