Windows Vista Aero Support
What is Windows Aero?
Windows Aero is the premium visual experience of Windows Vista. It features a transparent glass design with subtle window animations and new window colors. Windows Flip 3D, which is a way to preview your open windows in 3D stacks, as well as taskbar buttons with live, thumbnail-sized window previews all require having the Aero interface activated.
The Aero Glass Effect
Available window frame colors Picture of window frame colors
What edition of Windows Vista do I need to run Aero?
The following editions include Aero:
  • Windows Vista Business
  • Windows Vista Enterprise
  • Windows Vista Home Premium
  • Windows Vista Ultimate

To find out which edition of Windows Vista you have on your computer, do the following: Open Welcome Center by clicking the Start button Picture of the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking Welcome Center. The edition of Windows Vista you're running is displayed with your computer details near the top of the window.
What hardware is recommended to run Windows Aero?
The minimum hardware requirements are:
  • 1-GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
  • 1 Gigabyte (GB) of  RAM
  • 128-MB graphics card (or supported integrated video - see below)

Aero also requires a DirectX 9 class graphics processor that supports a Windows Display Driver Model Driver (WDDM), Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware, and 32 bits per pixel.

For best results, you might also want to follow these graphics processor recommendations:

  • 128 MB of graphics memory to support a single monitor with a resolution from 1,310,720 to 2,304,000 pixels (for example, a 21.1–inch flat panel LCD monitor that has up to a 1600 × 1200 resolution)
  • 256 MB of graphics memory to support a single monitor with a resolution greater than 2,304,000 pixels (for example, a 30–inch wide-screen flat panel LCD monitor that has up to a 2560 × 1600 resolution)
What about Integrated Motherboard Graphics?
All of the latest Intel Desktop Boards are Windows Vista Ready. To experience Windows Vista Premium versions and the Windows Aero graphical features, you need to choose an Intel Desktop Board with an Intel 945, 946, 963, 965 or 975 Chipset.
 
Note: If using a board with the 945, 946, 963 or 965 chipset and using the onboard video with shared memory technology then, you need to have at least 1GB of system memory installed to be Vista Premium Ready.
Why doesn’t the Intel 915 Express chipset family support Windows Vista Aero?
The overall graphics architecture and design of the 915 Express chipset family (with Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 900 graphics engine) was finalized prior to Microsoft releasing details and specifications around the Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) driver and running the Aero interface.  Given this, there are hardware limitations in the 915 Express chipset architecture that would limit graphics performance and memory capabilities when attempting to run WDDM on Vista so Microsoft decided to not support this chipset.
How can the Windows Vista operating system run on Intel platforms that will not have WDDM drivers?
There are two different driver models that are available in the Windows Vista operating system, the Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) and the XP Driver Model (XPDM). The Windows Display Driver Model drivers provide the 3D graphical user interface experience to users, while the XP driver model provides an interface that visually resembles the Windows* XP/Windows 2000 User Interface, but does not support the Windows Vista Aero desktop theme or user interface.
My computer meets the minimum recommendations, but I'm still not getting Windows Aero. Is there anything else I can do?
Yes. Make sure that the color is set to 32 bit, the monitor refresh rate is higher than 10 hertz, the theme is set to Windows Vista, the color scheme is set to Windows Aero, and window frame transparency is on.

To set the color to 32 bit

  1. Open Display Settings by clicking the Start button Picture of the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking Appearance and Personalization, clicking Personalization, and then clicking Display Settings.
  2. 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, and then try again.)

To set the monitor refresh rate

  1. Open Display Settings by clicking the Start button Picture of the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking Appearance and Personalization, clicking Personalization, and then clicking Display Settings.
  2. Click Advanced Settings.
  3. Click the Monitor tab, and then click a refresh rate that's higher than 10 hertz. The monitor will take a moment to adjust. If you want 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.

Note Changes to the refresh rate affect all users who log on to the computer

To change the desktop theme to Windows Vista

  1. Open Theme Settings by clicking the Start button Picture of the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking Appearance and Personalization, clicking Personalization, and then clicking Theme.
  2. In the Theme list, select Windows Vista, and then click OK.

To change the color scheme to Windows Aero

  1. Open Appearance Settings by clicking the Start button Picture of the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking Appearance and Personalization, clicking Personalization, and then clicking Window Color and Appearance. If the Appearance Settings dialog box is not displayed, at the bottom of the page, click Open classic appearance properties.
  2. In the Color scheme list, select Windows Aero, and then click OK.

To turn on window frame transparency

To turn on window frame transparency, the color scheme must first be set to Windows Aero.

  1. Click the Start button Picture of the Start button, click Control Panel, click Appearance and Personalization, click Personalization, and then click Window Color and Appearance.
  2. Select the Enable transparency check box so that it is checked.
Note: If you see the Appearance Settings dialog box instead of the Window Color and Appearance window, the theme might not be set to Windows Vista, the color scheme might not be set to Windows Aero, or the computer might not meet the minimum hardware requirements for running Windows Aero.