Aero theme disappeared!

[Gumgo]

Hello,
I just recently got a new HP ENVY 15 running Windows 7. Up until yesterday everything was running fine. I believe I compiled a LaTeX document, and a package was missing, so I launched the package manager, and suddenly a message appeared that said that the aero color scheme had been disabled. Since then, I have been unable to reenable the aero glass effect or any of the other fancy features. I doubt LaTeX is what caused the problem, but that's the last thing I was doing at the time.

Since then, I've tried EVERYTHING to try to fix this, and nothing has worked! I've restarted my computer several times. I've closed all programs and disabled all unnecessary processes and tried to reenable aero and that didn't work.

I believe the issue is that for some reason Desktop Composition is disabled, so the Desktop Window Manager isn't working. I tried editing the Composition and CompositionPolicy in the registry - they immediately switch back! I tried doing net stop uxsms followed by net start uxsms, and that didn't work either. I tried updating my drivers but they are already up to date. I tried rerunning the Windows Experience Index which did not do anything.

The event viewer shows some suspicious messages. At about the time where the issue started, an event is listed:

A request to disable the Desktop Window Manager was made by process (Skype)

However, I've tried ending Skype with no results, and also, I had been using Skype for the last few days with no problems. Following that message are numerous of these:

The Desktop Window Manager has exited with code (0x40010004)
The Desktop Window Manager was unable to start because the desktop composition setting is disabled
The Desktop Window Manager has exited with code (0xc00002fe)
The Desktop Window Manager was unable to start because the desktop composition setting is disabled
The Desktop Window Manager has exited with code (0x80070224)

etc.

I've also tried going to control panel > system and security > find and fix problems > appearance and personalization > display aero desktop effects, and running the troubleshooter, but it said that the problem couldn't be detected.

Does anyone have any idea what could be wrong? I've tried every suggestion I can find on the web and nothing has worked.

 

[seekermeister]

Have you gone into Services and tried to enable and start the Desktop Window Manager Session Manager there?

EDIT: I have no idea of why Skype disabled it, because I did have Skype until recently, and it never disabled that for me.

 

[Gumgo]

Yep, I tried that... no results though...

 

[seekermeister]

If it were me, I would uninstall Skype and then try restarting the service from services again.

 

[Gumgo]

I will try that, though I don't think Skype is the issue. One thing I notice is that if I go to computer > properties > advanced system properties > performance > settings, and I select "custom" and check "Enable Desktop Composition", and then I hit click Okay, when I go back into the settings, "Enable Desktop Composition" is unchecked, as if something is either blocking it, or immediately disabling it! Is there any way to tell what is causing this interference? The event viewer doesn't seem to say.

 

[valtonray]

if all else fails use your installation disc to restore system files.

 

[seekermeister]

I don't know of any set procedure to diagnose a problem like this, it would just be a matter of trial and error. If it gets to the point that you get tired of it, then valtonray's advise about a system restore may be the best path to take (assuming that you have a restore point available that correlates to a time just prior to the onset of the problem).

 

[Gumgo]

The ENVY 15 doesn't have a CD drive >.<
I'm going to buy an external one soon though, but I'd like to find a fix for this anyway.

 

[Gumgo]

Here are my currently running processes. Anything in this list look suspicious? (I realize there is a Skype thing there - I disabled it, but it didn't have any effect.)

 

[seekermeister]

It's not that a particular program or process would look more suspicious than another, but scanning down the list, the question rises whether you really need all of those processes on a regular basis? I have no way to know what you do need, so I can make any particular recommendations, except that I doubt that you need 2 x taskengs running, and probably not even one. realsched is something that I would get rid of, along with the Google Crash Handler, the Corel and iTunes helper. I also doubt that you need all of those HP processes along with some others that I don't recognize. The only process that should appear in the Task Manager are those that are system critical or belong to programs that you are currently using.

EDIT: I forgot another that need to go to file 13...justsched.

 

[seekermeister]

The ENVY 15 doesn't have a CD drive >.<
I'm going to buy an external one soon though, but I'd like to find a fix for this anyway.

You don't need a CD drive to do a System Restore. Just type it into the Start Menu's search window and open the wizard and follow it's cues. The second window displays the restore points that are available, so that you can tell if there is one that would be convenient.

 

[Gumgo]

I'm probably going to end up formatting the disk and reinstalling Windows 7 from scratch... but I'd still like to find a fix for this, because it is quite irritating.

 

[Frostmourne]

Your processes are full of crapware - have you cleaned out the rubbish HP put on it, and from your msconfig tab? You can use Autoruns too for the startup entries.

 

[Lebon14]

hmm...
I don't know if this helps but, go in the Start Menu then search Aero.

The 3rd entry should be "Find and fix problems with transparency and other visual effects". Click on that entry. Click next. Windows will now search for Aero problems. If it finds some, the window will show the problems. Accept the changes. Report back if it's working or not.

(more in depth article here : How to Turn On and Enable Aero in Windows 7 (Enable Aero Peek) My Digital Life )

 

[Gumgo]

Unfortunately, that did not work, it reports "issue not present" for everything.

 

[Zidane24]

Try a sfc /scannow from an elevated command prompt and post back your results

 

[Gumgo]

I ran sfc /scannow and it returned that it found corrupt files and that they would be repaired when I reboot. It output CBS.log but I seem to be denied access to it (I am the administrator though...).

I'm gonna do a reboot in a sec.

EDIT:
Nope, I rebooted but nothing is different. Should I post the log file? It's around 4 MB...

Any ideas on how to track what is causing Desktop Composition to become disabled immediately, or never become enabled? As in, I check the "Enable Desktop Composition" box and click Okay, and then view the settings again and it is immediately disabled.

 

[MacGyvr]

Hello,
I just recently got a new HP ENVY 15 running Windows 7. Up until yesterday everything was running fine. I believe I compiled a LaTeX document, and a package was missing, so I launched the package manager, and suddenly a message appeared that said that the aero color scheme had been disabled. Since then, I have been unable to reenable the aero glass effect or any of the other fancy features. I doubt LaTeX is what caused the problem, but that's the last thing I was doing at the time.

Since then, I've tried EVERYTHING to try to fix this, and nothing has worked! I've restarted my computer several times. I've closed all programs and disabled all unnecessary processes and tried to reenable aero and that didn't work.

I believe the issue is that for some reason Desktop Composition is disabled, so the Desktop Window Manager isn't working. I tried editing the Composition and CompositionPolicy in the registry - they immediately switch back! I tried doing net stop uxsms followed by net start uxsms, and that didn't work either. I tried updating my drivers but they are already up to date. I tried rerunning the Windows Experience Index which did not do anything.

The event viewer shows some suspicious messages. At about the time where the issue started, an event is listed:

A request to disable the Desktop Window Manager was made by process (Skype)

However, I've tried ending Skype with no results, and also, I had been using Skype for the last few days with no problems. Following that message are numerous of these:

The Desktop Window Manager has exited with code (0x40010004)
The Desktop Window Manager was unable to start because the desktop composition setting is disabled
The Desktop Window Manager has exited with code (0xc00002fe)
The Desktop Window Manager was unable to start because the desktop composition setting is disabled
The Desktop Window Manager has exited with code (0x80070224)

etc.

I've also tried going to control panel > system and security > find and fix problems > appearance and personalization > display aero desktop effects, and running the troubleshooter, but it said that the problem couldn't be detected.

Does anyone have any idea what could be wrong? I've tried every suggestion I can find on the web and nothing has worked.

Why not use System Restore to go back before the problem happened?

 

[Gumgo]

Well, I did a system restore, which "worked" I suppose... still don't love the idea of this being the only solution, but whatever... I'm probably going to reinstall windows without all the HP stuff pretty soon anyway, once I get a CD drive.

 

[Gumgo]

Never mind. System restore worked for a little bit, but only restored the transparency effects and such, and flip 3d, not the actual look of the windows.

And just now I tried switching back to basic and then back to aero, and the same problem occurred. So it seems that it ins't a program causing this, but rather there's a bug which prevents ever returning to aero!