[TIP] Enable hidden Win 8.1 Aero Lite + Aero Glass

Discussion in 'Windows 8' started by CHEF-KOCH, Dec 8, 2013.

  1. CHEF-KOCH

    CHEF-KOCH MDL Expert

    Jan 7, 2008
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    #1 CHEF-KOCH, Dec 8, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 20, 2017
  2. Mutagen

    Mutagen MDL Addicted

    Feb 18, 2013
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    I tried this just for fun. Worked fine, instructions flawless!
     
  3. eydee

    eydee Guest

    Some basic forum etiquette:

    1. No begging for likes/thanks.
    2. No release without a screenshot.
     
  4. pun

    pun MDL Senior Member

    Oct 19, 2013
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    I'm going to post some feedback. If you don't like it, too bad, because I'll do my best to stay sweet and polite.

    1. Not as blingy as Win7's aero, but I won't nitpick; for Aero on Win8, this is neat.
    2. I thought Aero was all about transparency? Then why, after changing the desktop wallpaper, am I still stuck on that bright orange window colour?
     
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  5. Enigma256

    Enigma256 MDL Senior Member

    Jan 17, 2011
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    This is a common misconception. Aero is the new compositor introduced in Vista. It's GPU-accelerated desktop graphics. Aero Glass is a particular faux-glass transparent theme that uses Aero. Aero is a technology. Aero Glass is an appearance. Two very different things. When people talking about Windows 8 "removing Aero", they mean "Aero Glass". In fact, you can no longer disable Aero in Windows 8 (you could disable Aero in Vista and 7).
     
  6. Enigma256

    Enigma256 MDL Senior Member

    Jan 17, 2011
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    "Created by"? Pfft.

    Don't give the guy too much credit. The aerolite.msstyles file comes installed with Windows (poke around C:\Windows\Resources\Themes and you'll see it). It's just that none of the default themes use it. All he did was edit the default aero.theme file (it's just a standard Windows INI file) and change the style file to point to aerolite.msstyles instead of the default aero.msstyles. Oh, and he also changed the "Copyright © Microsoft Corp." to "Created by Sergey Tkachenko" because, hey, why not claim credit for a 4-byte change?
     
  7. Enigma256

    Enigma256 MDL Senior Member

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    #7 Enigma256, Dec 9, 2013
    Last edited: Dec 9, 2013
    BTW, in case anyone is wondering, "Why did Microsoft include a theme that it doesn't use?", it's because this is the default style for the Server editions of Windows. So it might be better to just call it "Server style" instead of "Aero Lite style".
     
  8. MrG

    MrG MDL Expert

    May 31, 2010
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    How about posting some screenshots :(
     
  9. Enigma256

    Enigma256 MDL Senior Member

    Jan 17, 2011
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    Google search for screenshots of Server 2012 R2.

    No, it's finished. Have you ever used Windows Server before? Prior to Server 2012, Server had the Classic (i.e., Windows 2000) appearance. It is supposed to be spartan and bare-bones. Now that you can't turn Aero off, this "lite" theme is the closest analogue to running on the classic theme. This is not supposed to look like a pretty end-user consumer theme.
     
  10. MrG

    MrG MDL Expert

    May 31, 2010
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    Pass, not interested then :haha:
     
  11. cuteee

    cuteee MDL Guru

    Oct 13, 2012
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    #11 cuteee, Dec 9, 2013
    Last edited: Dec 9, 2013
    Who thinks Aero lite is a glass theme ? It's not.
     
  12. Windows Fan

    Windows Fan MDL Senior Member

    Mar 6, 2012
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    Its not new. It also used to work in Windows 8 and I have read about it in MDL forum in past.
     
  13. Windows Fan

    Windows Fan MDL Senior Member

    Mar 6, 2012
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    ^^ I didnt say anything about you. I was just saying that this trick is not new.