diff --git a/src/musredit_qt5/musredit/PAdmin.cpp b/src/musredit_qt5/musredit/PAdmin.cpp
index 1f53aa6b..308fcf74 100644
--- a/src/musredit_qt5/musredit/PAdmin.cpp
+++ b/src/musredit_qt5/musredit/PAdmin.cpp
@@ -94,6 +94,8 @@ bool PAdminXMLParser::startElement( const QString&, const QString&,
     fKeyWord = eMusrviewShowAvg;
   } else if (qName == "enable_musrt0") {
     fKeyWord = eEnableMusrT0;
+  } else if (qName == "dark_theme_icons") {
+    fKeyWord = eDarkThemeIcons;
   } else if (qName == "keep_minuit2_output") {
     fKeyWord = eKeepMinuit2Output;
   } else if (qName == "dump_ascii") {
@@ -268,6 +270,13 @@ bool PAdminXMLParser::characters(const QString& str)
         flag = false;
       fAdmin->setEnableMusrT0Flag(flag);
       break;
+    case eDarkThemeIcons:
+      if (str == "y")
+        flag = true;
+      else
+        flag = false;
+      fAdmin->setDarkThemeIconsFlag(flag);
+      break;
     case eKeepMinuit2Output:
       if (str == "y")
         flag = true;
@@ -867,6 +876,12 @@ int PAdmin::savePrefs(QString pref_fln)
         else
           data[i] = "    <enable_musrt0>n</enable_musrt0>";
       }
+      if (data[i].contains("<dark_theme_icons>") && data[i].contains("</dark_theme_icons>")) {
+        if (fDarkThemeIcons)
+          data[i] = "     <dark_theme_icons>y</dark_theme_icons>";
+        else
+          data[i] = "     <dark_theme_icons>n</dark_theme_icons>";
+      }
       if (data[i].contains("<font_name>") && data[i].contains("</font_name>")) {
         data[i] = QString("    <font_name>%1</font_name>").arg(fFontName);
       }
diff --git a/src/musredit_qt5/musredit/PAdmin.h b/src/musredit_qt5/musredit/PAdmin.h
index 1de8330b..c0ca954f 100644
--- a/src/musredit_qt5/musredit/PAdmin.h
+++ b/src/musredit_qt5/musredit/PAdmin.h
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ class PAdminXMLParser : public QXmlDefaultHandler
   private:
     enum EAdminKeyWords {eEmpty, eTimeout, eKeepMinuit2Output, eDumpAscii, eDumpRoot,
                          eTitleFromDataFile, eChisqPreRunBlock, eEstimateN0,
-                         eMusrviewShowFourier, eMusrviewShowAvg, eEnableMusrT0,
+                         eMusrviewShowFourier, eMusrviewShowAvg, eEnableMusrT0, eDarkThemeIcons,
                          eFontName, eFontSize, eExecPath, eDefaultSavePath,
                          eRecentFile, eBeamline, eInstitute, eFileFormat, eLifetimeCorrection,
                          eTheoFuncPixmapPath, eFunc, eFuncName, eFuncComment, eFuncLabel,
diff --git a/src/musredit_qt5/musredit/PTextEdit.cpp b/src/musredit_qt5/musredit/PTextEdit.cpp
index 9d50bfa2..5b77e8b2 100644
--- a/src/musredit_qt5/musredit/PTextEdit.cpp
+++ b/src/musredit_qt5/musredit/PTextEdit.cpp
@@ -85,13 +85,19 @@
 PTextEdit::PTextEdit( QWidget *parent, Qt::WindowFlags f )
     : QMainWindow( parent, f )
 {
-  getTheme();
+  bool gotTheme = getTheme();
 
   // reads and manages the conents of the xml-startup (musredit_startup.xml) file
   fAdmin = new PAdmin();
 
-  // set default setting of the fDarkThemeIcons
-  fAdmin->setDarkThemeIconsFlag(fDarkToolBarIcon);
+  // set default setting of the fDarkThemeIcons only if a theme has been recognized, otherwise take the
+  // one from the xml startup file.
+  if (gotTheme) {
+    fAdmin->setDarkThemeIconsFlag(fDarkToolBarIcon);
+  } else {
+    fDarkTheme = fAdmin->getDarkThemeIconsFlag();
+    fDarkToolBarIcon = fAdmin->getDarkThemeIconsFlag();
+  }
 
   // enable file system watcher. Needed to get notification if the msr-file is changed outside of musrfit at runtime
   fFileSystemWatcherActive = true;
@@ -3244,23 +3250,22 @@ void PTextEdit::setFileSystemWatcherActive()
 /**
  * @brief PTextEdit::getTheme
  */
-void PTextEdit::getTheme()
+bool PTextEdit::getTheme()
 {
   fDarkTheme = false; // true if theme is dark
   fDarkToolBarIcon = false; // needed for ubuntu dark since there the menu icons are dark, however the toolbar icons are plain!
 
   QString str = QIcon::themeName();
-  qDebug() << "debug> theme name=" << str << endl;
 
   if (str.isEmpty()) { // this is ugly and eventually needs to be fixed in a more coherent way
     str = QProcessEnvironment::systemEnvironment().value("HOME", QString("??"));
     str += "/.kde4/share/config/kdeglobals";
+    bool done = false;
     if (QFile::exists(str)) {
       QFile fln(str);
       fln.open(QIODevice::ReadOnly | QIODevice::Text);
       QTextStream fin(&fln);
       QString line("");
-      bool done = false;
       while (!fin.atEnd() && !done) {
         line = fin.readLine();
         if (line.contains("ColorScheme")) {
@@ -3273,7 +3278,7 @@ void PTextEdit::getTheme()
       }
       fln.close();
     }
-    return;
+    return done;
   }
 
   if (str.contains("dark", Qt::CaseInsensitive)) {
@@ -3287,6 +3292,8 @@ void PTextEdit::getTheme()
       fDarkToolBarIcon = true;
     }
   }
+  
+  return true;
 }
 
 //----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/src/musredit_qt5/musredit/PTextEdit.h b/src/musredit_qt5/musredit/PTextEdit.h
index 38ad7385..8121b048 100644
--- a/src/musredit_qt5/musredit/PTextEdit.h
+++ b/src/musredit_qt5/musredit/PTextEdit.h
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ private:
   QMenu *fRecentFilesMenu;   ///< recent file menu
   QAction *fRecentFilesAction[MAX_RECENT_FILES]; ///< array of the recent file actions
 
-  void getTheme();
+  bool getTheme();
   void fillRecentFiles();
   QStringList getRunList(QString runListStr, bool &ok);
   bool fileAlreadyOpen(QFileInfo &finfo, int &idx);