Over the weekend I installed Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit on my laptop (Vaio VGN-FZ11S) and came across some problems with my graphics card (8400M GT) driver support. After numerous searches and scanning through forums, I finally managed to overcome the problem, which I’ll show you how in this tutorial. If you’re not a Windows 7 user, I advise you that you switch now! Why? Here’s why.

Windows 7 does a great job supporting the majority of drivers, recognising devices easily, without needing to install the drivers yourself manually after the installation (although recommended).

But as a Sony user, they still haven’t released (as of 26/10) drivers for Windows 7 (at least for my model) so I had to work only with what Windows 7 provided me. The results were astonishing. All devices work perfectly, the incorporated video camera, microphone, speakers, incorporated media player buttons, USB devices, wireless and bluetooth, touchpad, keyboard, CD/DVD-ROM and many others.

The single problem was with the graphics card. Although graphics were decent, even allowed me to select my resolution (1280×800), the Aero feature was disabled and many other sleek Windows effects. So I wanted everything to work and after some time I found the solution.

Step 1

Download the driver for Windows 7 64bit and save it on your hard disk.

Note: This driver for the 64bit version of Windows only. If you want drivers for a different Windows version, go here and select the one you’re interested in.

Step 2

Download the modified INF file and save it on your hard disk. This INF supports a 213 Nvidia card models. For a complete list of supporting models, check the list here.

Step 3

Extract the driver (by double-clicking on the executable) to a folder of your desire (preferably create a new folder). Copy and paste the INF file that you downloaded from Step 2, inside the folder where you extracted the driver. It will ask you if you want to replace the old INF with the new one. Select to replace it. Go inside the folder, and locate the setup.exe file and run it. Follow the instructions on screen.

Step 4

If you have successfully installed the driver and the Aero feature is enabled and works, then you can skip this step. If not, read on.

If the Aero feature still doesn’t work, go here and download one Windows 7 theme (don’t save it, but open it with the default program that the browser selects). After it has downloaded, the theme should install itself and the Aero feature should be re-enabled. You can delete the theme that you installed if you want.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, please subscribe and if you have any questions add them in the comments section below!

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