The wallpaper can be changed without dropping back into Aero, just don't change the theme back. Does this mean that i cant personlaise my desktop if i want to run the games? Would changing the background/desktop wallpaper mess things up again by taking the appearance setting s out of basic mode? I switched the theme from aero to basic and both games worked first time without resorting to compatibilty modes. Are there any further settings that can be changed to put this right?Thanks Does this mean that i cant personlaise my desktop if i want to run the games? Would changing the background/desktop wallpaper mess things up again by taking the appearance setting s out of basic mode?One issue i have with running the games in windows 7 is the graphics which in AOE2 particularly are not as they should be. You are watching: Age of empires 2 not working on windows 7 In compatibility options, have you tried the other tick boxes? Some of them can be helpful in getting older systems to run, it's worth trying with each of those.If that doesn't help, try disabling the Aero theme entirely by switching to Windows basic temporarily, to see if that helps as sometimes Aero can cause problems with older games.
