I totally love Windows 7! One of my favorite aspects of it (beyond it’s stability) is the user interface, it’s very functional and pretty. This week I just started my new job at Theme Your World, and as I started setting up my new machine I realized that I was missing Aero. At first I thought I was just using a “classic” mode which is why I had the old school task bar and start menu. So I immediately went in and tried to select the Aero theme. I found very quickly that my Aero themes had been disabled by default because I was running Windows Server 2008 R2, and I couldn’t figure out how to enable and use Aero and it’s awesome features. Totally bummed, I consulted one of my very good friends Google. Luckily for me, Google once again came to the rescue! I found this tutorial at The Expta {blog}, but it was a little vague. So I decided to create a little better tutorial to help you make your Windows Server 2008 machine look like Windows 7, complete with Aero!
1. Navigate to your Start Menu, then select All Programs, then Administrative Tools. Click to start the Server Manager.
2. Select Add Features.
3. In the Add Features Wizard window check Desktop Experience and also accept to install the Ink and Handwriting Services when asked. Then click Next.
After install Windows may want you to restart your computer, go ahead with the restart.
4. After your computer has restarted go to Administrative Tools in the Start Menu and click Services.
5. Double click on the Themes service. Then set the Startup type to Automatic and click Apply.
6. After your Startup type is set to Automatic click Start to start the Themes service. Then you can close the Services Manager.
7. Next you’ll need to logout, then log back in.
8. Now you can simply right click an empty spot on your desktop and select Personalize. Now in your Personalize window you’ll be able to select Aero themes, you can also download new Aero themes from Microsoft here. If your videocard is installed correctly you’ll be able to use 3D Flip and you’ll also have the transparent windows sweetness!
Hope you enjoyed the tutorial.
Please tweet it to your followers if it helped you out.
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