Aero Peek - Turn On or Off

How to Turn Aero Peek On or Off in Windows 7​

   Information

This will show you how to turn Windows 7 Aero Peek, also known as Desktop Preview, On or Off to temporarily make all open windows on the desktop transparent when you place the mouse pointer on the button at the far right end of the taskbar.

   Warning

• When turned on, Desktop Preview will only work if you have more than one window opened.
• You will need to have a Aero Theme selected and not one of the Basic and High Contrast Themes for Desktop Preview to work.

Aero Requirements to be Enabled in Windows 7

NOTE: If Aero is not enabled, then Aero Peek will not work even when turned on.

• Aero is not included in Windows 7 Home Basic or Windows 7 Starter editions.
• 1 GHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor
• 1 GB of system memory
• Support for DirectX 9 graphics with 128 MB memory (in order to enable Aero theme)
• You must be have True Color (32 bit) set instead of High Color (16 bit).
• The Desktop Window Manager Session Manager and Themes Services need to be set as Started and Automatic.
• Refresh or update your WEI score. You will need an WEI score minimum of 2.0 in both Graphics & Gaming graphics in order for Aero to be activated.
• The desktop composition and Animate controls and elements inside windows options need to be enabled in Visual Effects.

EXAMPLE: Aero Peek
NOTE: This is before (left screenshot) and after (right screenshot) hovering the mouse pointer over the Show Desktop button on the taskbar, or pressing the Windows Key + Spacebar.

OPTION ONE

Turn Aero Peek On or Off in Taskbar and Start Menu Properties

1. Right click on the Start button and click on Properties. A) Go to step 3.
OR

2. Right click on a empty area on the taskbar and click on Properties.

3. Click on the Taskbar tab. (See screenshot below)
4. To Turn Off Aero Peek A) Uncheck the Use Aero Peek to preview the desktop box. (See screenshot above)

B) Go to step 6.
5. To Turn On Aero Peek
NOTE: By default, Desktop is turned on in Windows 7. A) Check the Use Aero Peek to preview the desktop box. (See screenshot below step 3)
6. Click on OK. (See screenshot below step 3)

OPTION TWO

Turn Aero Peek On or Off with Show Desktop Button on Taskbar

1. Right click on the button at the far right of the taskbar. (See screenshot below)
2. To Turn Off Aero Peek A) Right click on the far right taskbar button and select Peek at desktop to uncheck it. (See screenshot above)
3. To Turn On Aero Peek
NOTE: By default, Preview desktop is checked in Windows 7. A) Right click on the far right taskbar button and select Peek at desktop to check it. (See screenshot below step 1)

OPTION THREE

Turn Aero Peek On or Off in Visual Effects

NOTE: This option will also enable or disable taskbar thumbnail live previews. 1. Open the Visual Effects settings.

2. To Enable Areo Peek A) Check the Enable Aero Peek box. (See screenshot below step 4)

B) Go to step 4.
3. To Disable Areo Peek
NOTE: This will gray out the settings in OPTION ONE and OPTION TWO above. A) Uncheck the Enable Aero Peek box. (See screenshot below step 4)
4. Click on OK.

OPTION FOUR

Turn Aero Peek On or Off Using a REG File Download

NOTE: This option will not work if Aero Peek was disabled using OPTION THREE above. 1. To Enable Aero Peek A) Click on the Download button below to download the file below. Enabled_Aero_Peek.reg

Download


B) Go to step 3.
2. To Disable Aero Peek A) Click on the Download button below to download the file below. Disabled_Aero_Peek.reg


Download


3. Click on Save, and save the .reg file to the desktop.

4. Right click on the downloaded .reg file and click on Merge.

5. Click on Run, Yes, Yes, and OK when prompted.

6. Log off and log on, or restart the computer.

7. When done, you can delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.
That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Use Show Desktop in Windows 7
• How to Create a Show Desktop Shortcut in Windows 7
• How to Clear the Desktop with Aero Shake in Windows 7 and Windows 8
• How to Change the Windows 7 Desktop Background
• How to Create a Desktop Slideshow in Windows 7
• How to Add or Remove a Default Desktop Icon in Windows 7
• How to Hide or Show Desktop Icons in Windows 7
• How to Change the Windows 7 Aero Peek Mouse Hover Delay Time to Preview Desktop
• How to Turn Aero Snap and Aero Shake On or Off in Windows 7
• How to Enable or Disable Aero Shake in Windows 7 and Windows 8
• How to Enable Aero in Unsupported Editions of Windows 7
• How to Create a Taskbar Properties Shortcut in Windows 7
• How to Enable or Disable Taskbar Thumbnail Live Previews in Windows 7

 

[Brink]

indeed i have, and it was ok until i got the RTM of 7

Did you do a clean or upgrade install to the RTM? It may be one of those upgrade issues where something corrupted in the process.

 

[thejackr]

Aero peek

Clean i'm afraid, wish it was that easy.
All seems to check out ok visually with settings so must be something under the hood.

will continue to meddle and intefere with the OS. will let kyou know if i get any joy

 

[thejackr]

I have fixed it! go to advanced system settings -> performance -> settings and put a tick in Save taskbar thumbnail Previews.
for some reason it works with but not without.

 

[Brink]

Jack,

Strange, I have that option unchecked in Advanced System Settings, and the taskbar option is not grayed out for me. Here's a copy of what I have set there so you can compare to see if it may be something else as well.

 

[thejackr]

peek not working

must be something else messing with it but as soon as i put the tick in the box, the oprion was no longeer greyed out and it worked.
i will continue to dig for your sake

 

[Zamu]

Aero peek keyboard shortcut

When I enable Aero peek it works fine when hovering or clicking the button in the taskbar. It also works when hitting the key combination <Win>+<Space>.

When I disable Aero peek nothing happens when clicking or hovering the button in the taskbar, as expected. But, the key combination <Win>+<Space> still does Aero peek!

That irritates me to no end since I would like to bind that key combination to something else. The perferct solution for me would be to just disable the keyboard shortcut and still have the button in the taskbar work.

Suggestions are welcome!

 

[Brink]

Hello Zamu, and welcome to Seven Forums.

You can use the tutorial below to disable the Windows Key shortcut, but it disables all Windows Key shortcuts and not just this one.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/5937-windows-key-shortcuts-enable-disable.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Zamu]

Thank you for the quick reply, but there are some of the Win+X shortcuts I use extensively, so unless someone discovers a registry hack at some point, I guess I will have to accept that Win+Space is now occupied by Windows

 

[samw5]

Anyone solved this yet? I'm having the same exact issue as described, been running 7700 (RTM) since August with an ATI Radeon 4870 1GB.

Now the Aero Peek Preview option is checked but greyed out. I've tried all drivers known to man and after some serious messing around here is what I found.

I was able to get it working once I fully uninstalled the ATI driver, then remove the driver from the Device Manager.
Upon the first reboot Win7 will auto detect the card and install the default driver. You will at the point need to restart the machine once more.
Upon the next reboot the system works as expected with no issues with the peek feature.
Then as soon as the system is rebooted the feature gets disabled again.

Anyone else able to replicate the steps above so that we can hopefully troubleshoot this annoyance once in for all.

 

[scooterdog]

I have fixed it! go to advanced system settings -> performance -> settings and put a tick in Save taskbar thumbnail Previews.
for some reason it works with but not without.

Many thanks thejackr - I had the exact same problem (WEI of 4.5, greyed out Aero Peek but check-marked) and the registry entry didn't work, but your suggestion actually did!

I may have been some registry editing I've been doing thanks to the good folks here (love the customization options) and it's nice to have Aero Peek working agin.

Thanks again!

 

[waz]

use the troubleshoot wizard

Hi

all Aero features work except the Peak so i found out that the problem is the video card, it needs a new driver.
to find out what's wrong with yours, Right-click on the desktop, select Personalize then use the "troubleshoot problems with transperancy and other Aero affects"

follow the wizard and it should tell you what the problem is.

Waz

 

[Dinesh]

Option 4:

 

[Brink]

Thank you Dinesh. Added.

 

[Dinesh]

No problem Shawn.

 

[Amourek]

I've tried all 4 options in the tutorial but I can't disable Aero Peek. Any other tricks?

 

[Brink]

Hello Amorek,

Just to be sure, disabling Aero Peek does not remove the button on the far right side of the taskbar. It only disables Aero Peek itself so that you do not get the right example screenshot at the top of the tutorial when you hover over it.

Do you mean that Aero Peek still works when you hover the mouse pointer over the button even after you have disabled it?

 

[Amourek]

Do you mean that Aero Peek still works when you hover the mouse pointer over the button even after you have disabled it?

Yup. I have it disabled but it still peeks when I hover over taskbar items. I have 3 Win7 systems (Home Premium 32-bit, Ultimate 32-bit, Ultimate 64-bit) and I can't disable it on any of them.

 

[Brink]

Amourek,

Where did you get your Windows 7 from (ex: retail, torrent....) , and how did you install (ex: upgrade, clean...) it?

 

[Amourek]

Amourek,

Where did you get your Windows 7 from (ex: retail, torrent....) , and how did you install (ex: upgrade, clean...) it?

Home Prem: upgrade, clean install
Ultimates: one OEM, one retail, clean installs

 

[Brink]

Amourek,

I must admit that I do not know why it is still working for you. It should not when disabled. Especially if you used OPTION FOUR and restarted afterwards.