Windows Aero is the standard graphical user interface that most Windows Vista and Windows 7 operating systems ship with. Microsoft made the decision during the Windows Vista release to block some or even all Aero effects in some editions of the operating system and has continued that strategy during the release of Windows 7.
To be precise: Windows Aero is not available in Windows Vista Home Basic and Windows 7 Starter and only partially enabled in Windows 7 Home Basic.
But there is another problem that users can encounter when trying to get Windows Aero to work. Microsoft has build in a hardware check that performs a check of the operating system before enabling Aero. It will block Aero from being executed iIf the operating system fails that check. This can usually be attributed to not meeting one or multiple of the minimum hardware requirements to run Aero.
Aero Enabler has been created by the developer to enable Windows Aero in Windows Vista and Windows 7. It’s primary purpose is to enable Aero in Windows Vista Home Basic and Windows 7 Home Basic. It will only be enabled if the computer system passes the hardware check to ensure that the system will run stable even with Aero enabled.
The minimum requirements to run Windows Aero are:
- 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
- 1 GB of system memory
- DirectX 9 compatible graphics processor with a Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) driver, Pixel shader 2.0 in hardware, and a minimum of 128 MB of Video RAM
- 40 GB hard drive with 15 GB free space
The software comes with a switch to disable the hardware check which only makes sense if the hardware check failed although the hardware should be capable of running Windows Aero. Enabling Aero on a computer system that does not meet the requirements could result in all kinds of problems including performance and stability issues.
Windows 7 Home Basic and Windows Vista Home Basic users who want to give Aero Enabler a try can download the software at the developer’s website.. (via Techie Buzz)
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Why would anyone want to install Aero – it’s just eyecandy. I have Vista, and the first and best thing I did for it was to get shot of Aero – I use my PC for important stuff, and efficiency is far more important than this pointless resource hog.
May be in Vista. But in Windows 7, Aero actually improved user experience and enhances productivity.
And Martin, thanks for the linkback.
This fails it won’t enable Aero on Windows 7 starter.
It doesn’t enable any Aero features on Windows 7 Home Basic. It failed!
Does not work. Simple as that.
Another vote for this doesn’t work.
People should do their homework before posting things like this.
ANOTHER VOTE…… DOSENT WORK. . . . . . .
Another Vote…DOES NOT WORK!!!!!
not working, waste of time
it’s work for me…thanks martin
Does not work
does not work (windows 7 starter)
naaaahh…..im so disappointed
this SUCKS BALLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i cannot find any way to do this other than putting a fake product key into windows anytime upgrade
It does not enable Aero Features but it just enables the Aero Glass only!
Another vote for this does not work in windows 7 starter. total waste of precious time!
it does not work on Win 7 Starter but I found out a solution and would like to share with everyone. Just download Win Aero from winaero dot com. If this works for you, please share it out too.