Forced classic mode and aero problems

Hi guys,

I wanted some advice, as I'm getting sick and tired of these issues I'm having with w7 and I've been at this issue for hours.

Basically, I left my desktop on overnight as always, and I woke up thismorning to find that the taskbar, windows etc are all forced into a classic theme.

I've checked the sys logs and the only change was a windows update that was performed was a security update for IE8.

I've attempted the following:

Running the 'troubleshooting' for aero through control panel, receiving the following errors:

Desktop Window Manager is disabled.
The current theme doesn't support aero.

The theme I am using is the same one i have been using for months. As a test, I have switched to a default w7 aero theme and deleted my custom theme, and it still gives the same error. Also, under 'colours', it is currently set to classic and will not allow me to change it.

The desktop window manager service is started, and is set to 'auto' under services.msc so I'm unsure why it is stating that the service is not running. I have tried stopping and starting and still no joy.

I have also checked to make sure that there is not a conflict with the uxtheme.dll file, which can sometimes be duplicated in c:\windows from it's correct location at c:\windows\system32

The performance settings under the advanced sys properties had been changed from 'let windows choose' to 'custom' and 'use visual styles on windows and buttons' had been disabled. I've changed it back to 'let windows choose', where it has been enabled again, and there has been no change.

I've tried a system restore from 2 days ago, and completed a diagnostic startup, as well as updating my graphics drivers- still no luck.

My hardware and OS details are as follows:
OS: W7 home premium 6.1 64-bit
CPU: Intel core i% 750 @2.67
Ram: 4 GB DDR3 Display: ATI Radeon 5770

There are currently no driver conflicts, but an sfc /verifyonly reported that 'Windows Resource Protection found integrity violations'

The log file is attached.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Well if it found integrity violations you should do the sfc/ scannow and let it fix them.
Then you can redo the uxtheme to enable your custom themes again.

sorry, should have said, when I try and run a /scannow i get an error "windows resource protection could not perform the requested operation"

Also, a /scanfile does not show any integrity violations with uxtheme.dll

Did you Run as Administrator, the sfc/ scannow?

yes, and if I try and run from the w7 install disc, I receive an error 'There is a system repair pending which requires a reboot to complete'

Just reboot, You don't need the disc.

no, it's not working within windows under administrator, so I tried running cmd sfc /scannow from the disc- thinking that certain system files required repairs that could not be completed frow within the OS.

I have rebooted several times, and still receive the same error message.

I'm going to try a repair install and see how it goes.

0rbytel said:

no, it's not working within windows under administrator, so I tried running cmd sfc /scannow from the disc- thinking that certain system files required repairs that could not be completed frow within the OS.

I have rebooted several times, and still receive the same error message.

I'm going to try a repair install and see how it goes.

That's your best option right now, Let us know how it works out.

all good now, done a full repair install, and it works a charm. Only problem I have found though, is its booting a little slow and things in general are a little sluggish... have to do a disk cleanup I think

Thanks for your help.

You're welcome, Glad you got it working again. Thanks for posting back.