No hope for Aero on i915GM…

It's Microsoft's fault, says Intel. i915 chipset was created before the final specifications for Windows Vista Aero Glass UI were done. The graphical part of the chipset lacks so called 'hardware scheduler' and thus there isn't and won't be WDDM driver for i915.

I tried to cheat it by modifying i945 drivers (editing the hardware ID's), but that is not enough. After reboot the driver loads but reports error:

Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43)

By the way… I have seen how Aero works on Dell D420 notebooks with Core Duo 1.6GHz CPU, i945 chipset and 1GB RAM - yes, it looks really good, the fade and animation and blur and whatever effects are cool, but the overall performance is a joke - using 50% of system resources just for the OS ?!


I have found quite a lot of sites trying to 'hack' Vista and force Aero, but neither of these worked for me. Here is a simple copy/paste from the text document, you can try it yourself.

Option 1:

If your graphic card doesn't support Windows Aero Glass, here a trick that you can try to force Windows Vista to enable Windows Aero Glass on Non-WDDM Compatible or Not Aero Supported graphics accelerator card or processor, by disabling the check Windows Vista made to determines if your system hardware fulfills minimum requirements for Aero Glass window frame transparency.

Note: This method may or may not works with current RTM release of Windows Vista (user feedback welcome), and may cause a blue screen loop or constant flicker, so use with care and proper backup is a must.

Click on Start button, then select Run.
Type "regedit" (without the quotes). (If you do not turn of UAC, you have to run as administrator: Right click on Command Prompt accessible from All Programs -> Accessories, then select "Run as Administrator", click on "Allow" from the Windows Security dialog, then run "regedit".)
Browse or navigate to the following registry branch:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft

Create a new registry branch called DWM. (If DWM doesn't work, try to create and use WDM registry branch instead.)
Inside the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\DWM\ registry branch, create a new DWORD subkey called EnableMachineCheck.
Right click on EnableMachineCheck (or double click on it) to set the value to 0.
Repeat above two steps to create another DWORD called Blur, and set the value to 0.
Repeat again the steps to create another DWORD called Animations and set that to 0.
Last two steps is to disable the blurring and animations effects to lessen the load burden on your graphics card so that the system will be responsive.

You can also disable slow animation effect, which slowly minimize or slowly close the window(s) when the "Shift" Key is held when you minimize or close a window with "AnimationsShiftKey", disable use of Elongated Buttons with "UseAlternateButtons", or disable Aero Glass Copy and Paste with "Glass". To enable any of them, simply modify the value to 1.

Option 2:

Ensure that two registry values are set:
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM\Composition set to 1 (32-bit DWORD)
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM\CompositionPolicy set to 2 (32-bit DWORD)

Note: You may need to create the DWM key and the two values if they do not exist.

Restart the Desktop Windows Manager Session Manager service:
net stop uxsms
net start uxsms

Option 3:

Get and Enable Windows Vista Aero Glass Transparency Effect and Desktop Windows Manager (DWM)
Windows Aero is hardware-based premium visual experience or graphical user interface that implemented in Windows Vista installed in Vista Premium Ready PC, which includes effects such as transparent glass design, subtle window animations, animated cursors, new window color and eye candy. Aero is actually acronym (or backronym) for Authentic, Energetic, Reflective and Open. Windows Aero requires high system specifications in order to work, with the minimum requirements of at least 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor, 1 GB (gigabyte) of system memory and a DirectX 9 compatible graphics accelerator processor card with a minimum of 128 MB of Video RAM, installed with Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) driver. But Aero can work on slightly less powerful system. If your Windows Vista Aero user interface (UI) doesn't work or disable, here are few suggestions and troubleshooting steps that you can check to enable Aero in Windows Vista.

If you have fulfill the requirements, but the Aero user interface still doesn't work, unable to run or still disable, try the following troubleshooting guide. As mentioned, Windows Aero interface or Desktop Window Manager windowing system that enables the Windows Aero user interface in Vista can run and work on system with slightly lower specification, such as on 64MB WDDM compatible graphics card for LCD flat panel up to 17-inch or larger, depending on resolution, and on system with less RAM memory i.e. 512 MB.

Step 1

Windows Aero is only available on Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Enterprise, Windows Vista Home Premium, and Windows Vista Ultimate. To find out which edition of Windows Vista you have on your computer, open Welcome Center by clicking the Start button, click on Control Panel, then open System and Maintenance, and then click on Welcome Center. The edition of Windows Vista you're running is displayed with your computer details near the top of the window.

Step 2

Sometimes Windows Vista may wrongly detect that the graphics adapters are not sufficiently powerful for Vista to automatically enable Aero. In this case, user can manually enable Aero.

Click on the Start button and then click on "Control Panel".
Click on "Appearance and Personalization".
Click on "Personalization".
Click "Window Color and Appearance".
Click on "Open classic appearance properties for more color options".
Select the Windows Aero color scheme.

Step 3

Vista Aero may need 32-bit colors to work. Open Display Settings by clicking on the Start button, then open Control Panel and then click on Appearance and Personalization. Next, click on Personalization and then click on Display Settings. Under Colors, select Highest (32 bit), and then click OK (If you can't select 32 bit, check that your resolution is as high as possible).

Step 4

Windows Aero needs monitor refresh rate that higher than 10 Hz. Open Display Settings by clicking on the Start button, then open Control Panel and then click on Appearance and Personalization. Next, click on Personalization and then click on Display Settings. After that, click on Advanced Settings. Click the Monitor tab, and then click a refresh rate that's higher than 10 hertz. (The monitor will take a moment to adjust, click Apply to keep the changes, click Apply. If you don't apply the changes within fifteen seconds, the refresh rate will revert back to your original setting. Beside, the refresh rate affect all users who log on to the computer.)

Step 5

Windows Aero may also need Windows Vista desktop theme to run properly. Open Theme Settings by clicking the Start button, then click on Control Panel -> Appearance and Personalization, and go into Personalization, and then click on Theme button. In the Theme list, select Windows Vista, and then click OK.

Step 6 - Enable Aero Glass Transparency Effect or Windows Frame Transparency

To turn on window frame transparency or Aero Glass feature, the color scheme must first be set to Windows Aero (step 2). Then click the Start button, click Control Panel, click Appearance and Personalization, click Personalization, (or you can right-Click on a blank area of desktop, and then select Personalize from the right click context menu), and then click Window Color and Appearance. Select and check the "Enable transparency" option.

Step 7

If your system only have memory of 512 MB RAM or less, Vista will not automatically enable Aero on such system. And you won't be able to enable Aero via any of the above steps too, as users will only able to see "Windows Vista Basic" schemes and options in Appearance Settings for such system.

However, Aero can still be enable with the following workaround trick, as long as it has Aero supported graphic cards, if it's still not available after the above 6 steps.

Go to Start button, then click on Run.
Run "regedit".
Browse and navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM\ registry branch.
On the following registry subkeys, edit and change the default value:
Composition to 1
CompositionPolicy to 2

Exit registry editor.
Go to Start and click on Run again.
Execute and run the following commands one by one:
net stop uxsms
net start uxsms

Step 8

If you still cannot get Aero, or the Aero Glass transparency on WDM is not working yet. Try to use the following registry hack.

Go to Start button, then click on Run.
Run "regedit".
Browse and navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM\ registry branch.
On the following registry subkeys, edit and change the default value:
ColorizationOpaqueBlend to 1
CompositionPolicy" to 2

Exit registry editor.
Go to Start and click on Run again.
Execute and run the following commands one by one:
net stop uxsms
net start uxsms

Alternatively, copy and paste the following text into a text editor, save it as a file with .reg extension. Then double click on the registry registration file just saved, and insert or merge the new registry value in to the registry.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM]
"ColorizationOpaqueBlend"=dword:00000001
"CompositionPolicy"=dword:00000002

Restart Desktop Window Manager Session Manager in Services Manager or simply run "net stop uxsms" and then follow by "net start uxsms" in Command Prompt.

You can try to enable and get Windows Aero Glass interface for non-support or non-WDDM compatible graphic card too.