Transparent, see through, blurred, GLASS in VISTA BASIC!

[DieseL`]

Hmm, sounds like a bodged method. There must be away to unlock what Microsoft have locked in Basic...

[BlakByte]

lol get a life

[Berserk87]

awesome (Y)

i dont have vista, but kudos to you for getting it working :D

now just to do some touch up on it and automate it.

[DieseL`]

lol get a life

Well that was a constructive comment :/

Electrik Jesus: How did you get your desktop icons like that?

[BlakByte]

Well that was a constructive comment :/

Electrik Jesus: How did you get your desktop icons like that?

constructive.. why would i be constructive, when you losers try to get aero by bugs, instead of just buying it or warezing it if thats what you want

[+jamesyfx Subscriber²]

Windows Vista has a built-in way to get Aero glass in Vista Basic.

It's called "Anytime Upgrade".

[DieseL`]

I just want the tranparency tah, none of the other bloatware like media center, flip3d, window previews etc.

[BlakByte]

Then buy it.. This should not even be discussed here.

[DieseL`]

Link me to where I can buy Aero from Microsoft and only Aero... (dont try to be smart and post a link of premium).

This isn't anything different to everything else that's discussed here imo.

[BlakByte]

Link me to where I can buy Aero from Microsoft and only Aero... (dont try to be smart and post a link of premium).

This isn't anything different to everything else that's discussed here imo.

*sigh*

[Electrik Jesus]

@Electrik Jesus- how did you get a completely transparent task bar..yours really looks great. did you use a custom msstyle. please let me know. i GOTTTA mhave this . THX in advance.

I used the Vista MaxClear theme with the longhorn retrophase shellstyle.

I will be soon working on "The Next 3" for Vista now that I can see what the skin will look like with transparency.

[Electrik Jesus]

constructive.. why would i be constructive, when you losers try to get aero by bugs, instead of just buying it or warezing it if thats what you want

For starters, Most people you come across get a bad vibe from you... I wonder why.

Secondly, not everyone has the money or the system specs for Vista Ultimate. I for instance am running this with 502mb ram and an 8mb shared memory Gfx card.

So why not.

[WooSH]

cant you just use a Vista theme like one of the millions for xp?

[Danrarbc]

Link me to where I can buy Aero from Microsoft and only Aero... (dont try to be smart and post a link of premium).

This isn't anything different to everything else that's discussed here imo.

Thing is flip3d and the thumbnails aren't bloatware in ANY way and media center's services can be disabled if you want them to be. Price might be able to be considered a valid concern (despite the difference being relatively small). Avoiding features, especially ones that go right along with the one you want, not so much.

For starters, Most people you come across get a bad vibe from you... I wonder why.

Secondly, not everyone has the money or the system specs for Vista Ultimate. I for instance am running this with 502mb ram and an 8mb shared memory Gfx card.

So why not.

You don't need Ultimate for what's being discussed in this thread.

[DieseL`]

Home Basic come bundled on my laptop so the price difference is pretty big for something which is a small upgrade IMO. Media Center is something I dont even want on my laptop, my HD is packed as it is...

Electrik Jesus: How did you get your desktop icons as tiles??

[Marcel T]

I'm only interested in this thread because of the hack aspect of it. I run Business N so it's no big deal really to me otherwise. If there's a way to get aero running in Vista Basic then more power to those users that are stuck with it.

cant you just use a Vista theme like one of the millions for xp?

Not without third party apps like WB. Theres no Vista VSs around with a basic shell that looks like Vista Aero that I know of. I can't believe how butt ugly Vista Basic looks though, I hate when it knocks out of Aero for compatibility reasons and I see it. Why they couldn't just make it look like an XP VS Vista clone when in Basic, eugh.

[Marcel T]

Here is a screen shot for all of you that still doubt Vista Basic Home can't do transparency.

Just to confirm, did you knock this screenshot up using my method for getting Aero on Vista Basic? Also, the windows aren't resizable without loosing the transparency, right? I don't run Basic so can't test this. I didn't actually know if it worked, I just guessed it did after noticing the quirk while using Pitaschio, heh.

[Lominono]

first off before I get to the pitaschio thing, I play simcity4 in the windowed mode... guess what happens if I hit the maximized button...(aero without having to do that dual screen stuff, but it's only with the game :(

okay I tried pitaschio and it works. although I don't like how it renders the maximize button on the window moot.

It does transparency and the windows behave exactly like how the windows on the dual screen thing acted, no shadows no resizing,....

[kronix2]

By that, you're actually infringing the company's rights and nullifying limitations set by the company to differentiate the different versions of Windows, and that's unethical and wrong isn't it?

PS: Not that I support MS, on the contrary.

It's not unethical or wrong, and it certainly doesn't violate Microsoft's right to artificially cripple a basic version of their OS. There's no law which says we can't customise the OS to imitate/re-enable features which were removed to create obvious differences between different versions of Vista.

It's no different to modifying an engine on a low-end car model which has been artificially crippled to create differences in performance between models.

[Marcel T]

I'm not sure exactly what the EULA says but to get this far you need to have modified some OS files.

[+jamesyfx Subscriber²]

I'm assuming the vistaglazz patch just adds some things from Aero somewhere else to get the glass effect? If so, I'm thinking this is all you're gonna get if you're a Basic user (Since the code/whatever won't be anywhere else).

[but3003]

This is simply easy, if you want to use Aero in Vista Basic, it is done by modifying just TWO values in the Windows Registry, and restarting the service labeled:

uxsms ( Desktop Window Manager ), in Vista Basic

This will make Windows Vista Home Basic, have Aero, With Glass, and All the cool effects as seen In Home Premium and Ultimate, without any 3rd party applications

Start, and type in "regedit" without the quotes.

In the Registry Editor, navigate to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/DWM

Change Composition to 1
Change CompositionPolicy to 2

CLose the registry editor, Start, and type CMD, press enter

Type
net stop uxsms

then type

net start uxsms

If it does not automatically load with Aero, then Right click the Desktop, Personalization, Windows Color and Appearance, and select Windows Aero.

[krazychild]

This is simply easy, if you want to use Aero in Vista Basic, it is done by modifying just TWO values in the Windows Registry, and restarting the service labeled:

uxsms ( Desktop Window Manager ), in Vista Basic

This will make Windows Vista Home Basic, have Aero, With Glass, and All the cool effects as seen In Home Premium and Ultimate, without any 3rd party applications

Start, and type in "regedit" without the quotes.

In the Registry Editor, navigate to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/DWM

Change Composition to 1
Change CompositionPolicy to 2

CLose the registry editor, Start, and type CMD, press enter

Type
net stop uxsms

then type

net start uxsms

If it does not automatically load with Aero, then Right click the Desktop, Personalization, Windows Color and Appearance, and select Windows Aero.

ummm...it didn't do anything.

and I don't see Aero under Windows Color and Appearance.

I'll just stick with the glazz app for now. That seems to work.

[Leddy]

It's not unethical or wrong, and it certainly doesn't violate Microsoft's right to artificially cripple a basic version of their OS. There's no law which says we can't customise the OS to imitate/re-enable features which were removed to create obvious differences between different versions of Vista.

It's no different to modifying an engine on a low-end car model which has been artificially crippled to create differences in performance between models.

I'm not clear on whether it is unethical or not, but it is most certainly a breach of the EULA to modify portions of Windows. Yes, the uxtheme patch is also a violation of the EULA, and so is the Mess.be MessPatch, and so on, and so on...

It's just that Neowin chooses to ignore that the uxtheme patch is a breach of the EULA. From the looks of it, Microsoft is turning a blind eye, too- but I think they'll take a different stance on what you're trying to achieve here.

[Scorcho]

I'm not clear on whether it is unethical or not, but it is most certainly a breach of the EULA to modify portions of Windows. Yes, the uxtheme patch is also a violation of the EULA, and so is the Mess.be MessPatch, and so on, and so on...

It's just that Neowin chooses to ignore that the uxtheme patch is a breach of the EULA. From the looks of it, Microsoft is turning a blind eye, too- but I think they'll take a different stance on what you're trying to achieve here.

oh please stop with this sanctimonious drivel. if the mods wish to lock or delete this thread they have it within their means to. otherwise, live what you preach and stop trying to argue how selectively breaking the EULA via patching is somehow morally and legally superior than what the OP is trying to do.