Disable Desktop Composition in Windows 8? Force it?

Microsoft says that the Desktop Window Manager is always on in Windows 8 but that's not true. Windows PE 4.0 (a small version of Windows 8 used for installing, deploying, and recovering the Windows operating system) and Windows Server 2012 Server Core has no DWM. Actually, DWM is on because the Metro user interface uses the DirectComposition API to render its interface so if you disable DWM Metro experiences like the Start Screen and the logon screen turn black and you can't see anything. Always on DWM is enforced by Winlogon.exe which starts the DWM.exe process so if you kill DWM.exe, Winlogon will immediately restart the DWM.exe process.

Here's the solution to stop Winlogon.exe from starting the DWM process again:

• Use PSSuspend.exe or Process Explorer from sysinternals.com
• Follow the command line instructions for PSSuspend
• If you're using the GUI Process Explorer than right click on the winlogon.exe process and click Suspend. Then, kill DWM.exe.

Warning: do NOT suspend DWM.exe by mistake, or you will be effectively locked out and need to reboot (explanation: it processes all input from mouse/keyboard, and winlogon.exe will not detect it should be restarted if it's suspended, nor will it release input to be used in non-DWM mode).