Aero Glass for Win8 RC4

[pengipete]

On the screen-grab of your registry values, you have GlassTransparency set to 0 but your window borders are mostly opaque. If I set GlassTransparency to zero and duplicate all of your other values, I get totally colourless, transparent windows with a slight blur - nothing even remotely like your screen-grab.

It's not helping that the information for each update is buried somewhere amongst 550 (and rising) posts but it seems that v0.5 should have a DWM entry in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM - but that "folder" doesn't exist in my registry. Is it something I have to create?

And what about the DWN registry "folder" that was in HKEY_USERS\.default - should that still be there or should we delete it now?

I should add that I've asked in the forum if anyone else is getting the inactive coloured borders (without additional apps, themes or hacks) and no-one has replied - hence asking you.

[stonyi1966]

v 0.5 works perfect, but it looks much better when I use the Release Preview Theme instead of Win 8 RTM's theme.

[puerto]

Works great for me on one of my computers, and I love it

On the other one, the screen goes black and then it brings me back to the login screen

I've included the debug file.

I'm on Windows 8 Pro 64 bit .. i7, plenty of RAM

Hopefully there's a fix for this

debug.txt

Edited March 13, 2013 by puerto

[bigmuscle]

On the screen-grab of your registry values, you have GlassTransparency set to 0 but your window borders are mostly opaque.

Because I use different theme resource which is not fully transparent as RTM theme. RTM theme looks like this

but it seems that v0.5 should have a DWM entry in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM - but that "folder" doesn't exist in my registry. Is it something I have to create?

no, colorization settings are stored in HKEY_CURRENT_USER

v 0.5 works perfect, but it looks much better when I use the Release Preview Theme instead of Win 8 RTM's theme.

yeah, it's true because RTM theme is totally transparent with thin line around the border. RP theme has semi-transparent texture in the border.

On the other one, the screen goes black and then it brings me back to the login screen

I've included the debug file.

It looks like device failed to be created in some cases. Could you try playing with DeviceFeatureLevel? Maybe, your card does not accept level 0x9100 correctly.

[pengipete]

Turns out that the lack of the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM entry was the problem - that "folder" and the entries it was supposed to contain had been created in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\DWM for some reason - presumably when V0.5 was first run given that I know I've never created those keys anywhere.

Edit - seems that the entries in WoW6432Node are created by AGTweaker - but that's separate from the problem that the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM wasn't created in the first place.

Given that the dafault if to use D2D - which appears to be more "stable" for more people is it possible that there's a bug and that HKLM entry is not being created - resulting in everyone running in D2D without even realising it (as they must be if the HKLM keys are missing)?

Since no-one but you and I has actually said that they are testing D3D and inactive border colouring (and NOT using any non-standard themes or GUI patches), I can see how such a bug - if it exists - could go completely unnoticed. I also note that since V0.5 was released, there has been no further mention of problems relating to DeviceFeatureLevel settings - which may support the idea that everyone is actually running the app in D2D without even realising it.

I've drop a note to ORelio to warn that his AGTweaker app appears to be setting keys in the wrong part of the registry but that should only result in his app showing the wrong values - it wouldn't delete the correct HKLM folder and simply wouldn't send any of those values to Aero Glass.

Can someone please check to see if the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM entry in the registry exists - someone who has never manually created any such DWM "folders" and entries.

Edited March 13, 2013 by pengipete

[DosProbie]

Turns out that the lack of the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM entry was the problem - that "folder" and the entries it was supposed to contain had been created in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\DWM for some reason - presumably when V0.5 was first run given that I know I've never created those keys anywhere.

Edit - seems that the entries in WoW6432Node are created by AGTweaker - but that's separate from the problem that the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM wasn't created in the first place.

Given that the dafault if to use D2D - which appears to be more "stable" for more people is it possible that there's a bug and that HKLM entry is not being created - resulting in everyone running in D2D without even realising it (as they must be if the HKLM keys are missing)?

Since no-one but you and I has actually said that they are testing D3D and inactive border colouring (and NOT using any non-standard themes or GUI patches), I can see how such a bug - if it exists - could go completely unnoticed. I also note that since V0.5 was released, there has been no further mention of problems relating to DeviceFeatureLevel settings - which may support the idea that everyone is actually running the app in D2D without even realising it.

I've drop a note to ORelio to warn that his AGTweaker app appears to be setting keys in the wrong part of the registry but that should only result in his app showing the wrong values - it wouldn't delete the correct HKLM folder and simply wouldn't send any of those values to Aero Glass.

Can someone please check to see if the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM entry in the registry exists - someone who has never manually created any such DWM "folders" and entries.

You have the wrong registry path key should be: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DWM]

There is also 2 more key/s : [HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM], [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM]

and for 64-bit at: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\DWM]

[pengipete]

You have the wrong registry path key should be: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DWM]

There is also 2 more key/s : [HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM], [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM]

and for 64-bit at: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\DWM]

I cut and pasted "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM" directly from BigMuscle's post #506 - the one in which he announced V0.5 and listed the keys.

The key you suggested - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DWM - does not exist on my laptop

The key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\DWM was not created when I ran Aero Glass - it only appeared after running AGTweaker and the settings for D3D it contained were not applied to Aero Glass.

[bigmuscle]

Turns out that the lack of the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM entry was the problem - that "folder" and the entries it was supposed to contain had been created in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\DWM for some reason - presumably when V0.5 was first run given that I know I've never created those keys anywhere.

Edit - seems that the entries in WoW6432Node are created by AGTweaker - but that's separate from the problem that the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM wasn't created in the first place.

It seems that you miss the basic thing here. AeroGlass utility does not create any registry key nor modify any other system settings and it is not intended to do so. It only reads the values which you create on your own. Since the registry settings is still current development issue I have not put them in the first post but they can be found near last changelog only.

Also, there is no reason why the settings should be read from Wow6432Node because this utility is fully 64-bit. The global settings is read from HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM and the local (colorization) settings is read from HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM. (some settings can also work in other keys such as HKEY_USERS\.default etc. but it is only due to fallback when normal values has not been not found and nobody should modify these keys at all so ignore this small note :-) )

Since no-one but you and I has actually said that they are testing D3D and inactive border colouring (and NOT using any non-standard themes or GUI patches), I can see how such a bug - if it exists - could go completely unnoticed. I also note that since V0.5 was released, there has been no further mention of problems relating to DeviceFeatureLevel settings - which may support the idea that everyone is actually running the app in D2D without even realising it.

DeviceFeatureLevel has nothing to do whether blur effect is rendered via Direct3D or Direct2D. It states the graphics device compatibility mode which DWM uses (just because it is always Direct3D - also Direct2D is just an API layer above Direct3D 11). In 0.5, I put the default value to 0x9100 (if settings is not found in the registry) thus nobody complains about this settings now. My goal is to make everything work with native device level.

[MarcOo]

Works very well.

Few suggestions : you should remove the warning windows (use at your own risk) and put this message in a readme for example. Is it possible to run the programme in background in order to have no longer its presence in the taskbar or put it with the hidden icons ?

Each time I plug a usb device, the console (i always reduce) pop up. Is it normal ?

[AlexKven]

Works very well.

Few suggestions : you should remove the warning windows (use at your own risk) and put this message in a readme for example. Is it possible to run the programme in background in order to have no longer its presence in the taskbar or put it with the hidden icons ?

Each time I plug a usb device, the console (i always reduce) pop up. Is it normal ?

He says that he will not remove these annoyances until it is out of preview stage. The console window popping up seems to be a new annoyance. It sounds like that he really, really doesn't want us using this all the time while it's in preview.

[pengipete]

That's precisely what I was trying to tell you - the registry keys HAVE been crreated in WOW6432Node - and it appears they are created there by AGTweaker because I completely removed them and they stayed deleted until I ran AGTweaker again - and then they reappeared. I ran AGTweaker and it appeared to allow me to use 9200 & 9300 - which never worked for me in your previous betas BUT inn reality, it Aero Glass wasn't using those values when using D3D - it was always running at 9100 - so anyone beta testing and using AGTweaker will be erroneously reporting that it works with those settings.

Regarding "It only reads the values which you create on your own. Since the registry settings is still current development issue I have not put them in the first post but they can be found near last changelog" - are you saying that everyone here apart from me manually created the entire HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM "folder" and all of the keys in it - because it quite simply did not exist on my installation of Windows 8? Does that mean there is and always has been a problem with my installation - because I've had no problems with it at all - or did I just completely miss a step when running V0.5?

Please understand - I am NOT talking about blur or anything else when refering to those missing registry values in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM - I only discovered those keys were missing whilst trying to work out why I could not get coloured inactive borders BUT that is just coincidental - it caused me to discover the lack of the HKLM entries was stopping AG from working as expected - I've resolved that problem and am just trying to warn you that V0.5 does work but without those HKLM keys, it is only running with "safe defaults" - so the beta-testing is not actually testing anything..

I'm trying to get you to see that if Aero Glass relies on reading values in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM and that "folder" and the keys it is supposed to contain does not exist, the app will work to a certain extent but will not be working correctly. What features do work are the basic ones you've had since the first beta so anyone testing V0.5 is not really testing the latest changes you've made.

As you can see from post # 561, someone else is now saying that their registry keys - the ones which determine whether D3D is used and whether it's set to 9100, 9200 or 9300 - are in yet another location. Are you saying that Aero Glass will still work no matter where those keys are - or is that person not actually using the values they think they are whilst testing?

As you know, with no other values changed, the overall Aero Glass effect looks quite different if you switch between D2D and D3D. It was only after I found that the HKLM folder was absent and manually created it that I was able to see that I had, in fact, been using D2D. I'm suggesting that other people who have said that it works for them may actually be using D2D without realising it - so they are not actually testing the new/updated routines you've added.

Again, I'm asking if some of the other people testing this could please check their registry and make sure that they have the correct keys in ALL of the registry sections applicable. Aero Glass will work with some of them missing but it may not be doing exactly what they think it is - such as using 9100 when they think you've set it to 9300. If that is the case, it may appear stable but they aren't actually testing V0.5 - just using the basic DWM hook which has worked since V0.1.

[bigmuscle]

It seems that you absolutely miss the point why any registry settings are there. Any registry key/value (and it pays for all cases, not only this utility) is intended for experienced users only and it should be touched only if you know what the key/value is intended to do. Application has hardcoded default values and does not rely on the existence of any key. When no registry setting is modified, then application works exactly as it is intended to work - so it is absolutely wrong statement that application "will not be working correctly" when any key/value does not exist.

Registry values under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM are there only for technical reason and they should not been touched at all if you don't know what it really does. Therefore, the key does not even exist in the default state. And there is absolutely no reason why this key should exist and why application should rely on its existence. And nobody ever said that this key is supposed to exist in default state. So again, if the key under HKLM does not exist, then this application works at its best... there are only certain special reasons why one should create this key and change the default settings. But I strongly say DON'T DO IT! And what more, don't change them via any external 3rd party application which probably touches totally wrong keys - and I won't provide any support if you use any "GUI application", because it is totally beyond the scope of my utility (just because the keys such as WOW6432Node have nothing to do with my work so it is only your responsibility if you manage to create them by whatever way)

All user customization settings are placed under HKEY_CURRENT_USER key. But again, it is still Windows registry, so you should not touch it if you don't know what the key/value does!

To DosProbie (post #561), I say again - there is no WOW6432Node supported by this utility. Also HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT is valid only for pre-0.5 previews.

[DosProbie]

To DosProbie (post #561), I say again - there is no WOW6432Node supported by this utility. Also HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT is valid only for pre-0.5 previews.

With this thread getting so large now (approaching 600 posts), It would be a good idea to include a Changelog from you of new previews,

including which reg key or keys are affected, should and should not exist with proper recommended settings etc.

[pengipete]

To DosProbie (post #561), I say again - there is no WOW6432Node supported by this utility. Also HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT is valid only for pre-0.5 previews.

With this thread getting so large now (approaching 600 posts), It would be a good idea to include a Changelog from you of new previews,

including which reg key or keys are affected, should and should not exist with proper recommended settings etc.

I've previously asked for that - and asked that they (and any future updates) be added to the first post - because they are nowdramatic spread throughout nearly 600 posts and the changes are quite dramatic at times.

[DosProbie]

To DosProbie (post #561), I say again - there is no WOW6432Node supported by this utility. Also HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT is valid only for pre-0.5 previews.

With this thread getting so large now (approaching 600 posts), It would be a good idea to include a Changelog from you of new previews,

including which reg key or keys are affected, should and should not exist with proper recommended settings etc.

I've previously asked for that - and asked that they (and any future updates) be added to the first post - because they are nowdramatic spread throughout nearly 600 posts and the changes are quite dramatic at times.

I feel your pain and a lot of others as well, and frankly I don't have the time to scroll thru almost 600 posts trying to find the "sweet spot" settings..When a few screen

shots and changelogs would keep us all up to date..B)

Edited March 13, 2013 by DosProbie