Windows Vista · How-To

Windows Vista Aurora Screensaver Hidden Settings

Kristan Kenney · · Restored archive post · Edited by Muhd Radhi Wahab
Restored from the windows-now.com archive. This guide was originally published by Kristan Kenney on 20 May 2007. It is reproduced faithfully for its historical and reference value, with the original author and date credited. A present-day editor's note follows the original text. If you are the author and would like this amended or removed, contact us.
Doing this on Windows 11?

This is the original archived post. For the current, step-by-step way on today's Windows, see our up-to-date guide: How to Set Up a Screen Saver in Windows 11.

For those of you who are using Windows Vista, you may have noticed that the screen savers that are included do not contain any settings. Actually, they do, but Microsoft didn't include options dialogs for them.

Long Zheng posted the settings for the Bubbles, Mystify, and Ribbons screensavers back in September before Windows Vista officially shipped. But he didn't post the settings for Aurora.

Through a little bit of digging and guess work, I've uncovered one registry key that actually works for customizing the Aurora screensaver. Let's get started, shall we?

DISCLAIMER: This involves modifying the Windows registry. It is recommended that you make a back up before performing any of the steps outlined below. Kristan M. Kenney and Canucky.net can not be held responsible for any instabilities or damages that may be caused by editing the registry. Mis-use of this trick may cause your system to become unstable. Please proceed with caution.

  • Click on Start, and in the Start Search field type regedit (with or without the quotes).
  • If User Account Control prompts you for consent, click on Continue or provide the proper credentials.
  • In the Registry Editor window in the left hand pane navigate to: 
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Screensavers\Aurora
  • In the right hand pane, right click on an empty spot and click "New > DWORD (32-bit) Value".
  • Give the new DWORD value a name of NumLayers (without the quotes).
  • Double click on the NumLayers DWORD value and next to "Base" on the right hand side select "Decimal".
  • Give the DWORD value a numerical value of your choice.
  • Repeat these steps for the Amplitude and Speed REG_DWORD values outlined below if you wish, and when setting the value type choose "Decimal" under the "Base" settings in the value dialog.
  • Right click on the Desktop and click on Personalize.
  • In the Personalization Control Panel window click on "Screen Saver".
  • In the Screen Saver Settings window, under "Screen saver" select the "Aurora" screen saver and click the OK button, or click Preview to view your changes.

Other settings and explainations:

NumLayers is a REG_DWORD value (Decimal) that can be set to any number that you desire between 1 and 15. For a darker aurora effect I'd recommend using 2 or 3. For a strong aurora effect, choose 10 or 12. Do not set this value past 15.

Amplitude is a REG_DWORD value (Decimal) that can be set to any number between 500000000 and 2000000000. The lower the value, the slower the screen saver is. This setting also seems to affect the amount of brightness in certain areas of the aurora effect. I'd recommend a value of 1073909999.

Speed is a REG_DWORD value (Decimal) that can be set to any number between 1000000000 and 2000000000. For a slow aurora effect, I'd recommend using 1000000000.

If you would like to return the screen saver to its default settings, simply delete any of the REG_DWORD values that you created from above in the Registry Editor.

I have created a preset that I am personally using now. If you would like to use it, simply click here to download the ZIP file. Editor's note: that link is not part of the restored archive. Open it using a file extractor of your choice and then merge the .REG file. Then navigate to the Screen Saver selection dialog and select Aurora as your active screen saver.

Download: Northern Lights Aurora Preset (.ZIP file) Editor's note: that link is not part of the restored archive.

Editor's note — Aurora was a Windows Vista screensaver

The Aurora screensaver shipped with Windows Vista and is not present on Windows 7 or later, so this registry tweak applies to Vista specifically. The two download links in the original post pointed at the old windows-now.com file area, which is not part of this restored archive, so they are shown as plain text above. The external links to istartedsomething.com are preserved as they appeared in the original 2007 post. Everything else is reproduced unchanged for accuracy.

Frequently asked

How do you customise the Aurora screensaver in Windows Vista?

Open regedit and navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Screensavers\Aurora. In the right hand pane create a new DWORD (32-bit) value named NumLayers, set its Base to Decimal, and give it the numerical value you want. Repeat for the Amplitude and Speed values if you wish, then select Aurora in the Screen Saver Settings window.

What values can NumLayers use for the Aurora screensaver?

NumLayers is a REG_DWORD value (Decimal) that can be set to any number that you desire between 1 and 15. For a darker aurora effect I'd recommend using 2 or 3. For a strong aurora effect, choose 10 or 12. Do not set this value past 15.