Aero refuses to Activate - Vista Ultimate x64

[Neoauld]

The only software changes i have made recently are Installing Microsoft Security essentials(their new AV), and removed RealVNC

VNC Usually disables aero, but i didnt care at the time as i was using a non-transparent theme

When i uninstalled VNC, i went to select Windows Aero, and it wasnt there

None of my downloaded themes have the Aero versions there either

i see Project X v2 Basic

but no project x v2

Windows Vista Basic, but not Windows aero or Windows Vista Aero

i reinstalled video drivers, updated vista index rating(came up to 5.9 which i think is vista's max), and applied the reghacks to force aero, i cant remember them exactly but i found them searching on neowin

Themes service is on, so im out of ideas

Any ideas? Thanks.

[theclueless]

which version of windows vista do you have? if you have vista home basic, you dont get aero

[Guest xiphi]

which version of windows vista do you have? if you have vista home basic, you dont get aero

Says which one right in the title.

To the OP, have you tried manually applying the theme in the C:\Windows\Resources folder?

[Neoauld]

Says which one right in the title.

To the OP, have you tried manually applying the theme in the C:\Windows\Resources folder?

i have, and ive installed Tuneup Utils and tried its style changer which always worked in the past also

When going to windows colors and appearance also, it brings me to the classic screen, rather than the one with the differnet color shades/transparency checkbox

[theclueless]

Says which one right in the title.

To the OP, have you tried manually applying the theme in the C:\Windows\Resources folder?

ah, my bad

if that doesnt work, see if windows desktop manager is enabled?

[Guest xiphi]

+1 For checking if DWM Service is enabled. Didn't think of that one.

[Neoauld]

ah, my bad

if that doesnt work, see if windows desktop manager is enabled?

the service is on

[theclueless]

how about desktop composition setting?

[Neoauld]

how about desktop composition setting?

if you're referring to the registry setting

i did change those as per another post on neowin

[a1ien]

Humn... are you sure that your monitor is plugged in to the aero video card and not the motherboard integrated graphics for example?

And what video card do you have anyways? Also you don't need reghacks to enable aero I don't know if that could break it... The option foar Windows Aero is right there in Advanced window color and appearance.

Also, do you get any errors when you restart the dwm service: Enter in the admin Command Prompt:

net stop uxsms

net start uxsms

[Neoauld]

-no errors restarting DWM

-8800GT OC2- all worked before, ran a basic theme(i liked it) over a month now, then when trying to switch back to an aero theme it doesnt work, i suspect this is due to VNC

-Dont have integrated graphics

basically nothing has physically changed with my system

ive ran vistaglazz, restored original system files

from what ive remember

I removed realVNC which has aero issues

started an RDP session from remote

when physically logging into system later on, no aero

restarted-no aero

reg changes/everything in this thread, and restart-no aero

i have no idea what to do next

[theclueless]

you know... one extreme method is to reformat and reinstall the system... since you are on ultimate, you can always create an image of the system drive, if it doesnt work out, you can revert back using the image

[blackman]

I've used UltraVNC on Vista Ultimate x64 and it only reverted to the basic theme when a remote user was connected to the local VNC server - once the user disconnected, the Aero theme re-applied itself automatically...

The suspicious thing here is that you don't even see the option for Windows Aero - which means the for some reason, the OS has detected that your computer is unable to run the theme as it doesn't meet the baseline system requirements:

http://download.microsoft.com/download/7/E...aero_rules.docx

Quote from this document: "If the fundamental requirements for running Aero are not met, then Windows Aero is not available in the Color scheme list."

Try a System Restore back to before you made all the changes - is Aero available on the menu?

Edited September 30, 2009 by blackman

[Neoauld]

i did try this actually where i imaged the system, restored an old image of a fresh install, and aero was fine, so its in my current install

the problem is that my real install is over a year old, has alot of important apps/settings that would take a full day to redo, and would rather keep that, at least till W7 is out lol, but apps like Trillian Astra start getting unclear text with aero off, plus the fact that its not working bothers me

other than this the system is 100% stable

it seems as though there isnt a fix for this since all my google searches have turned up nothing new, so i might have to deal with it until W7, or find some time to format on the weekend

[mzta cody]

Are all the folders in C:\Windows\Resources\Themes\Aero, and the aero.msstyle file present and accounted for?

[Neoauld]

yes, as well as another theme called ProjectX 2

neither Aero or ProjectX's aero themes are showing, just the basic's

tuneup is unable to activate aero themes either, they revert to basic

[NEVER85]

Sometimes you have to run the Windows Experience Index to get Aero to appear. Give that a try.

[Neoauld]

Sometimes you have to run the Windows Experience Index to get Aero to appear. Give that a try.

as per my OP, i did that, scoring 5.9

[neudera]

Perhaps your video drivers are corrupt? Worth a shot to reinstall / update them. Or use the sfc /scannow in the command prompt to see if any important system files are missing.

[Neoauld]

strangely enough

the issue has fixed itself @_@

thx for the help guys