[OLD] Aero Glass for Win8.1+

[bigmuscle]

Only thing that I'd still like help is on making the window corners rounded. Setting RoundRectRadius value to a number seems to round out the color layer above the window frame but the corners of the window frame behind it are still rectangular. Does anybody know how to make the windows corners themselves round?

(Even without the rounded edge, this is great work, bigmuscle; I'll be making my donation, shortly)

RoundRectRadius is only to set the radius of glass geometry. To have rounded graphics, you need to update the theme texture which is placed above the glass but you must do it on your own. Just create your own theme atlas (or use any existing with rounded corners).

Hello, I just joined so I could ask this.

I would like to set glass to work on both battery and AC power, but following the registry settings on the glass website don't seem to work. I still only get glass on AC and no glass when on battery.

Windows 8.1 x64 inside a VM.

Please, check that you updated the registry correctly. DisableGlassOnBattery settings is read from HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE key only and you need to restart dwm process (or your computer) to apply it.

[bigmuscle]

Aero Glass for Win8.1 Spring2014 Update DEBUG version

Here is the first debug version with hardcoded symbols for Windows 8.1 Spring2014 update.

It is debug only and it is intended for testing only!

http://glass8.berlios.de/stuff/spring2014.7z

Changes:

* hardcoded symbols for dwmcore.dll version >= 17031

* make some generic patterns to work regardless the dwmcore.dll/udwm.dll version (probably won't work on some specific versions)

* display version of udwm.dll and dwmcore.dll in debug log

* display DLL path of loaded Aero Glass in debug log

* fix crash when some symbols fail to load

Now, it should not need symbols on Spring2014 update but it is needed to be tested before releasing. If it still needs them (your get DWM incompatibility message, or symbols are loaded from PDB) then provide debug.log file.

Install version 1.2.1 and replace dwmglass.dll with respective file from this update, then restart.

Do NOT use if you are consumer user only! USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Edited April 21, 2014 by bigmuscle

[dhjohns]

This does work, except that cmd window remains open as in previous experimental builds. I removed symbols folder, and renamed dwmglass.dll file from version 1.2.1, placed dwmglass.dll from spring2014 folder into AeroGlass folder, logged out, then back in, and all worked. But, I do believe I will wait for a more final release. Thank you bigmuscle!

Edited April 21, 2014 by dhjohns

[cmdshft]

Hello, I just joined so I could ask this.

I would like to set glass to work on both battery and AC power, but following the registry settings on the glass website don't seem to work. I still only get glass on AC and no glass when on battery.

Windows 8.1 x64 inside a VM.

Please, check that you updated the registry correctly. DisableGlassOnBattery settings is read from HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE key only and you need to restart dwm process (or your computer) to apply it.

These are my registry settings. I am currently on battery in both screenshots and I have rebooted.

Glass on with AC, off with battery:

Glass on with AC, on with battery:

[MikeRL]

For the sake of assisting bigmuscle, I've deleted my debug.log file before installing the debug version for the Spring update. I've also moved the debug symbols to a temp folder on my desktop. I'm going to keep testing the daylights out of this, with and without symbols downloaded already, to see how things go. That may assist in preparing for a future release. This post will be edited shortly based on my experiences. For the record, I have a laptop using Intel graphics, and a desktop using AMD. Will go into specifics if anything messes up. This may take a while to test different combinations, but I believe it will be of some help to you. Yes I know the symbols are hardcoded but I'm curious to as if anything will misbehave.

Laptop:

First scenario - moved old symbols - success.

Second scenario - with old symbols still present - success.

Desktop:

First scenario - moved old symbols - success.

Second scenario - with old symbols still present - success .

Edited April 28, 2014 by MikeRL

[bigmuscle]

These are my registry settings. I am currently on battery in both screenshots and I have rebooted.

According to your screenshots, you should read the guide again.

[dhjohns]

These are my registry settings. I am currently on battery in both screenshots and I have rebooted.

According to your screenshots, you should read the guide again.

Yea, I don't see ANY AeroGlass in either!

This is AeroGlass:

Edited April 21, 2014 by dhjohns

[cmdshft]

I think you misunderstood. I have Glass working. I do not have it working on battery, it does work on AC. I merely was showing the settings don't change when trying to enable glass on battery. You can see that when on AC I am able to use glass in the following video.

Video showing where the keys are located on my system.

Edited April 21, 2014 by cmdshft

[oomek]

My dwmcore.dll has version 17041 not 17031 but it's working well without symbol files.

Btw what does this line mean?

[2014-04-21 19:57:08][0x1794:0x1C08] Delayed hook (UxTheme.dll!GetThemeStream from udwm.dll) installed

may it be the cause of the startup delay?

debug.log

[2014-04-21 19:57:08][0xEB4:0x1E4] Uninstalling...
[2014-04-21 19:57:08][0x1794:0x152C] Donation key loaded
[2014-04-21 19:57:08][0x1794:0x152C] Machine ID: YYGZWFLXSUQLJLOCAELJLLMEMDPL4VNLLELG7VOQRL4JE3WQ
[2014-04-21 19:57:08][0x1794:0x152C] Loading settings (flags = 0x1) from HKEY 0x0000000000000000 for session #1
[2014-04-21 19:57:08][0x1794:0x152C] Settings reloaded
[2014-04-21 19:57:08][0x1794:0x152C] Hook (USER32.dll!DrawTextW from udwm.dll) installed
[2014-04-21 19:57:08][0x1794:0x152C] Hook (GDI32.dll!CreateBitmap from udwm.dll) installed
[2014-04-21 19:57:08][0x1794:0x152C] Hook (GDI32.dll!CreateRoundRectRgn from udwm.dll) installed
[2014-04-21 19:57:08][0x1794:0x152C] Aero Glass for Win8.1 v1.2.5 DEBUG x64 correctly loaded (C:\AeroGlass\dwmglass.dll).
[2014-04-21 19:57:08][0x1794:0x1C08] Delayed hook (UxTheme.dll!GetThemeStream from udwm.dll) installed
[2014-04-21 19:57:08][0x1794:0x144C] Message 0x404, wparam = 0, lparam = 0
[2014-04-21 19:57:08][0x1794:0x144C] Message 0x320, wparam = 1157627904, lparam = 1
[2014-04-21 19:57:08][0x1794:0x144C] Loading settings (flags = 0x2) from HKEY 0x0000000000000000 for session #1
[2014-04-21 19:57:08][0x1794:0x144C] Settings reloaded
[2014-04-21 19:57:08][0x1794:0x144C] Message 0x218, wparam = 32787, lparam = 1081801279712
[2014-04-21 19:57:08][0x1794:0x144C] Message 0x218, wparam = 32787, lparam = 1081801465632
[2014-04-21 19:57:08][0x1794:0x144C] Message 0x31E, wparam = 0, lparam = 0
[2014-04-21 19:57:08][0x1794:0x144C] Message 0x320, wparam = 721420288, lparam = 1
[2014-04-21 19:57:08][0x1794:0x144C] Loading settings (flags = 0x2) from HKEY 0x0000000000000000 for session #1
[2014-04-21 19:57:08][0x1794:0x1A40] DBGHELP: Symbol Search Path: .;SRV*C:\AeroGlass\symbols*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols
[2014-04-21 19:57:08][0x1794:0x1A40] dwmcore.dll version 6.3.9600.17041
[2014-04-21 19:57:08][0x1794:0x144C] Settings reloaded
[2014-04-21 19:57:08][0x1794:0x144C] Message 0x15, wparam = 0, lparam = 0
[2014-04-21 19:57:08][0x1794:0x144C] Message 0x15, wparam = 0, lparam = 0
[2014-04-21 19:57:08][0x1794:0x1A40] udwm.dll version 6.3.9600.17031
[2014-04-21 19:57:08][0x1794:0x1A40] Symbols loaded from patterns: 0x7FF
[2014-04-21 19:57:08][0x1794:0x144C] Message 0x31A, wparam = 0, lparam = 0
[2014-04-21 19:57:08][0x1794:0x144C] Loading settings (flags = 0x4) from HKEY 0x0000000000000390 for session #1
[2014-04-21 19:57:08][0x1794:0x144C] Settings reloaded
[2014-04-21 19:57:08][0x1794:0x144C] Atlas resource loading (custom: )
[2014-04-21 19:57:08][0x1794:0x144C] GetThemeStream 0,0,213
[2014-04-21 19:57:08][0x1794:0x1C08] GetThemeStream 0,0,213
[2014-04-21 19:57:08][0x1794:0x1C08] GetThemeStream 0,0,213
[2014-04-21 19:57:08][0x1794:0x1C08] GetThemeStream 0,0,213
[2014-04-21 19:57:08][0x1794:0x144C] Message 0x320, wparam = 721420288, lparam = 1
[2014-04-21 19:57:08][0x1794:0x144C] Loading settings (flags = 0x2) from HKEY 0x0000000000000390 for session #1
[2014-04-21 19:57:08][0x1794:0x144C] Settings reloaded
[2014-04-21 19:57:08][0x1794:0x144C] Message 0x15, wparam = 0, lparam = 0

[dhjohns]

HKey_Local_Machine\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\DWM\DisableGlassOnBattery

0x1 = When your AC power is unplugged and computer is running on the battery then the blur effect will be disabled to decrease power consumption

0x0 = blur effect won't be disabled on battery

It is very clear.

Nowhere in bigmuscle's guide did he say to put DisableGlassOnBattery D-Word in HKey_Local_Machine\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\DWM\

Edited April 21, 2014 by dhjohns

[cmdshft]

HKey_Local_Machine\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\DWM\DisableGlassOnBattery

0x1 = When your AC power is unplugged and computer is running on the battery then the blur effect will be disabled to decrease power consumption

0x0 = blur effect won't be disabled on battery

It is very clear.

Nowhere in bigmuscle's guide did he say to put DisableGlassOnBattery D-Word in HKey_Local_Machine\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\DWM\

Again, you are misunderstanding. I did nothing more than install glass from the self-installer, I did not touch the registry ever. I had to search the registry to find where DWM key was.

My question is should I manually make a key for DWM "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\" and add the DWORD entry in there? AFAIK the reason the key was found in the Wow6432Node key is because it's a symbolic link for 32-bit applications on a 64-bit systems...

[dhjohns]

If it is not there it would definitely make sense to create it! Obviously you want AeroGlass to work with battery.

Edited April 21, 2014 by dhjohns

[cmdshft]

If it is not there it would definitely make sense to create it! Obviously you want AeroGlass to work with battery.

Okay, I just wanted to make sure that nothing would break by doing so. I did, and it is now working as intended. Thanks.

[DosProbie]

you could also just use a script file to toggle aero with ac and battery as well..dp

Edited April 21, 2014 by DosProbie

[rshj]

my mystery solved! I had a problem of transparency/blur not working yesterday even though the dwmglass.dll was loading fine according to the log. It turns out to be related to DisableGlassOnBattery registry setting (what a timing that cmdshft posted his issue right after mine). it mysteriously (so it seemed) started to work for me because I plugged in power while I was posting my issue here last night. While cmdshft seemed to have ran the 32-bit installer on a 64-bit machine and the DisableGlassOnBattery ended up under "Wow6432Node" node, I ran the 64-bit installer, which didn't put DisableGlassOnBattery registry value anywhere. After manually setting the registry value and setting it to 0, aero glass now works consistently!

Edited April 21, 2014 by rshj