Can't get to Aero

[Hayenga]

I just updated from Windows XP Home Edition to Vista Home Premium and I can't
seem to find Windows Aero. It's not in the task bar, and I can't seem to find
it anywhere else on the computer.

I have an ATI RADEON 9250 graphics card, and I'm pretty sure that should
support it.

Could someone help me out please?

 

[Sean]

I just updated from Windows XP Home Edition to Vista Home Premium and I
can't seem to find Windows Aero. It's not in the task bar, and I can't
seem to find it anywhere else on the computer.

I have an ATI RADEON 9250 graphics card, and I'm pretty sure that should
support it.

Could someone help me out please?

Make sure you have the right drivers installed. Then go to the Control
Panel, and navigate to "System and Maintenance." Then Click on "Check
your computer's Windows Experience Index base score" under "Performance
Information and Tools." You can't explicitly turn Aero on, which is
unfortunate. Instead you have to hope that Windows rates your machine
high enough to grace you with Aero's presence. If the score passes, Aero
will be automatically activated.

 

[Andre Da Costa[ActiveWin]]

I don't get the new Windows Vista AERO Glass user interface, why?

Windows AERO Glass requires that you have a minimum of 128 MBs video RAM
that is Direct X 9 compliant and supports the Windows Display Driver Model
(WDDM). If your video card does not meet these requirements, it's the likely
cause why you are not seeing it. For onboard/integrated cards, you need to
have 1 GB of dual channel memory installed with 512 MBs of RAM allocated to
the system. The amount of Video RAM also determines the resolution size your
Display can use.

My video card supports Windows AERO Glass but it's not available and I
cannot turn it on, are there any workarounds?

Again, this might be result of your video card not being Direct X 9
compatible or the system RAM is not enough to run it. Microsoft it seems has
recently implemented a requirement for systems with 512 MB or less with
slower cards. For instance, one of my systems running Vista has a 128 MB AGP
video card with 512 MBs of RAM but I only get the AERO Basic experience.
Fortunately I am able to work around this to get the Glass effects but, I
only get Glass in my Standard Administrator account.

Click Start > All Programs > Accessories > right click the Run command >
click
type REGEDIT
Ensure that you have the following registry value set to:

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM\Composition set to 1 (32-bit DWORD)
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM\CompositionPolicy set to 2 (32-bit
DWORD)

2/ Restart DWM by opening a command prompt with administrative privileges

- Type 'net stop uxsms'
- Then 'net start uxsms'

If none of the above work, you might need to refresh your Windows Experience
Index (WEI) rating.

1. Click Start

2. In the search box, type Performance Information and Tools, hit enter

3. Click the Update my score link

4. Click Continue on the User Account Control dialog

 

[Hayenga]

Under that area it has a list of components of course and says undergraphics,
it is the Desktop performance for Windows Aero and gives it a subscore of
1.9, yet my base score is a 1.0. So I'm guessing I need to get my 1.0 to a
1.9 or higher. Is this correct, and if so or not, what do I need to do from
here?

 

[Andre Da Costa[ActiveWin]]

Your base score needs to be at least 2.0 to 2.9 and needs to support Pixel
Shader 3.0.

 

[Hayenga]

okay, well I took the advice to update my driver of course, but I believe
that just caused more problems. When I went to the ATI Radeon website to
update the driver for my graphics card, it was only in the Windows XP
section, so I did it anyways. After I did all of that it wouldn't let me use
my screen savers and said, "Your video card does not support this or you need
something that will work Direct3D" Is there a way I can fix this or do I
really need a new video.

And if I do need a new video card, what is a good one to get that will work
perfectly with Vista.

 

[David B. Mathews]

What is the highest score you can get in the Performance info and tools?
Mine is 5.9 for everyone of the listed items.

 

[Michael Palumbo]

Your base score needs to be at least 2.0 to 2.9 and needs to support Pixel
Shader 3.0.

Shader 2.0, actually.

Mic