Windows 7 automatically switching to basic (non-aero) theme. I need a way to disable that behaviour.

Anonymous
2009-11-15T23:07:02+00:00

This is very similar to what is described here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/939423

As well as here: http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vistaperformance/thread/c7b869e1-5138-48a3-b09d-419f76e2f728

However, this is for Windows 7, not Vista.

Scenario:

On a 3 screen (1920x1080 each) setup ran on an ATI HD4890 (1gb RAM, running 2 screens) + HD 3450 (256mb RAM, running 1 screen), whenever anything graphic intensive is put onto the screen hosted by the HD3450, Windows will complain "The color scheme has been changed to Windows Basic - The current color scheme has exceeded its allowed memory so the color scheme has been automatically changed to improve performance. Click to see more information." and change my theme to Windows Basic.

However, it is to be noted that the 3450 is not being stressed at all (all the load is being put onto the 4890 according to GPU-Z).

It should not be a problem with system RAM (6gb, on Win7 x64) nor processing power (i7 920).

Is there a way to disable Windows automatically "improving performance" by switching my theme?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Music, photos, and video

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Anonymous
2011-02-14T09:27:12+00:00

Run menu > sysdm.cpl > Advanced Tab > performance > select adjust for best performance > make sure you do not allow Windows to choose for you because your computer does not know whats best --- Make sure Enable Aero Peek is checked

---- OR ---

Right click my computer > properties > Advanced System settings > performance > select adjust for best performance > make sure you do not allow Windows to choose for you because your computer does not know whats best --- Make sure Enable Aero Peek is checked

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Anonymous
2009-11-16T20:35:40+00:00

Hi whsper,

Welcome to Microsoft Answers Community Forums.

The aero theme is basically enabled depending on video card.

Windows Display Driver Modelis the graphic driver architecture for video card drivers running Microsoft Windows versions beginning with Windows Vista.

WDDM driver model version 1.0 is that it does not support multiple drivers in a multi-adapter, multi-monitor setup, the latest version is 2.0 is introduced.

Windows will disable the Desktop Window Manager (DWM) that controls the transparent glass effect or other effects of the Aero theme. The DWM manages the desktop and the primary display settings in Windows.

I would suggest you to check with your manufacturer for latest drivers to support your hardware configuration.

Hope this information helped you.

Regards

Yaaser - Microsoft Support Engineer                                          

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  1. Anonymous
    2012-06-01T23:09:19+00:00

    I'm not sure that i agree with this answer. When i followed the given steps my computer looked absolutely horrible. I still want it to look nice. With an average windows experience index rating of 7.45 (apart from the primary hard disk data transfer rate) on all of my components, i should be able to record my screen without it disrupting the recording and changing back to the basic theme. I am running windows 7 64-bit with a radeon hd 5770 graphics card and the latest drivers.

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  2. Anonymous
    2012-05-06T06:47:40+00:00

    I just tried to use the group policy editor to disable the user from switching themes. But still Windows was able to switch the theme on my third monitor. If Windows is able to ignore it's own security settings then we have a bigger problem then a bug in the DWM. This needs to be fixed immediately.

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  3. Anonymous
    2012-05-04T07:57:24+00:00

    I had the exact same problem when recording a video and I had to stop recording and try to figure out how to fix it. When I had it I didn't have it again though.

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