Enable or Disable Desktop Composition in Windows 7
Information
The desktop composition feature was introduced in Vista, it fundamentally changed the way applications display pixels on the screen. When desktop composition is enabled, individual windows no longer draw directly to the screen or primary display device as they did in previous versions of Windows. Instead, their drawing is redirected to off-screen surfaces in video memory, which are then rendered into a desktop image and presented on the display.
Desktop composition is performed by the Desktop Window Manager Session Manager (DWM) service. Through desktop composition, DWM enables visual effects on the desktop as well as various Aero features such as thumbnail previews, Aero themes, glass window frames, 3-D window transition animations, Windows Flip and Windows Flip3D, and high resolution support.
This will show you how to enable or disable Desktop Composition using different options in Windows 7 and Vista.
Note
Windows 7 Starter and Home Basic editions do not have the Aero feature included.
OPTION ONE
Through Visual Effects Settings
1. Open the Visual Effects settings window in Performance Options.
2. To Enable Desktop Composition
A) Check the Enable desktop composition box, and click on OK. (see screenshot below)
NOTE:
This is the default setting.
3. To Disable Desktop Composition
A) Uncheck the Enable desktop composition box, and click on OK. (see screenshot above)
OPTION TWO
Through Services
NOTE:
This option will affect all users on the computer.
1. Open the Services window, and select the Desktop Window Manager Session Manager service. (see screenshot below)
2. Right click on Desktop Window Manager Session Manager, and click on Properties. (see screenshot above)
3. To Enable Desktop Composition
A) Set the Desktop Window Manager Session Manager service to Automatic and Start it. (see screenshot below)
NOTE:
This is the default setting.
B) Check to make sure that you also have desktop composition enabled using one of the other options in this tutorial as well. Both are required to be enabled.
4. To Disable Desktop Composition
A) Stop and set the Desktop Window Manager Session Manager service to Disabled. (see screenshot above)
OPTION THREE
Manually Through Registry Editor
1. Open the Start Menu, then type regedit in the search boxand press Enter.
2. If prompted by UAC, then click on Yes (Windows 7) or Continue (Vista).
3. In regedit, navigate to the location below. (see screenshot below)
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM
4. In the right pane, double click on CompositionPolicy. (see screenshot above)
5. To Enable Desktop Composition
A) Type in 0, and click on OK. (see screenshot below)
NOTE:
This is the default setting.
B) Go to step 7.
6. To Disable Desktop Composition
A) Type in 1, and click on OK. (see screenshot above)
7. Close regedit.
8. Log off and log on, or restart the computer to apply the changes.
