Windows Vista Annoyance #6: Turning on Windows Aero
April 22, 2007
All the cool Vista features you’re seeing on advertisements, like Flip-and-Flip and thumbnails from the Windows bar and all that? They come on when Windows Aero is enabled. Most of the time, Windows Aero isn’t enabled by default on a new or upgraded computer.
(Yes, I sorta discussed this topic when I explained how to turn on Windows Flip-and-Flip. But I thought that actually turning on Windows Aero was important enough to have its own blog post.)
First of all, what version of Windows Vista do you have? To find out what Windows Vista version you have, click on the Windows logo at the lower left corner, right-click on “Computer,” and select Properties. Under “Windows Edition,” it’d tell you which Vista version you have and whether it’s the 32-bit or 64-bit version, along with a link to “Upgrade Vista.”
If you have Windows Vista Basic, you’re outta luck. Windows Aero is available only on Vista Home Premium and up. Microsoft isn’t being too forthright about this, eh?
If you’re lucky enough (or your pocketbook’s deep enough) to have Vista Home Premium or Ultimate or better, then here’s how you can turn Windows Aero on.
1) Click on the Windows logo at the lower left corner
2) Select Control Panel, and then select Personalization
3) Click on “Window Color and Appearance”
4) If you then see a row of 8 colors, you need to click on the last link, “Open classic appearance properties for more color options”
5) In the “Appearance Settings” window, under “Color Scheme,” select “Windows Aero”
6) Click on “OK”
7) Windows will then update the display properties of, well, everything.
And you’ve activated Windows Aero! Have fun.
May 29, 2007 at 1:48 pm
I would like to know how to change the theme back to aero from classic. My brother changed it so i can’t reverse it. I tried personalization and all of that stuff but i can’t figure out how to change it back. Could you help me? Please email me with a response
July 24, 2007 at 2:15 am
Well hey i have windows home premium and i cant find windows aero :/ theres windows vista basic but thats the closest i can get to
August 10, 2007 at 7:54 pm
same here, I have home premium, but no Aero :(
August 24, 2007 at 9:01 am
well i have premium, and I could not figure out why aero was showing up. I had it before. I have it on my laptop. I was switching monitors and in the proces I had it turned to 16 bit. lol I turned it back to 32 bit and vwa la. its now working.
October 25, 2007 at 7:52 pm
its either because ur graphics crad’s drivers arnt installed, or ur graphics card blows.
November 27, 2007 at 12:33 am
Hi! Nice site you got there!
January 7, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Oh!!! I just found something out! Okay my PC bumped down from Aero to basic sometimes when i used dual monitor. I read hat you have to be in 32 bit mode. My Laptop’s internal screen/monitor (is it just a screen when it’s internal and not a monirot, anyways the main one) was at 32 but, but the external display (my old[er] monitor plugged in) was at 16 bit by default! So I set that one to 32 bit and Aero is back! So if you do dual monitor then check that BOTH are in 32 bit, since the 2nd was at 16 both were bumped down and even though the main one was at 32 bit it wasnt on Aero. I guess to be safe Windows made the 2nd one 16 bit, therefore bumping me down! Now I figured out why Aero went away on Dual monitor sometimes!! I clicked the thing from the tray and read, it took me to display setting, checked both monitors, set the other one and now it’s back!!