Aero disabled upon switching user then logging back in

All of a sudden my computer has started to disable Aero whenever I log back in after switching user. Basically, Aero will be on, then I will switch user and log back on and suddenly Aero will be off and the theme will be "basic". I can fix this by either restarting Desktop Window Manager (in services.msc) or by re-running the Windows Experience Index assessment. Aero does not get disabled any other time for me (even when playing an intensive game).

I recently updated my graphics card drivers to the latest version (I've got a Geforce 560 GTX), but I don't remember if this problem started happening when I installed them or not.

I've tried doing the "Aero hack" that I've seen in a few places - editing the registry so that it's always on - but that didn't work. I've also tried setting it so that it is custom controlled, with Aero Peek enabled (as well as all the other checkboxes crossed), but that hasn't worked either.

I've also run Malwarebytes and SuperAntiSpyware in case they found something, but they only found a small number of things and removing them did nothing. I've restarted multiple times too.

So, I'm not sure whether it's a graphics issue, a virus (or something similar) or whether it's just a sudden Windows issue. I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate with the latest updates.

Does anyone know what might be wrong? Or if there's nothing wrong, whether there's a way to force Aero to be always on? I'll have a look and see if I can work out a way to roll back the graphics card drivers - maybe that will fix it?

Ok, try this and see if it helps anyway:

Go to Control Panel > Power options > Select the "High performance" power plan. Do this with ALL user accounts.

nilank said:

Ok, try this and see if it helps anyway:

Go to Control Panel > Power options > Select the "High performance" power plan. Do this with ALL user accounts.

Thanks, but unfortunately that didn't help. I only have my own user account (the Guest account is disabled), so I only turned on High Performance on the one account. Is that ok?

If so, unfortunately the problem still happens whenever I switch user. I could stop switching user I guess, but I like to have my computer locked (from family or friends who are over) when I'm away from it.

Mattressi said:

nilank said:

Ok, try this and see if it helps anyway:

Go to Control Panel > Power options > Select the "High performance" power plan. Do this with ALL user accounts.

Thanks, but unfortunately that didn't help. I only have my own user account (the Guest account is disabled), so I only turned on High Performance on the one account. Is that ok?

If so, unfortunately the problem still happens whenever I switch user. I could stop switching user I guess, but I like to have my computer locked (from family or friends who are over) when I'm away from it.

Ok. DO NOT use the "Switch user" option at all. To lock your computer, press Winkey+L (Winkey = the windows logo key on the lower left of your keyboard which looks similar to this: )

Does this help?

nilank said:

Ok. DO NOT use the "Switch user" option at all. To lock your computer, press Winkey+L (Winkey = the windows logo key on the lower left of your keyboard which looks similar to this: )

Does this help?

Yes, that works! Thanks very much! I never thought to try that, but it works very well (no more Aero disabling).

Just in case - is the original problem (Aero being disabled) indicative of anything else being wrong? I was worried that maybe it meant something much worse was happening (since this never used to happen) - but if not, then I'm more than happy with this solution. Thanks again :)

Mattressi said:

nilank said:

Ok. DO NOT use the "Switch user" option at all. To lock your computer, press Winkey+L (Winkey = the windows logo key on the lower left of your keyboard which looks similar to this: )

Does this help?

Yes, that works! Thanks very much! I never thought to try that, but it works very well (no more Aero disabling).

Just in case - is the original problem (Aero being disabled) indicative of anything else being wrong? I was worried that maybe it meant something much worse was happening (since this never used to happen) - but if not, then I'm more than happy with this solution. Thanks again :)

Glad to know you got it sorted!

Actually when you "Switch user", the active user session is temporarily turned off (disconnected, so that another user can login) whereas it's not the case when you "lock" your system (which keeps the session active).

When this session disconnection is done, some of your active graphics driver's handles are closed that were in use (so as to free up resources for another user). So, this is something to do with the graphics driver. Try downgrading your graphics drivers.

nilank said:

Glad to know you got it sorted!

Actually when you "Switch user", the active user session is temporarily turned off (disconnected, so that another user can login) whereas it's not the case when you "lock" your system (which keeps the session active).

When this session disconnection is done, some of your active graphics driver's handles are closed that were in use (so as to free up resources for another user). So, this is something to do with the graphics driver. Try downgrading your graphics drivers.

Awesome, that's good news. Thanks so much for your help. I'll try downgrading my drivers later if it still bothers me, but if not, it's possible that the next driver update will fix it too. Thanks again :)

You're welcome. :)