[OLD] Aero Glass for Win8.1+

[bigmuscle]

Ladies and gentlemen,
I present you version 1.0 of Aero Glass reimplementation for Windows 8.1. This software is a bit different story than Aero Glass for Win8, because almost all glass code has been removed from Windows 8.1 so complete reimplementation was needed.
 
The development of Aero Glass effect for Windows 8 was pretty easy but I had no knowledge around Desktop Windows Manager at all. Situation in Windows 8.1 is opposite - I already got enough knowledge but I had to wrote all glass code from scratch.
 
 
There are some small differences from Windows 8 version:
1) as already been said during the development phase, this software is only the extension to DWM rendering engine and hooks DWM functions only. It does not hook theme service (to bypass theme signature) anymore nor any other process to explicitely enable blur behind any window (e.g. behind taskbar). It just blurs the areas where it is instructed to do so.
 
2) to correctly inject this library into DWM process, the small background task is required to be running. When this background process is not running, DWMGlass.dll won't be injected automatically on user logon, dwm.exe restart etc.
---
 
A bit limited version of this software is free for your personal usage.
Download and all information are available on its website: http://www.glass8.eu
There is a beta version of the small application intended to change several parameters of Aero Glass: http://www.glass8.eu/stuff/gui.7z
 
Please, remember that this software is done in my free time and it is not done for any profit. You won't get the full service as in the case of regular paid software.

Edited November 30, 2014 by bigmuscle

[bigmuscle]

Just because I learned that many people don't read carefully, I remind it here again:

• Aero Glass for Win8 does not work on Windows 8.1
• Aero Glass for Win8.1 does not work on Windows 8
• My PayPal e-mail does NOT serve as technical support and you will not get any answer if you mail to it, because this mailbox is not monitored.
• This application is free. However, it does not mean that you can use all of this features. It simply means that it is freely available to download, it can be freely used for personal and business use, on unlimited number of computers, by unlimited number of users and for unlimited time, and it provides you promised Aero Glass effect for free.

• If you want to report some problem, enable logging (see Guide how to do that), restart dwm.exe and provide debug.log after the problem appears.
• Do NOT install Aero Glass into non-writable location !!!
• Aero Glass directory must be accessible by everyone, because DWM runs under different user credentials.
• Windows with extended glass frame render their captions on their own and thus DWM (and neither my Aero Glass) cannot influence whether the glow effect is rendered behind them.
• If you don't get glass effect when running on the battery, then read the guide how to change this behaviour.

• Aero Glass for Win8.1 works on Spring2014 Update without any problem if you install the latest public symbols. These symbols are downloaded automatically in private version. Otherwise, you must get them on your own, several ways to get them has been described in this topic.
• If you get "DWM incompatibility error" message, it is because you have installed Windows update which modified your Desktop Windows Manager. Such situation can be solved by installing public symbols for the new version of DWM. Private/Full/Donated version downloads the symbols automatically, so you don't have to do anything except waiting for a while. Otherwise, you must get them on your own, several ways to get them has been described in this topic. You can also check http://glass8.eu/guide.html#symbols

!!! READ BEFORE ASKING !!!
 
.. the other most frequent problems will be pinned here ...

Edited October 25, 2014 by bigmuscle

[MagicAndre1981]

thanks for the final. I'll test it

[Flukey]

Bravo!!!

[Gashuno]

It won't load my custom theme and theme reflection for some reason, it shows up for 1 second but then resets back to the default windows 8 theme (blur seems to be working though)

any help?

[oomek]

Ok, I donated but all I got is a bunch of symbols on the screen after pressing the Generate button. This is useless if i don't know the filename of a key file. I need a filename or a licence generator script fixed.

Edit:

I found it to be license.key in the other thred. The nag screen is gone but the symbols are not downloading!

Edit2:

After second forced dwm restart it started downloading symbols.

Solved, but those are iritating things which shouldn't have happened in the paid version in my opinion.

Edited January 19, 2014 by oomek

[bigmuscle]

It won't load my custom theme and theme reflection for some reason, it shows up for 1 second but then resets back to the default windows 8 theme (blur seems to be working though)

any help?

Please, enable logging and provide debug.log then.

Ok, I donated but all I got is a bunch of symbols on the screen after pressing the Generate button. This is useless if i don't know the filename of a key file. I need a filename or a licence generator script fixed.

Edit:

I found it to be license.key in the other thred. The nag screen is gone but the symbols are not downloading!

Edit2:

After second forced dwm restart it started downloading symbols.

Solved, but those are iritating things which shouldn't have happened in the paid version in my opinion.

The script on the website automatically downloads license.key file. If it does not, then problem is in your browser. Then, symbols will be downloaded in the background and it can take some time (do not expect it will take a few milliseconds).

[Gashuno]

It won't load my custom theme and theme reflection for some reason, it shows up for 1 second but then resets back to the default windows 8 theme (blur seems to be working though)

any help?

Please, enable logging and provide debug.log then.

Ok, I donated but all I got is a bunch of symbols on the screen after pressing the Generate button. This is useless if i don't know the filename of a key file. I need a filename or a licence generator script fixed.

Edit:

I found it to be license.key in the other thred. The nag screen is gone but the symbols are not downloading!

Edit2:

After second forced dwm restart it started downloading symbols.

Solved, but those are iritating things which shouldn't have happened in the paid version in my opinion.

The script on the website automatically downloads license.key file. If it does not, then problem is in your browser. Then, symbols will be downloaded in the background and it can take some time (do not expect it will take a few milliseconds).

here's the debug.log

[2014-01-19 19:28:26][0xCB4:0x13D8] Installing DWM hook...

[2014-01-19 19:28:26][0xCB4:0x13D8] Module: C:\Program Files\AeroGlass\dwmglass.dll

[2014-01-19 19:42:09][0x720:0x724] Installing DWM hook...

[2014-01-19 19:42:09][0x720:0x724] Module: C:\Program Files\AeroGlass\dwmglass.dll

[2014-01-19 20:16:50][0x734:0x738] Installing DWM hook...

[2014-01-19 20:16:50][0x734:0x738] Module: C:\Program Files\AeroGlass\dwmglass.dll

[2014-01-19 21:03:30][0x740:0x744] Installing DWM hook...

[2014-01-19 21:03:30][0x740:0x744] Module: C:\Program Files\AeroGlass\dwmglass.dll

[2014-01-19 21:11:09][0x788:0x78C] Installing DWM hook...

[2014-01-19 21:11:09][0x788:0x78C] Module: C:\Program Files\AeroGlass\dwmglass.dll

Edited January 19, 2014 by Gashuno

[bigmuscle]

Please, enable logging and provide debug.log then.

EDIT: I also found another source of your problems - you installed into Program Files where nobody has access rights. Thus DWM won't log anything and it will not save symbols there either.

Edited January 19, 2014 by bigmuscle

[Soukyuu]

Seems to be working fine for now. Though, please either remove or rename the "install shiny glass theme" option, since it's not a theme, but a custom resource. It ended up wrecking my custom theme I was running, because the coordinates didn't match.

I had a graphical glitch with RC3 just now, so I wanted to report it, then saw the final release. I'm going to wait if it resurfaces with this version or not.

Thanks for the final! Finally no console windows to close

[Dahaka]

Works great, thanks BigMuscle!

[oomek]

The script on the website automatically downloads license.key file. If it does not, then problem is in your browser.

Whats wrong with the Firefox? I thought it's a pretty common browser Have you checked your script before deploying it?

Edited January 19, 2014 by oomek

[bigmuscle]

oomek: yes, the script have been tested and it has been working correctly for more than half a year.

[Gashuno]

Please, enable logging and provide debug.log then.

EDIT: I also found another source of your problems - you installed into Program Files where nobody has access rights. Thus DWM won't log anything and it will not save symbols there either.

EDIT: i should read

Edited January 19, 2014 by Gashuno

[Soukyuu]

I think oomek's browser just detects the file as a .txt and opens it instead of downloading. This is configurable, but the default for text files is to open them. Maybe if you changed the MIME type for it to something else, it would force all browsers to download the file instead of displaying it.