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
    2013-06-12T10:54:56+00:00

    THIS PROBLEM HAS NOT BEEN SOLVED!

    Many of us are having the same issue.. drivers are correct and up to date.. the answer about checking Aero peek DOES NOT REALLY HELP as we do have this enabled by default using own custom settings.

    Yet Windows 7 keeps switching to this Basic theme whenever it feels the graphic is stressed. No matter how it feels I do not wish to have it perform such action automatically. Using enormously graphic-stressing software is expected and disabling some funny Aero does not change a pinch of the stress or performance at all  - it just keeps annoying to manually switch back to Aero just because the system doesn't seem to care.

    There surely must be a way how to prevent Windows from performing such useless action automatically no matter what. Please advise.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-04-20T15:53:30+00:00

    Have downloaded from Microsoft different themes - put them in resources-themes they do not show up  when I go to personalization. what do I have  to do, also slide show does not work. Thanks, Ray

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-04-03T03:37:29+00:00

    I have the same problem with that stupid message I wasn't doing anything just idle on my desktop and got the message I have almost your identical setup except I have 2 GTS 450's running in SLI at 1 gig each and 12 gigs of ram installed ,so it isnt going to tell me that there isnt enough resources,,,most be a Microsoft prob,,and yes I have the latest nvidia drivers..

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