[OLD] Aero Glass for Win8.1+

[bigmuscle]

oomek: if setting EnableLogging (under HKLM!!!) to 0x1 displays only these three lines, then it is problem in your setup.

However, aerohost is executed by Task Scheduler in the background and it then periodically checks for all DWM processes. There can be some delay before injection is completed, but it does not influence anything because it runs in the background.

[oomek]

oomek: if setting EnableLogging (under HKLM!!!) to 0x1 displays only these three lines, then it is problem in your setup.

However, aerohost is executed by Task Scheduler in the background and it then periodically checks for all DWM processes. There can be some delay before injection is completed, but it does not influence anything because it runs in the background.

Can you give me some advice what may be the cause of not logging the debug information? Yes, the key is under HKLM.

[bigmuscle]

There can be more reasons but the most common are: mixing AppInit_DLLs and AeroHost together, wrong permissions on folder where DLL is located or some 3rd party tweak (or script) which messed something.

[oomek]

Hmm, That's definitely not the case in my setup, but I've doublechecked it just in case of a sudden onset of amnesia, so AppInit_DLLs is set to null, permissions of the AERO directory are set to full for SYSTEM, Administrators, Users and my account name. From 3rd party tweaks I have only Classic Start Menu 4.0.4 installed and UXTheme Multi-Patcher 9.0 for Windows 8/8.1

Edit: I've realised that i'm having a slight delay in LAN initialisation probably caused by the drivers which I'm investigating atm. Is there any dependency between the network access and the aerohost initialisation time?

Edited April 15, 2014 by oomek

[bigmuscle]

When symbols are needed to be downloaded from Microsoft server and connection fails, it waits for 15 seconds and then retries. However, this happens in DWM's background process and does not influence foreground activity at all. User just notices that glass effect does not appear immediately. But it happens once, not always. If it happens always there is some problem on the local system (almost connected what I mentioned above - if log cannot be written, then also symbols will not be written and thus it will result in symbols downloading every time DWM is restarted).

[oomek]

Symbols are downloading fine, but to ProgramData folder. I've tried even to move the aero folder to \AppData\Local\ but still the same delay occurs.

Luckily after that I got one error in the log file.

[2014-04-15 15:22:20][0x1068:0x106C] Account error: 122 - The data area passed to a system call is too small.

Edit:

Finaly, i've managed to set debug logging, is there anything in that log that would explain that initialization delay?

[2014-04-15 17:45:56][0x368:0x9C4] Message 0x320, wparam = 1157627904, lparam = 1
[2014-04-15 17:45:56][0x368:0x9C4] Loading settings (flags = 0x2) from HKEY 0x000000000000037C for session #2
[2014-04-15 17:45:56][0x368:0x9C4] Settings reloaded
[2014-04-15 17:45:56][0x368:0x9C4] Message 0x15, wparam = 0, lparam = 0
[2014-04-15 17:45:56][0x368:0x9C4] Message 0x2B1, wparam = 6, lparam = 2
[2014-04-15 17:45:56][0x368:0x9C4] Message 0x219, wparam = 7, lparam = 0
[2014-04-15 17:45:56][0x368:0x9C4] Message 0x219, wparam = 7, lparam = 0
[2014-04-15 17:46:32][0x614:0x618] Installing DWM hook...
[2014-04-15 17:46:32][0x614:0x618] User: SYSTEM
[2014-04-15 17:46:32][0x614:0x618] Module: C:\ProgramData\dbg\AERO\dwmglass.dll

and another just now:

[2014-04-15 17:58:54][0x5E0:0x5E4] Installing DWM hook...
[2014-04-15 17:58:54][0x5E0:0x5E4] User: SYSTEM
[2014-04-15 17:58:54][0x5E0:0x5E4] Module: C:\ProgramData\dbg\AERO\dwmglass.dll
[2014-04-15 17:58:56][0x5E0:0x5E4] CreateRemoteThread failed with error 5 - Access is denied.

Edited April 15, 2014 by oomek

[bigmuscle]

If symbols are downloaded to ProgramData then it is wrong. C:\ProgramData folder just contains global user data (c:\users\allusers) and I guess that symbols are redirected there just due to some UAC redirection when DWM could not correctly access the directory where AeroGlass is stored.

[truexfan81]

When symbols are needed to be downloaded from Microsoft server and connection fails, it waits for 15 seconds and then retries. However, this happens in DWM's background process and does not influence foreground activity at all. User just notices that glass effect does not appear immediately. But it happens once, not always. If it happens always there is some problem on the local system (almost connected what I mentioned above - if log cannot be written, then also symbols will not be written and thus it will result in symbols downloading every time DWM is restarted).

actually when i was running it prior to the u1 symbols release it would momentarily cause my system to freeze just before the box would popup to tell me the symbols failed to download, and would do so every 15seconds until i killed the process.

[saxopov]

@bigmuscle: I have donated, but run into issues with retrieving even a single key. My messages, both private and public, are for some reason ignored. Could you please take a look on my private message. Thank you.

[bigmuscle]

saxopov: Hello, I register all messages but I don't have much time to solve them all at once. I will try to go through all donation/key messages during this weekend.

But to anyone requesting a key - there are written conditions on the website http://glass8.berlios.de/support.php and if your support is valuable then you should get an e-mail to your PayPal address which redirects you to http://glass8.berlios.de/donate.html where you can generate your key. I will try to update this page to provide you more information, such as value of your support, number of keys you can generate, number of keys remaining etc. Just give me some time.

[ace2]

Bigmuscle would it be Possible to make stand alone tool like Taskbar Blur Toggle 0.2.0 & Opaque Taskbar for Windows 8.1.

NOT TO REMOVE BLUR, AS THERE IS NO BLUR, BUT ONLY TO DISABLE / ENABLE the color (opaque) IN Title bars. B)

Edited April 17, 2014 by ace2

[Wolfshadow]

Bigmuscle would it be Possible to make stand alone tool like Taskbar Blur Toggle 0.2.0 & Opaque Taskbar for Windows 8.1.

NOT TO REMOVE BLUR, AS THERE IS NO BLUR, BUT ONLY TO DISABLE / ENABLE the color (opaque) IN Title bars. B)

Isn't this already part of OldNewExplorer under transparent heading?

[ace2]

Bigmuscle would it be Possible to make stand alone tool like Taskbar Blur Toggle 0.2.0 & Opaque Taskbar for Windows 8.1.

NOT TO REMOVE BLUR, AS THERE IS NO BLUR, BUT ONLY TO DISABLE / ENABLE the color (opaque) IN Title bars. B)

Isn't this already part of OldNewExplorer under transparent heading?

No thats some thing totally different, and you still need DWMGlass for it to work.

NOTES:

I think Taskbar Blur Toggle 0.2.0 & Opaque Taskbar, disables color (opaque) on the taskbar, which make Taskbar have a Glass effect without Blur.

SO IF A Titlebar Blur Toggle TOOL was MADE, would it make Titlebars have a Glass effect without Blur ??????????

Taskbar Blur Toggle with NO DWMGlass and Start Menu and Taskbar translucency DISABLED in StartIsBack.

http://s12.postimg.org/qena2e8i5/TB_Toggle.jpg

Edited April 17, 2014 by ace2

[bigmuscle]

ace: if you mean a tool which simply switches blur on/off and leaves pure transparency then I think it would make no sense. You still need to hook DWM to handle occlusion correctly thus you will again end up with DWMGlass.dll ;-) Now, you can simply make a script which changes BlurDeviation settings and then send WM_THEMECHANGED message to DWM Window.

[ace2]

ace: if you mean a tool which simply switches blur on/off and leaves pure transparency then I think it would make no sense. You still need to hook DWM to handle occlusion correctly thus you will again end up with DWMGlass.dll ;-) Now, you can simply make a script which changes BlurDeviation settings and then send WM_THEMECHANGED message to DWM Window.

Would this script, which changes BlurDeviation settings and then send WM_THEMECHANGED message to DWM Window, give stable pure transparency ?

I would not know how to make / write a script like this, Bigmuscle would you be able to make / write and post this script for me Please.