Aero-Peek during Alt-Tab Not Working

I have recently set up a new install of Windows 7 and I have just noticed that when alt-tabbing I am not getting Aero-Peek previews as I am accustomed.

I have checked to make sure that aero-peek is enabled in both the taskbar properties (and taskbar icons do show previews!) as well as in system performance settings. Both are enabled.

I even looked at a couple of registry edit solutions, but the key I am supposed to edit is not present (adding it did nothing). Even Alt-Tab Tuner hasn't solved the problem.

Any other ideas?

Draco18s no longer trusts SE

Posted 2016-09-29T17:37:51.987

Reputation: 176

Have you installed the latest graphics drivers? – Mr. Hargrove – 2016-09-29T17:46:16.097

@Mr.Hargrove Yes. The driver was issued two weeks ago. – Draco18s no longer trusts SE – 2016-09-29T17:51:32.670

1and you've tried looking in the registry for: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM See the right side, you'll find a DWORD value called EnableAeroPeek and set it to 1? – Mr. Hargrove – 2016-09-29T17:55:16.727

@Mr.Hargrove It is already set to 1. – Draco18s no longer trusts SE – 2016-09-29T18:09:24.150

one more troubleshooting step: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/976170

– Mr. Hargrove – 2016-09-29T18:16:09.107

@Mr.Hargrove "Troubleshooting couldn't identify the problem." – Draco18s no longer trusts SE – 2016-09-29T18:19:17.673

Are you looking for 'Win+Tab' ? – RogUE – 2016-09-30T06:54:27.000

@RogUE No, good sir. I am not. That continued to function perfectly throughout my ordeal. (And I don't like it). I already solved my own problem, as well, see below. – Draco18s no longer trusts SE – 2016-09-30T15:57:07.613

Answers

You may try to perform a clean boot on the computer and check if any of the 3 party programs are causing the problems. Make sure that you put the computer back in normal startup after clean boot troubleshooting.

To perform a clean boot on a computer that is running Windows 7:

kb929135

Mr. Hargrove

Posted 2016-09-29T17:37:51.987

Reputation: 837

Sadly...that didn't help. Even under a clean boot I didn't have aero preview during alt-tab. – Draco18s no longer trusts SE – 2016-09-29T18:36:42.490

@Draco18s What version of Windows 7 are you using? – Mr. Hargrove – 2016-09-29T18:47:29.353

Windows 7 Pro. And yes, it was legally purchased. – Draco18s no longer trusts SE – 2016-09-29T19:40:23.200

Just checking, will keep looking as this is not typical win7 pro behavior. – Mr. Hargrove – 2016-09-29T19:44:01.847

1Thanks. And yeah, when I noticed it I was like, "that's odd" and everything I knew about it and everything I could find didn't work. I am not even positive that it was ever working correctly. – Draco18s no longer trusts SE – 2016-09-29T20:25:08.330

@Draco18s http://www.sevenforums.com/themes-styles/294226-dreaded-aero-peek-not-working-2.html#post2763625

– Mr. Hargrove – 2016-09-29T20:40:52.007

I re-ran the assessment (it was 2 days old), no change. The value for "graphics: windows aero" is 5.3 and the aero-preview option in properties is not grayed out and already selected. – Draco18s no longer trusts SE – 2016-09-29T20:53:43.700

1I go gaming for an evening and I come home to find that it works now. WTH. Only thing I can think of that I did after getting home that would have even come close to affecting this was rebuilding the icon cache (because a program in my start menu had a generic icon, rather than it's program icon). – Draco18s no longer trusts SE – 2016-09-30T04:50:29.907

I have both discovered the cause and the solution to my issue. I had wondered about the cause earlier, but it was such tenuous speculation I didn't even mention it.

Installing Dropbox broke Aero Peek.

Fixing it requires doing the following:

Rebuilding the Windows icon cache
Restarting the computer

Does not appear that the order matters, as the first time I fixed it I'd previously restarted the computer to no effect and as soon as I rebuilt the icon cache, it worked. After reinstalling Dropbox (in an attempt to get it to locate its executable anywhere but the C drive), rebuilding the icon cache was insufficient and as soon as I restarted the computer, it worked.

Computers run on black magic. That's the only explanation as this entire series of events makes no sense.

Draco18s no longer trusts SE

Posted 2016-09-29T17:37:51.987

Reputation: 176