Aero Icons Missing From Quick Launch

S

Steve Sohn

My video card died, and I had to use an old card with very limited memory.
The emergency card did not support Aero.

I installed a new ATI card with 512 MB onboard memory (a Radeon HD2600Pro
AGP 8X card) which supports Vista.

I got the Aero scheme back - transparency, etc., but the icons on the quick
launch bar for 3D viewing of open windows or desktop are gone.

Is there a way to get them back?
 
J

JW

Aero requires that your video card have 1GB of memory. Only the early Betas
of Vista supported Aero with only with 512 MB of memory.
 
S

Steve Sohn

Sorry, JW, you are wrong. My previous ATI X800 card had less than 512mb and I
had full Aero.
 
R

R. C. White

Hi, Steve.

JW may be confusing video RAM requirements with system memory. See this
page for the official word:
Troubleshoot problems with Windows Aero
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Wi...e91a-9e6f-41f4-ae82-3ed2d5fa2fbf1033.mspx#EQC

SOME of the requirements are:
• 1 gigabyte (GB) of random access memory (RAM)

• 128-megabyte (MB) graphics card

My computer has an ATI Radeon X1600 Pro PCI-express card with 512 MB, plus 4
GB of system RAM. Its lowest WEI score is 4.6 for Graphics (Desktop
performance for Windows Aero). I am not a gamer, and I'm very happy with
that score. ;<)

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail 2008 in Vista Ultimate x64 SP1)
 
C

Colin Barnhorst

If you are not seeing the Flip3D icon it may be there but there may not be
enough real estate to show it. Right click the Taskbar and unlock it. A
vertical dotted line should show indicating the right border of the QL bar.
Drag the dotted line to the right to see if more icons show up.
 
S

Steve Sohn

Seems that there is no reference for missing "Show Desktop" or "Switch
Windows" icons.

These icons are SHORTCUTS, but I cannot find the location of the original
files. If I could find the original, executables, it might be possible to
re-create the shortcuts. Wonder if this is going to require a reinstall of
Windows?
 
J

JW

Yes I was thinking of RAM instead of the graphics card the graphics card
require 128MB for Aero.
 
J

JW

Here is the switch between users link

C:\Users\ur-user-name\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick
Launch
 
M

Mark H

Use Notepad to recreate a 'Show Desktop.scf' file




1. Open Notepad and type or paste in the following command lines:

[Shell]
Command=2
IconFile=explorer.exe,3
[Taskbar]
Command=ToggleDesktop



The text needs to be exactly as shown - except that the capital letters
are optional.



2. Save the file to your desktop as Show Desktop.scf. To do so, click File
Save As... > at 'Save in', choose Desktop > at 'File name', type in Show
Click to expand...
Desktop.scf > at 'Save as type', choose 'All Files (*.*)' > Save > close
Notepad.



The file has to be named exactly as shown, including the white space and the
capital letters. This is because the file name also has to serve as the
hover label (tool tip) for the new icon.



3. After step 2, you will have acquired a writing-pad icon on your desktop.
Using the right mouse button, drag the icon over the Quick Launch bar,
release the mouse button and, at the pop-up menu, left-click on Move Here.
Finally, left-drag the icon so it is next to the Start button, and that's
it, finished.

Aero is not as easy because your graphics mode may be disabling it.
 
S

Steve Sohn

Not the problem, Colin. Extending the size of the ql bar was the first thing
I did.

Thanks, all the same.
 
M

Mark H

PS.
To reset Aero:
Run command
rundll32.exe Dwmapi.dll,DwmEnableComposition

PS. To restore the Show Desktop icon, you could also just copy it from
another profile if it's available.


Mark H said:
Use Notepad to recreate a 'Show Desktop.scf' file




1. Open Notepad and type or paste in the following command lines:

[Shell]
Command=2
IconFile=explorer.exe,3
[Taskbar]
Command=ToggleDesktop



The text needs to be exactly as shown - except that the capital letters
are optional.



2. Save the file to your desktop as Show Desktop.scf. To do so, click File
Save As... > at 'Save in', choose Desktop > at 'File name', type in Show
Click to expand...
Desktop.scf > at 'Save as type', choose 'All Files (*.*)' > Save > close
Notepad.



The file has to be named exactly as shown, including the white space and the
capital letters. This is because the file name also has to serve as the
hover label (tool tip) for the new icon.



3. After step 2, you will have acquired a writing-pad icon on your desktop.
Using the right mouse button, drag the icon over the Quick Launch bar,
release the mouse button and, at the pop-up menu, left-click on Move Here.
Finally, left-drag the icon so it is next to the Start button, and that's
it, finished.

Aero is not as easy because your graphics mode may be disabling it.




Steve Sohn said:
Seems that there is no reference for missing "Show Desktop" or "Switch
Windows" icons.

These icons are SHORTCUTS, but I cannot find the location of the original
files. If I could find the original, executables, it might be possible to
re-create the shortcuts. Wonder if this is going to require a reinstall of
Windows?
Click to expand...
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Wi...e91a-9e6f-41f4-ae82-3ed2d5fa2fbf1033.mspx#EQC
Click to expand...
 
C

Colin Barnhorst

Glad you got it going for you. Thank you for the report back so others can
benefit.
 
S

Shane Nokes

Why are you even replying to this thread?

In your first post you posted information that's completely bogus.

Aero will run on a system that has a GPU with even 64MB of RAM on it if it's
fast enough.
It'll also run on a system that has only 512MB of system memory so your 1GB
number is coming out of nowhere.

In this second post you completely didn't answer the question he asked.

He wants to know how to get Flip3D and Show Desktop working.



Now Steve I see later on that you figured out show desktop.

Here's how to restore Flip 3D :)

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/...her-flip3d-or-flip-shortcut-or-icon-in-vista/
 

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