User:AlfCraft07/Hacks and workarounds
Windows 10/11 graphical effects not working: tested fix[edit | edit source]
I tested it in VMware 15 with VMware Tools version 11.3.5 and 12.0.5 installed, but more tests demonstrated that this fix works even with the basic display adapter, also in Windows 10. This means that most unsupported PCs on the latest versions of Windows can have the effects, but one downside of doing this without drivers is that you can't get the right resolution in most cases, as the basic display adapter only supports 4:3 resolutions (this only applies to physical PCs since most virtualization softwares allow the user to set any resolution even without installing the program's additions).
NOTE: With further testing I discovered that some PCs (like my oldest one where I tried) may give issues when doing this hack with the GPU drivers installed, however it can be done without problems if you don't have the GPU drivers installed. At that point the only issue may be the resolution that can be worked around with a corresponding monitor or custom resolution software (I don't know exactly, needs further testing).
1. Press ⊞ Win+R and type regedit.exe.
2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Dwm
3. Add a new DWORD value called ForceEffectMode and set its value to 2.
4. Restart the DWM process.
5. Enjoy the OS with graphical effects.
Unexpected crash/reboot and error message during Preparing devices, Starting services or Getting Ready phase of Windows Vista and newer setup: tested fix[edit | edit source]
Tested on Windows Vista, Windows 7, a build 25158 clean install after a BSOD during the Getting Ready phase, and after an unexpected reboot during the Getting Ready phase of a clean install of the RTM of Windows 11.
1. On the boot screen with the error message, press Shift+F10.
2. On the command prompt that opens, type regedit.exe.
3. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/Setup/Status/ChildCompletion.
4. Change the setup.exe DWORD value from 1 to 3.
5. Close the registry editor and command prompt, and press OK on the error message to reboot.
6. The "Just a moment..." screen will appear, then OOBE follows, letting the user set up everything normally.