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
    2013-03-08T16:11:05+00:00

    To everyone having this issue - this is NOT a program specific issue, it will occur with anything that uses your graphics card for hardware acceleration  on any monitor that is not connected to your primary graphics card. The workarounds people have posted have all been for specific applications and all involve disabling GPU acceleration. In general this leads to a loss of performance and is not ideal. The problem is with Windows and not with the specific program you are running. It also seems likely that this is not dependent on who made your graphics card.

     

    The only workarounds for this problem are either to not use GPU accelerated applications on your secondary monitors or to connect them directly to your primary graphics card.

    Connecting "them" directly to your primary graphics card won't help.  I am using a Laptop, one video card, one display (built in) and windows still decides what's best for me.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-03-08T15:40:59+00:00

    I installed Windows 8 and the problem went away.

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-03-08T15:22:16+00:00

    After dealing with this issue for over a year now on multiple workstations, i can confidently say that there is no solution to this issue other than to get rid of the second video card. I've tried every registry hack and trick i could find, but it just comes down to a problem with windows itself. There are certainly triggers to the behavior, like launching ie9, firefox 4, full screen flash or silverlight video on the secondary displays running on the secondary card. But the only way to get rid of it, is to close the app/video or move it to a display running on the primary card. once you do that, you can stop/start the usxms service and get aero back...at least until you trigger it again. It makes my 3k workstation feel like a $500 retail pos, there is just no good reason why this should be an issue.

    MS, is there a real fix to this? What is the real problem? I've had dual ATI and NVidia adapters with the same result, so don't tell me this is a driver issue. Your second video card doesn't have jack **** to do with anything (well it could, but getting rid of it won't necessarily fix the problem). I'm sitting here on a laptop using only the built in display and it still disables aero when it thinks I need more performance...

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