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This happened to me yesterday, and I just want to rule out that anything malicious was going on.

I should probably also mention that it switched back to Aero after a minute or two.

edit: I have found the event in the log, IDs 9013 and 9010:

The Desktop Window Manager was unable to start because composition was disabled by a running application

A request to disable the Desktop Window Manager was made by process (Windows System Assessment Tool)

It was under Windows Logs -> Application in the Event Viewer.

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  • 4
    This happens sometimes when your CPU just can't handle everything going on.. it's highly unlikely it is anything malicious, but I have no idea where a log that records where this happens.
    – cutrightjm
    Mar 25, 2012 at 18:32
  • Related: superuser.com/questions/325714/… Mar 25, 2012 at 19:05
  • 2
    This can also happen with older software that is not Aero-aware. Once it closes, Aero can come back to life again.
    – user3463
    Mar 25, 2012 at 22:47

2 Answers 2

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I occasionally see this when my graphics driver crashes and restarts.

Check the Windows Event Viewer, particularly under Windows Logs, Application or Windows Logs, System. Look for anything with a yellow or red icon to indicate something went wrong.

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  • Thank you! So the culprit was "Windows System Assessment Tool" which disables Aero if the Windows Experience Index is below 3 ("Aero Assessment"). "WinSAT is scheduled to automatically run every week. The default schedule is 1am on Sundays." Good to know. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_System_Assessment_Tool
    – cptloop
    Apr 29, 2012 at 23:11
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This is probably WinSAT running. Check in Task Sheduler under Microsoft -> Windows -> Maintenance

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  • I had the reverse of this issue happen just now when WinSAT suddenly was launched. The theme switched from basic to Aero and then back to basic after ending the WinSAT process. Also, a random track started playing on my music player, both when the process launched and when it was terminated.
    – Steadybox
    Apr 21, 2018 at 22:16

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