Understanding Windows Vista Aero Glass Requirements
The Windows Vista Aero Glass interface is one of the major changes in the newest version of windows. What is less clear for most people is what conditions have to be met for Aero to be enabled. If you are sure your system meets the requirements but it's still not enabled, Here's a list of conditions.
- Your graphics card should support DirectX 9. Most decent cards already do.
- The graphics card must support Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware. This is the critical piece that you will have to check with your graphics card manufacturer. If you have a newer ATI or NVIDIA card, you should be good.
- The driver must be written specifically for Windows Vista. You'll be able to see that your graphics card driver is a Windows Vista Display Driver Model (WDDM) driver by looking at the adapter type in device manager:
- The system must be set to 32 bits per pixel. If you are running at a different color depth, this could be the reason why your system doesn't have Aero enabled.
- The primary monitor refresh rate must be set to at least 10hz. Why you'd have it set to less, I have no clue.
- You must have a graphics card with at least 64MB of RAM in it, although I'd suggest a card with more memory. If you have a lower memory graphics card, you may have to decrease the resolution to enable Aero.
- Your system must have at least 512mb of available RAM. I'd suggest using at least 1GB of RAM in your computer, and preferably even more.
- Aero will not work on Windows Vista Basic edition. For best results, get the Ultimate version.
If you meet all of the conditions and Aero still isn't enabled, you can manually enable Aero by right-clicking on the desktop, clicking Personalize, and clicking Window Color and Appearance.
You should see Windows Aero in the list. Click that, and hopefully Aero will now be enabled.
The Geek is the founder of How-To Geek and a geek enthusiast. When he's not coming up with great how-to articles, he's probably writing at his personal blog. This article was written on 01/21/07 and tagged with: Windows Vista, Windows Aero Glass
If you don't have any burning desire (ie. You don't feel compelled) to have the glass feature enabled, I'd strongly recommend that you disabled it (unless you're using a high-end pc system). If your pc's specs aren't very good, you will notice that having the glass feature disabled will considerably speed up and improve your computer's overall performance.
If you do feel the need to have it enabled (and your pc hasn't got killer specifications), I'd at least disable it whilst gaming/multi-tasking.
Peace
how much and where would i be looking to get a card so i can use Aero?
Cheers Aaron
hey m nt getting option of windowz aero cn u ell me how cn i download windowz aero……….
Hey I've got windows vista ultimate but there's no windows aero in the appearance settings, is there anyway i can enable it
i've got the MSI FX5900 Graphic card and 512MB of Ram.
Hey, I've got Vista Ultimate, but like Dany, the 'Windows Aero' colour scheme isn't there (it's the same as the image above, but without the Aero option). I have a low-end graphics card, so is the Aero option being automatically omitted? Is there any work around, other than buying a new card?
Thanks,
Dave
You need to have Vista recalculate your performance spec
Hello, I have a new Dell Inspiron 530S running Windows Vista Home Premium.
It seems to meet all requirements, but I'm unable to use Aero.
I have it on my list, but the Aero selection window appears the same as Vista Basic, not as demonstrated online (at Microsoft) with different color choice thumbnails.
I choose it, click apply-ok and it remains the same. I do have the sidebar (google sidebar) but no 3D cascading windows when using alt+tab, and no clear-shaded windows.
Graphics card driver is up to date, an ATI Radeon X1300, 128MB, Pixel shader 3.0, refresh rate 75mHz, 1GB memory and supports direct x 9.0. I just can't figure it out.
Any other ideas? Thanks.
Thanks.
Well, I fixed part of it by disabling Quicktime from the taskbar. I did a google search for qttask.exe and read one of the annoyance pages for help. After disabling it my Windows Aero choices changed to give me all the colors of glass options.
I still don't have cascading windows though, working on that…
Okay, to view the cascading flip 3D windows, one must use the "win key" + tab instead of alt+tab to scroll between windows.
Sheesh, an instruction manual would have been nice, but then they never really help, do they.
Removing Quicktime has removed the Google Sidebar. I suspect this was the cause of my entire Aero problem. I will now be using the Vista Sidebar.
thank you carole you fixed my problem aswell , that dam quicktime
Although I purchased PC with Intel DG33FB mother board, core2Duo 2.66GHz processor,4 GB DDR-2 RAM and Vista Ultimate and installing Vista Ultimate does not show up Windows Aero in the Colour and Appearence setting… It shows only Windows vista Basic!. I found DG33FB has G33 Express Chiset for display and is very well meets all the requirements.. I checked with microsoft web site and Intel's… but no help.
Any Help!
Thnaks.
hi
i have hp pavilion tx1320us notbook pc 2gb ram iam using for last 4months always getting problem with that
i recover my pc so many times , this time i desided not to do any thing but i got a problem after updating my pc. my problem is . whenever i start any program its ask permission to open my screen is going black for a 10 to 15 sec. before and after given a permission of any program start. can u please help me in this or mail me if posssible
thanks
mr.geek
Hey,
My Laptop has met all the requirements, but the aero still isn't in there,… do i have to do something? to install it or something?
I install vista ultimate, 512 mb ram, ATI RADEON X300, 2.66 GHz pentium 4 but I can activate the aero glass and can do windows flip 3d smoothly