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
    2017-02-07T05:59:24+00:00

    My computer is not giving any option of "Aero Peek".

    What should I do now to enable aero themes as they have suddenly stopped supporting in my computer.

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-09-05T21:26:12+00:00

    I have had this problem on and off for years and, yes it is bloody annoying, but not half as annoying as win 10 and ms attempts to bully the clueless and not so clueless into using it. 

    The most complete fix for my win 7 64 bit workstation is to make the following registry edits to every occurrence of the following-

    LMOverRide 1 > 0

    WindowsExperienceIndexOemInfo 0 > 7

    DWMAeroPeekEnabled (Default) 0 > 1

    TransparentGlass 0 > 1

    DWMEnabled (Default) 0 > 1

    The testing I've done is purely empirical, it seems to work for me and I'm not really sure if the first 2 edits to LMOverRide and WindowsExperienceIndexOemInfo are really needed.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-03-24T13:09:51+00:00

    Hello,

    my name is George and I have also faced this problem! After trying to find out what have I done the last few hours I found out that I had disabled some services! I enabled them again and everything was normal.

    FIX

    1. Open start menu
    2. Click "Run"
    3. Erase eveything in the box and type "msconfig.exe"
    4. Click "OK"
    5. Go to the "Services" tab
    6. I don't know wich of these enables the aero theme but to be sure enable them all
    7. Click "Apply"
    8. Wait until it responds
    9. Restart your computer
    10. Done!

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