Hack to Enable Windows Aero in Vista Home Basic Edition
Windows Vista Home Basic edition does not come with Windows Aero interface which provides glass transparency effects Aero experience in Windows Vista (features comparison), as Microsoft intended for Vista Home Basic edition to be used in home for basic computing needs only. Thus a lot of functionalities and features have been stripped off Vista HB compared with premium version of Vista, including Aero desktop experience. This is done in part also because of higher hardware system configuration that needs to run Aero Glass.
Windows Aero needs a graphics card that supports DirectX 9 acceleration, has WDDM-compatible driver and minimum 128 MB of graphics memory plus Pixel Shader 2.0 with 32 bits per pixel support. This requirement is too demanding for users who likely to purchase Vista HB edition, where the machine tends to be cheaper and of lower specification such as with just built-in on-board Super VGA graphics card.
However, if you accidentally buy Vista Home Basic, or your computer purchased from OEM brand comes with Vista Home Basic only, but the computer has the necessary CPU processing power, memory and graphics card to support Windows Aero, here is a simple registry hack that allows Windows Aero user experience to be turned on or enabled in Windows Vista Home Basic edition.
To enable Windows Aero desktop theme:
- Click on Vista Start button, then enter “regedit” into Instant Search box. Click on the registry editor found in the search results list.
- Navigate to the following registry key and select (highlight) the key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM
- In the right pane, you should see there are 2 value names, namely Composition and Composition Policy. Modify and edit the value date of Composition to 1 and Composition Policy to 2.
- Restart the Desktop Windows Manager Session Manager by issuing the following command in a command prompt window with administrative privileges:
net stop uxsms
and then,
net start uxsms
Alternatively, you can also use Services applet in Control Panel to restart the DWM service.
- Reboot Windows Vista Home Basic system.
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Entries (RSS)
November 18th, 2009 20:47
Boy you are some dumb dudes!
This works on SOME machines.
If it doesn’t is wont ever work, if it does your one of the lucky few.
September 16th, 2009 05:12
PEOPLE DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME!
August 28th, 2009 03:33
Well is anyone going to publish some screen shots like that girl curious asked (?) because this feature won’t work, we need help and proof. Thanks.
August 1st, 2009 22:27
This alteration still does not work. And it’s pretty silly to pay $70.+++ for premium just for the glass browser when HB should have it anyway. Please someone show steps for real in screenshots. Press [fn + prt sc] then paste into MS Paint, upload to image shack for free to show us how to over power the great microsoft ripoff. Thanks so much.
August 1st, 2009 09:43
Thanks, reinstalled vista HB and didn’t have the aero glass effect on windows any more. This relly helped a lot.
July 30th, 2009 02:52
Just in case, I have a screenshot “http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/3935/valuesvistaaero.jpg”
July 30th, 2009 02:16
This feature doesn’t work. I could not find a “Date” to change, only a “Data” value set to change, but those have already been labeled as 1 and 2. Any chance you can publish a screenshot to where to “edit” a this “date” for [name]“Compositión” [type] dword: [data]00000001 (1) and [name]“Composition Policy” [type] dword: [data]00000002 (2) Please?
June 23rd, 2009 13:15
i also tried it but in command prompt it displayed access is denied please help me out
June 14th, 2009 14:56
The best solution is: “Install Vista Home Pre” Come on, it’s not a big deal. You can download the Vista from torrent and activate using patches in Mydig.
June 7th, 2009 23:57
i did everything that was told to do, but i didn’t work. So i did what it said on the comments [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM]
“Composition”=dword:00000001
“CompositionPolicy”=dword:00000002
save as name.reg and import it, but then it tells me that it will restore over the password DWM. and it will eliminate all the values and sub passwords of this password (DWM). will it eliminate any of my data? or will it delete anything? or will it just do it and work? any answers.
April 25th, 2009 18:18
CRAP, WASTE FUCK
April 12th, 2009 08:24
t is apparently not a big problem to enable the Vista Aero interface in Windows Vista Home Basic even though it is officially not included in that version. All you need to do is to change the values of two registry keys and restart Windows Vista afterwards. Open the registry by pressing Windows + R, typing regedit and hitting enter afterwards.
Navigate to the key Hkey_Current_User \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ DWM \ and change the value of the entry Composition to 1 and the value of CompositionPolicy to 0.
Now you can select the Aero interface by right-clicking on the desktop and selecting Personalize from the menu. Switch to Colors and Appearance and click on Classic Appearance Properties.. and choose Windows Vista Aero from the menu.
Remember, this hack still requires you to have hardware capable of running Aero (in other words, a good graphics card), and don’t go to Microsoft expecting support if things go wrong.
March 23rd, 2009 06:58
this works really good although i got it from a different site. its alot more complicated than it should be and all you really get is the ability to change to color of the open windows. you dont get any other extra stuff like enviro999 said. it does make it different colors instead of that ugly light blue.
alos you people that say it doent work the only thing that changes is the ability to go into control panel>appearence and personalization>personalization>window color and appearence. you really dont get enything else
March 14th, 2009 05:15
Wooot, danke
Besitze Vista Home Premium 64 Bit, endlich hab ich meine Aero-Benutzeroberfläche
THX
February 21st, 2009 08:08
Does not work. Thanks for nothing.
December 31st, 2008 01:09
In some cases, like with me, I had Aero on home basic already. It just depends on if your computer is “Vista Ready”. It isn’t a hack. Also, the whole process up above is useless. Just go to classic view in the colors and apperence and select Windows Vista Standard. The picture will show the Vista Basic Theme, but you get Aero, No hack. But, you really can’t call it Aero because it doesn’t have transparency, Flip 3D, the little things at the bottom when you float over the tabs, and the really cool animations.
October 10th, 2008 17:45
Adam, nobody who spells ‘you’ in that manner has a right to call bull on the aspersions I have cast on the level of intellect demonstrating by the average poster… but I digress.
It would appear that despite this hack having previously worked for me, it no longer appears to work for anybody else – perhaps as a result of patching, service packs, etc…
It is still possible to install dreamscene for other versions of Vista, however, by downloading the specific DLLs through BitTorrent. Search using your favourite torrent tracker, but do exercise the usual cautions regarding malware/viruses…
I shall test this method again the next time I have access to a (*shudder*) Vista Basic installation.
October 10th, 2008 01:07
Darles35 – You have to open CMD (Command Prompt) with administrator, so type in the search bar of the start button ‘Command Prompt’ (without quotes) and right click it and then click ‘Run as administrator’
October 10th, 2008 01:04
This is crap, absolute bull… it DOES NOT work. AND u WHITE HAWK we have more brain cells than you and it dont work. So dont insult ppl. I have changed the values to 1 and 2, and stopped and restarted the uxsms thing, and restarted vista and no option appear and no aero appears so….. what can i do
October 2nd, 2008 00:10
Noo…Non funziona, io ho Windows Vista Home Premium e da due mesi mi è sparito l’aero, ho già provato più volte a riattivarlo ma sembra completamente cancellato dal computer!
Come si fa a riattivarlo se c’era già prima??
September 30th, 2008 09:18
sigh….i did all this and it said access is denied in command prompt!
thanks for the tip anywayy..
September 20th, 2008 09:09
im a proud vista basic user and proud 2 say………..it doesnt work! when i checked the registry, composition was already 1, and composition policy was already 2! I followed the cmd trick, and nothing happened after i restarted my computer. please reply!
September 16th, 2008 17:03
I wanna download a clone of Aero!!!! Is there any way of doing that! I’m desperate!!! Pllleeeeaaaassseeee!
September 16th, 2008 06:04
Works fine in vista business didnt even need to reboot. Very simple solution however why didnt they give you the option in the first place if its actually included in the OS anyway? weird
September 7th, 2008 23:04
open notepad, and copy:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ DWM]
“Composición” = dword: 00000001
“CompositionPolicy” = dword: 00000002ç
go to file,save as, then put the name wit extension .reg (for example “name.reg” file and change “text document *.txt” to ” all file”
when you accept the file save as reg file
Sorru for my english
July 15th, 2008 16:31
hey im a bit new to this,
i was wondering, how do you create a new branch in REGEDIT.
thanks.
July 10th, 2008 21:32
it does not work on my machine.
aero theme option does not appear in the list.
is ther any other way ?
is it possible to replace the files in the Windows/Resources/Themes folder ?
May 19th, 2008 23:43
its good thank you
May 11th, 2008 18:44
it doesn`t appear any aero from the drop-down menu…
March 17th, 2008 20:31
Actually, this does work for anybody with more than the one brain cell – the registry hack enables the option under the ‘personalization’ control panel applet.
Right-click on desktop and select ‘Personalize’.
Select ‘Window Color and Appearance’.
Select Aero from the drop-down menu and hit ‘Okay’.
Re-open ‘Window Color and Appearance’ settings, and this time, it gives you a coloriser control for the window frames. Choose a colour and drag the slider to determine the amount of colour and translucency.
Sheesh – do you guys expect the kettle to make the tea for you?
February 17th, 2008 01:40
Hey, it DOES work. but not as stonking as I had imagined…
The only thing I notice, is that there are more options to change the colors of the window frames and the title bar (of maximized windows) is a little bit transperent.
right click on desktop -> bottom entry (sry, don’t know english name) to change appearence settings -> upper entry to change colors
unfortunately there is still no button to change transparency….
and btw, does anyone how to get to this 3D-animation when switching from one task to another? Alt+Tab gives only the boring way…
Or is this only available in PREMIUM?
greetz
Flo
February 11th, 2008 13:39
[...] My Digital Life Review’s [...]
December 29th, 2007 15:24
I have done every tutorial about ‘how to enable aero on vista home basic’ but nothing happen… it makes me sick!
December 5th, 2007 16:53
max33 is a bit upset eh!
December 5th, 2007 14:52
what a load of crap. somone should block your sit. im certain it was just a hit increase gimmick. there is not one person that as writen to say the hack works. i fail to understand why u people resort to such cheap ass tricks. ill make sure that at least the ppl i know dont come to ur site.
September 29th, 2007 09:01
I have done everything as mentioned
but nothing happen
could you please help
July 25th, 2007 15:14
It doesn’t work!
June 11th, 2007 00:21
save the data below as a *.REG file – then import it
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM]
“Composition”=dword:00000001
“CompositionPolicy”=dword:00000002
March 26th, 2007 23:45
[...] Fonte e istruzioni su come fare le trovate su MyDigitalLife [...]
March 26th, 2007 14:34
I opened regedit and changed the values however,,,Composition was already at 1,, and Composition Policy was 0.I changed it to 2,followed all instructions to the letter. nothing changed in mine.I also trieed to up composition to 2 and policy to 3,, no good .I say it doesnt work for all versions,,namely 6. P.s> I have processor score of 4.3,ramm score of 5.2,desktop performance for aero 3.2(and its shaded??) Gaming graphics(also shaded,3.2) and finally a transfer rate of 5.3. my only low(base score ) is 3.2 , is..its not in themes and when i select it from windows>search themes>aero..i find it ,,but it doesnt work. Im running an intel board D945Gnt and its fully capable of aero so my commanet is the hack dont work on my version of windows hb final.
March 22nd, 2007 21:31
What about Media Center, DVD maker, Games, etc… Please tell me how to enable them on vista business
March 22nd, 2007 19:48
[...] Avviate regedit (scrivetelo nel search box se non sapete come avviarlo) e a questo punto cercate questa chiave: HKEY_CURRENT_USER / Software / Microsoft / Windows / DWM. Modificate le due voci presenti, Composition e Composition Policy rispettivamente con i valori 1 e 2. Riavviate il Desktop Windows Manager Session Manager scrivendo nella finestra del prompt di comando, con privilegi di amministratore, questi due comandi, net stop uxsms , e poi, net start uxsms. Riavviate il pc e godetevi le trasparenze, sempre che il vostro pc regga lo sforzo. [via|MyDigitalLife] [...]
March 22nd, 2007 16:14
“This is done in part also because of higher hardware system configuration that needs to run Aero Glass.”
I know that’s what MS is sometimes saying, but I don’t really believe that. If that was the only reason, they’d be willing to make Vista look as good as possible on the hardware at least, and enable it depending on the system performance scan that’s done at the first run of Vista.
If this was part of their intent, why do Vista Home Premium scale back when the graphics card can’t handle it automatically (to support inferior hardware), and not Basic?
March 22nd, 2007 07:58
[...] uxsms. Riavviate il pc e godetevi le trasparenze, sempre che il vostro pc regga lo sforzo. [via|MyDigitalLife] PUBBLICITÀ PUBBLICITÀ postato da Cristian il giovedì 22 marzo 2007 [...]