Aero Glass on Windows 7 on modern AMD processor.

[Moline]

It is possible to get Aero Glass on Windows 7 on modern AMD processors. Here's how. This info is pulled from this website: http://molinesboard.epizy.com/. This is my website, and I did this all my own. I am here to share how I did this if you want to do this.

You can use WinToUSB to install to an external HDD or you can install this to an internal HDD provided you patch USB 3.0 drivers to it.

I discovered a major breakthrough regarding Windows 7 and modern AMD processors (such as the AMD A6 and AMD Radeon R4 Stoney 9220e processor in the Acer Aspire A315-21-63F1). Using WinToUSB for testing purposes (I then popped in a spare 500GB HDD and installed 7 to it), I installed Windows 7 to a 1TB USB HDD using an Acer Aspire A315-21-63F1. Upon completion, I restarted to the BIOS so I could change the Touchpad to Basic, and the boot mode from UEFI to Legacy. After, I switched the boot order to boot from the USB and then hit F10. I did not need to disable xHCI (USB 3.0), but I did need to move the USB to the right-most, Black, USB 2.0 ports.

After restart, I completed install and set up the account. When it asks you about Auto updates, click the Red Shield to disable them for now. Inside Windows, right click the desktop and click Display and change the resolution to the highest you can get. Afterwards, using a computer with internet, go to this page https://drivers.amd.com/drivers/win7-radeon-software-adrenalin-2020-edition-20.4.2-may25.exe to download the AMD Radeon Stoney R4 software (If yours is different, then don't use this one). Pop it over to a USB and plug it in to the 7 laptop and copy it over. Load up the installer and have it extract the files. The AMD interface will try to detect your hardware, but will Error 182. You can now safely close it.

Now, navigate to C:\WinToUSB\AMD\Win7-Radeon-Software-Adrenalin-2020-Edition-20.4.2-May25\Packages\Drivers\Display\W76A_INF and find the C7355312.inf file. Make a backup of this to your desktop and then open it with Notepad or similar. Using Ctrl+F, open the Find box and search for this: [ATI.Mfg.NTamd64.6.3.3]. Above it will be a line like this: "%AMD98E4.22%" = ati2mtag_Stoney, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_98E4&REV_EA. Copy it and hit enter. Paste it in and change the 22 to 23. Go to the Start Menu and right click Computer and click Manage. Open up Device Manager and Navigate to Display Adapters and click the Basic adapters.

Navigate to Details and Hardware ID's. Copy the first value there, in my case this: PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_98E4&SUBSYS_11921025&REV_EB and paste it over this: PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_98E4&REV_EA. After that, navigate to the very bottom and there should be a value like this: AMD98E4.22 = "AMD Radeon(TM) R4 Graphics". Copy it and hit enter and paste it in. Change AMD98E4.22 to AMD9220.23. Save the file and then navigate back to the old file and delete it. Move the new one from the desktop to the W76A_INF folder. Open back up device manager and to the display adapters. Right click those and click Update. Click Browse my computer for driver software. Click Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer. Click on Have Disk and navigate to the newly created inf file in the W76A_INF. It will throw warnings, but click Install Anyways on the prompts that pop up. After a while, it will finish and ask for a restart. Restart, right click desktop, personalization, select an Aero theme, and Voila! Working Aero. If you want to use an internal hard drive, please make sure USB 3.0 drivers are patched, otherwise you'll get the dreaded "A required CD/DVD driver is missing" error.

[Moline]

I do not recommend doing this. You can use almost every driver from the Acer drivers page for this laptop (some, such as the Qualcomm Atheros Bluetooth require you to use Have Disk and navigate to the INF file in the 64 bit folder), but some things may be primitive. For instance, my Wii Remote could connect to the Bluetooth, but my radio could not due to not finding a driver for it. This is not an issue under Windows 10. Also, Windows Update will have some updates not install. SHA-1 support is discontinued so you need to install an update for SHA-2 support; This will allow Windows to install the bulk majority of the updates (provided you didn't integrate them into the install).

Also, keep in mind, that to my knowledge, I am the first person to have done this with AMD graphics, especially on this Acer Aspire model. If we want this to be more reliable, someone with more experience in this field should take a stab at it. I have since put back in the 1TB Windows 10 HDD.

[sophisticles]

I find these posts incredibly confusing, Aero Glass is already part of Win 7, I have seen many AMD systems with it enabled and running just fine.:

I also don't understand why you go through the trouble of typing the first post and then start the second one with:

I do not recommend doing this.

[Moline]

I find these posts incredibly confusing, Aero Glass is already part of Win 7, I have seen many AMD systems with it enabled and running just fine.:

I also don't understand why you go through the trouble of typing the first post and then start the second one with:

I do not recommend doing this.

I figured, but due to the nature of my AMD graphics, the Windows 7 installers did that did support it did not work due to some things being slightly different. This required me to hack the INF file and use Have Disk to install it. This thread documents how to do that.

I then said I don't recommend this due to the experimental nature of this, and that things can go wrong. Also, AMD graphics does not install the Adrenalin Graphics Control Panel (I have no idea if there is a fix like the Intel Graphics). If you do decide to do this, I highly recommend you dual-boot 7 with the latest 10 build (I.E. 2004). This is what I ended up doing. 7 has to be installed first obviously. I then installed Windows 8.1 first as I had a way to activate that for free (Google this), and then upgraded it to 2004, taking advantage of the free upgrade "loophole". Media Creation Tool from Microsoft will upgrade you with no USB needed.

[Kakujitsu]

Or you could just use something like Open Shell...