In case anyone's Googling, it appears to be related to the Nvidia NView Desktop Manager. Opera displays this problem when the Desktop Manager (or, at least, version 120.95, which is what I'm using) is running, and stops displaying it when the DM is switched off.
After more checking, it's possible to disable all DM settings for just the Opera application, which resolves the problem (at the cost of not being able to do fancy things with the Opera windows by clicking in the application taskbar, although hotkeys should still work).
It will also run normally with the following DM options enabled for Opera:
- Enable transparency and always on top
- NOT Enable nView title bar buttons and options menu
- Enable nView window repositioning
- Enable nView maximizing
- Enable window state save and restore
Summary: So to make Opera 10.10 (and other versions) open background windows properly in XP with NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager 120.95, open Opera, then open the NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager from the Control Panel. Click the "Enable" button if it's there. Click the Applications tab, then the Add button, then use the Find button to open the "Add Application for Individual Management" dialogue, then drag the "Finder tool" crosshairs over the Opera window. The Application field will show "opera". Click OK, then OK again, then double-click the new "opera (Application)" entry in the "Applications using custom nView Desktop Manager settings:" list. Check the "Enable nView Desktop Manager for this application and/or window class" box, and uncheck the "Enable nView title bar buttons and options menu" checkbox. Click OK, then OK again. Opera should now work properly.
More information:
Upgraded to NVIDIA GeForce 9400 GT driver 196.21 and DM 125.46 (86 megabyte download, sheesh) to see if it would address the problem. It didn't.
When I was first installing one of my copies of Windows 7, I was finding that many things were not nearly the same as with Windows XP, and more like the much disliked windows Vista. One of the problems I had was when I was trying to unlock the disabled cores of my Phenom II X550. I had no luck, by the way, but I had to reset the CMOS after the failure, and because the machine boots so quickly, I was unable to get to the BIOS screen to change the date to current. Because the BIOS had a starting, no-power date of early 2009, before Windows 7 was released, there was an immediate problem.
I was very upset, as this Windows 7 Ultimate Signature Edition was genuine as could possibly be, since Microsoft sent it to me for a Launch Party we were having. I had not installed that particular copy then, as I knew I’d be changing machines, and instead installed another copy that day, holding this one in abeyance for the machine now built. Yet the copy of Windows was telling me that the copy was not genuine, blacking out my background, and accusing me of piracy in the lower right corner of my monitor. No, I was not happy at all. I rebooted, thinking it was only a glitch, and at the same time reset the CMOS. No luck, I was still being accused.
It seems that my problem is fairly common, though I could find nothing about it when it was happening to me. Fortunately, a fix has been found, and by using it you could avoid doing the immediate registration I did, just in case you aren’t ready to finalize the copy of Windows on the machine.
Genuine and activated Windows 7 may sometimes been detected as “pirated”, illegal, rogue or not genuine, despite the operating system has been fully paid for, or has been able to used and fully activated all the while. The symptom is that immediately after log on, the following Windows Activation window will be displayed:
Windows is not genuine
Your computer might not be running a counterfeit copy of Windows.
0×80070005In addition, the computer desktop background is turned to black, and the following error message is shown on the bottom right corner of the screen:
This copy of Windows is not genuine
When user view the system information in System Properties (accessible via Control Panel -> System and Security -> System), the following error message will be visible too:
You must activate today. Activate Windows now
Using slmgr.vbs /dlv or slmgr.vbs /dli in an elevated command prompt with administrator privileges to view the licensing status will return the following message instead:
Error: 0×80070005 Access denied: the requested action requires elevated privileges
Normally, the suddenly or random deactivation of an activated Windows 7 on genuine platform can be resolved by simply restarting the computer, so that Windows 7 can re-access the activation status to return the computer to activated status. However, in some cases, where modification has been done to HKUS-1-5-20 registry key causing the Network Service account to lose and missing full control and read permissions over the registry key, the losing of activated status may happen on Windows 7 too.
Microsoft explains in KB2008385 that the possible cause for the Windows 7 turned pirated error is likely the result of applying a Plug and Play Group Policy object (GPO):
Computer Configuration -> Policies -> Windows Settings -> Security Settings -> System Services -> Plug and Play (Startup Mode: Automatic)
The Windows 7 Licensing service uses Plug and Play to obtain hardware ID information and binds the license to the computer, thus change to the setting can result in an activated system appearing to be out of tolerance. The default permissions of the Plug and Play policy do not grant the Licensing service, which runs under the Network Service account, the appropriate rights to access the Plug and Play service.
The article continues with the two possible methods of resolving this issue. ( This is the point I curse both pirates and Microsoft, because, if not for pirates, Microsoft would not have put all of this activation crap in Windows, and we would all lead lives of more considerable ease. )
Until such time as Microsoft gets either beaten by the courts (not likely with this Supreme Court) or someone comes out with a reliable way to disable the offensive code ( note – I said reliable) this is one of those little things we might have to put up with once or twice per year, when things beyond our control happen. Until then, it is a very good idea to either bookmark the above page or write down the Knowledge base article number giving the fix.
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