Wow... No Aero...

Source said:

Windows Aero is the graphical user interface and the default theme in most editions of Windows Vista, an operating system released by Microsoft in November 2006. It is also available in Windows Server 2008, which was released on February 27, 2008. Its name is a backronym for Authentic, Energetic, Reflective and Open.[1] Intended to be a cleaner, more powerful, more efficient and more aesthetically pleasing user interface than the previously used theme (Luna), it includes new transparencies, live thumbnails, live icons, animations and eye candy. Aero also encompasses a set of user interface design guidelines for Microsoft Windows.

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Windows Aero History said:

Like Windows XP, Aero's base icons were designed by The Iconfactory.[2]
Until the release of Windows Vista Beta 1 in July 2005, little or nothing had been shown of Aero in public or leaked builds. Previous user interfaces were Plex, which was featured in Longhorn builds 3683-4029; Slate, which was featured in build 4051 and was available until build 4093; and Jade (builds 4074, 4083 and 4093, actually an early preview of Aero). Microsoft started using Aero in public builds in build 5048. The first build with full-featured Aero was build 5219. Build 5270 (released in December 2005) contained an implementation of Aero which was virtually complete, according to sources at Microsoft, though a number of stylistic changes were introduced between then and the operating system's release.
Originally, Aero was to have three levels available, one code-named "To Go", which had the Desktop Window Manager (DWM) composition engine (previously known as DCE) disabled. The next was to be AeroExpress, lacking many features of the highest level code-named Aero Glass. However, in December 2005, Microsoft announced that there would only be two levels available, "Windows Vista Aero" and "Windows Vista Basic", with the previous "Express" level integrated into the new "Windows Vista Aero" level. A control panel was added to enable the user to fine tune this functionality, such as being able to turn off the "glass" translucency effect. These levels are provided so that the Aero interface (to some extent) can be used with a relatively low-end graphics card.
Initially, a variation of Aero, codenamed "Aero Diamond", was slated to be the user interface for the Windows Vista Media Center experience. Although there has been no official mention of Diamond for a number of years, it may refer to the expectation that the interface is written in pure XAML (as was Aero initially) but this has not been confirmed.

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Source said:

Step 1
Windows Aero is only available on Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Enterprise, Windows Vista Home Premium, and Windows Vista Ultimate. To find out which edition of Windows Vista you have on your computer, open Welcome Center by clicking the Start button, click on Control Panel, then open System and Maintenance, and then click on Welcome Center. The edition of Windows Vista you’re running is displayed with your computer details near the top of the window.
Step 2
Sometimes Windows Vista may wrongly detect that the graphics adapters are not sufficiently powerful for Vista to automatically enable Aero. In this case, user can manually enable Aero.

1. Click on the Start button and then click on “Control Panel”.
2. Click on “Appearance and Personalization”.
3. Click on “Personalization”.
4. Click “Window Color and Appearance”.
5. Click on “Open classic appearance properties for more color options”.
6. Select the Windows Aero color scheme.

Step 3
Vista Aero may need 32-bit colors to work. Open Display Settings by clicking on the Start button, then open Control Panel and then click on Appearance and Personalization. Next, click on Personalization and then click on Display Settings. Under Colors, select Highest (32 bit), and then click OK (If you can’t select 32 bit, check that your resolution is as high as possible).
Step 4
Windows Aero needs monitor refresh rate that higher than 10 Hz. Open Display Settings by clicking on the Start button, then open Control Panel and then click on Appearance and Personalization. Next, click on Personalization and then click on Display Settings. After that, click on Advanced Settings. Click the Monitor tab, and then click a refresh rate that’s higher than 10 hertz. (The monitor will take a moment to adjust, click Apply to keep the changes, click Apply. If you don’t apply the changes within fifteen seconds, the refresh rate will revert back to your original setting. Beside, the refresh rate affect all users who log on to the computer.)
Step 5
Windows Aero may also need Windows Vista desktop theme to run properly. Open Theme Settings by clicking the Start button, then click on Control Panel -> Appearance and Personalization, and go into Personalization, and then click on Theme button. In the Theme list, select Windows Vista, and then click OK.
Step 6 - Enable Aero Glass Transparency Effect or Windows Frame Transparency
To turn on window frame transparency or Aero Glass feature, the color scheme must first be set to Windows Aero (step 2). Then click the Start button, click Control Panel, click Appearance and Personalization, click Personalization, (or you can right-Click on a blank area of desktop, and then select Personalize from the right click context menu), and then click Window Color and Appearance. Select and check the “Enable transparency” option.
Step 7
If your system only have memory of 512 MB RAM or less, Vista will not automatically enable Aero on such system. And you won’t be able to enable Aero via any of the above steps too, as users will only able to see “Windows Vista Basic” schemes and options in Appearance Settings for such system.
However, Aero can still be enable with the following workaround trick, as long as it has Aero supported graphic cards, if it’s still not available after the above 6 steps.

1. Go to Start button, then click on Run.
2. Run “regedit”.
3. Browse and navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM\ registry branch.
4. On the following registry subkeys, edit and change the default value: Composition to 1
   CompositionPolicy to 2
5. Exit registry editor.
6. Go to Start and click on Run again.
7. Execute and run the following commands one by one: net stop uxsms
   net start uxsms

Step 8
If you still cannot get Aero, or the Aero Glass transparency on WDM is not working yet. Try to use the following registry hack.

1. Go to Start button, then click on Run.
2. Run “regedit”.
3. Browse and navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM\ registry branch.
4. On the following registry subkeys, edit and change the default value: ColorizationOpaqueBlend to 1
   CompositionPolicy” to 2
5. Exit registry editor.
6. Go to Start and click on Run again.
7. Execute and run the following commands one by one: net stop uxsms
   net start uxsms

Alternatively, copy and paste the following text into a text editor, save it as a file with .reg extension. Then double click on the registry registration file just saved, and insert or merge the new registry value in to the registry.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM]
“ColorizationOpaqueBlend”=dword:00000001
“CompositionPolicy”=dword:00000002
Restart Desktop Window Manager Session Manager in Services Manager or simply run “net stop uxsms” and then follow by “net start uxsms” in Command Prompt.

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