something with the xp system bios/regedit (i think)

[katuuuz]

hey everyone,

fresh format on my arcade pc took place last night and no internet will be used on it at all so it will be strictly dedicated to the games we all love... and of course... game ex. i don't like the idea of trying to figure out the sheller offered on the gameex page, and had a "good enough" less risk way of booting my arcade prior to the format. i just got the tweakui from windows to hide all of my desktop icons, and set the taskbar to auto hide. i still have to get the bootskin buddy, but was wondering of one last option. i remember configuring my bios to skip the welcome/start screen and boot directly to my account. i have that option ticked in the tweakui but i'm thinking i did something in the registry edit. headkaze was the fellow to help me out the last time, but whoever else knows what i'm talking about, please refresh my memory. thanks to you all.

-katuuuz

[headkaze]

- You can turn off your icons by right clicking the desktop and selecting Arrange Icons By->Hide Desktop Icons. I guess Tweak UI just changes the same registry entry

- There is the "control userpasswords2" to auto login to an account or the Tweak UI method does the same thing. There is no need to edit the registry to do that.

- You don't edit the BIOS for any of that.

- You can always use the search feature on this forum to find the old posts.

[katuuuz]

- You can turn off your icons by right clicking the desktop and selecting Arrange Icons By->Hide Desktop Icons. I guess Tweak UI just changes the same registry entry

- There is the "control userpasswords2" to auto login to an account or the Tweak UI method does the same thing. There is no need to edit the registry to do that.

- You don't edit the BIOS for any of that.

- You can always use the search feature on this forum to find the old posts.

thanks, i tried searching.. that's how i found the name of the tweakui program, but couldn't find an answer to my latest question. thanks though for the feedback.

[bkenobi]

Sometimes it's hard to know what to search for when all you have is a concept but not the correct nomenclature

[headkaze]

I don't mean to jump on katuuuz about search but he does tend to lose his temper and post before trying search.

He was actually talking about an old post he made, so usually finding a post you made yourself is not too difficult.

You know what they say, "...teach a man to fish..."

[Brian Hoffman]

hey everyone,

fresh format on my arcade pc took place last night and no internet will be used on it at all so it will be strictly dedicated to the games we all love... and of course... game ex. i don't like the idea of trying to figure out the sheller offered on the gameex page, and had a "good enough" less risk way of booting my arcade prior to the format. i just got the tweakui from windows to hide all of my desktop icons, and set the taskbar to auto hide. i still have to get the bootskin buddy, but was wondering of one last option. i remember configuring my bios to skip the welcome/start screen and boot directly to my account. i have that option ticked in the tweakui but i'm thinking i did something in the registry edit. headkaze was the fellow to help me out the last time, but whoever else knows what i'm talking about, please refresh my memory. thanks to you all.

-katuuuz

Here you go.

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.

2. Locate the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

3. Using your account name and password, double-click the DefaultUserName entry, type your user name, and then click OK.

4. Double-click the DefaultPassword entry, type your password under the value data box, and then click OK.

If there is no DefaultPassword value, create the value. To do this, follow these steps: a. In Registry Editor, click Edit, click New, and then click String Value.

b. Type DefaultPassword as the value name, and then press ENTER.

c. Double-click the newly created key, and then type your password in the Value Data box.

If no DefaultPassword string is specified, Windows XP automatically changes the value of the AutoAdminLogon registry key from 1 (true) to 0 (false) to turn off the AutoAdminLogon feature.

5. Double-click the AutoAdminLogon entry, type 1 in the Value Data box, and then click OK.

If there is no AutoAdminLogon entry, create the entry. To do this, follow these steps: a. In Registry Editor, click Edit, click New, and then click String Value.

b. Type AutoAdminLogon as the value name, and then press ENTER.

c. Double-click the newly created key, and then type 1 in the Value Data box.

6. Quit Registry Editor.

7. Click Start, click Restart, and then click OK.

After your computer restarts and Windows XP starts, you can log on automatically.

If you want to bypass the automatic logon to log on as a different user, hold down the SHIFT key after you log off or after Windows XP restarts. Note that this procedure applies only to the first logon. To enforce this setting for future logoffs, the administrator must set the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

Value:ForceAutoLogon

Type: REG_SZ

Data: 1

You can also use turn on automatic logon without editing the registry in Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition and in Microsoft Windows XP Professional on a computer that is not joined to a domain. To do this, follow these steps: 1. Click Start, and then click Run.

2. In the Open box, type control userpasswords2, and then click OK.

Note When users try to display help information in the User Accounts window in Windows XP Home Edition, the help information is not displayed. Additionally, users receive the following error message:

Cannot find the Drive:\Windows\System32\users.hlp Help file. Check to see that the file exists on your hard disk drive. If it does not exist, you must reinstall it.

3. Clear the "Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer" check box, and then click Apply.

4. In the Automatically Log On window, type the password in the Password box, and then retype the password in the Confirm Password box.

5. Click OK to close the Automatically Log On window, and then click OK to close the User Accounts window.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[headkaze]

The reason he was posting is because "i have that option ticked in the tweakui but i'm thinking i did something in the registry edit". And I replied saying you don't need to edit the registery when using TweakUI to set auto login because that's essentially what it does - edit the registry for you just via a GUI instead of regedit.

The above post will just confuse him as you don't need to do all that when using Tweak UI. Go with the Tweak UI method and forget using the registry or "control userpasswords2" method.

[Brian Hoffman]

The reason he was posting is because "i have that option ticked in the tweakui but i'm thinking i did something in the registry edit". And I replied saying you don't need to edit the registery when using TweakUI to set auto login because that's essentially what it does - edit the registry for you just via a GUI instead of regedit.

The above post will just confuse him as you don't need to do all that when using Tweak UI. Go with the Tweak UI method and forget using the registry or "control userpasswords2" method.

There is no knowledge that is not power (mk quote) well I have not had any problems using these methods. But I see your point tweak UI is easyer.

I was merley providing the requested method.

Headkaze you are an awesome contributor.

Brian Hoffman

[headkaze]

There is no knowledge that is not power (mk quote) well I have not had any problems using these methods. But I see your point tweak UI is easyer.

I was merley providing the requested method.

My last post was really just to separate the two methods and since he already has Tweak UI installed he might as well stick with that one.

Headkaze you are an awesome contributor.

Thanks, and you are too mate

[bkenobi]

Wow, can you feel the love

[Brian Hoffman]

Wow, can you feel the love

Ha haha haha.

I just love this forum.

[katuuuz]

yeah but using the tweak ui method has left me with that retarded "welcome" screen after my bootskin... i don't remember the welcome screen before.

[bkenobi]

yeah but using the tweak ui method has left me with that retarded "welcome" screen after my bootskin... i don't remember the welcome screen before.

Have you set GameEx as your shell yet? Also, I don't know if it was covered in the documentation above (I didn't read it through since I've seen/read it in the past), but did you change the way you login to the classic style (rather than the WinXP user switching thing)? That's just off the top of my head...

[headkaze]

Have you set GameEx as your shell yet? Also, I don't know if it was covered in the documentation above (I didn't read it through since I've seen/read it in the past), but did you change the way you login to the classic style (rather than the WinXP user switching thing)? That's just off the top of my head...

Again bkenobi is right on here, that is a problem with way you have your login setup. Go to Start->Settings->Control Panel->User Accounts->Change the way users log on or off then turn off Use the Welcome screen.

[katuuuz]

Again bkenobi is right on here, that is a problem with way you have your login setup. Go to Start->Settings->Control Panel->User Accounts->Change the way users log on or off then turn off Use the Welcome screen.

thanks guys, i did that, now i get that little box that says to enter a password, but since there is none, i just click ok. that was never there before also. i was meaning to ask about the sheller too, i didn't use it before, but if it gets right into gameex and to the point, i'd like to know more about it.

[bkenobi]

thanks guys, i did that, now i get that little box that says to enter a password, but since there is none, i just click ok. that was never there before also. i was meaning to ask about the sheller too, i didn't use it before, but if it gets right into gameex and to the point, i'd like to know more about it.

If you are getting the login dialog, then you can use either the TweakUI meathod or the one listed above (editting the registry) to set it to automatic login. Once you do that, then it should go straight into GameEx or whatever you set the shell to.

[katuuuz]

If you are getting the login dialog, then you can use either the TweakUI meathod or the one listed above (editting the registry) to set it to automatic login. Once you do that, then it should go straight into GameEx or whatever you set the shell to.

i know what the gyst of the sheller is, but do you have it running, and what exactly is happening when you boot up?

[bkenobi]

i know what the gyst of the sheller is, but do you have it running, and what exactly is happening when you boot up?

If you've already gone through the trouble of doing these tweaks manually, then there's really nothing else to do but change the login to automatic.

But yes, I do run my system using InstantSheller (essentially the same thing you have set up now). When you boot up, it will go though the bios screens first. Then, instead of running the default windows loading screen (with the horizontally shifting bars), I have a different image (GameEx as I recall, but there are a ton out there). After the system is done loading (the screen is ready to disapear), the shell will load. In this case, we have replaced explorer.exe with gameex.exe so it will load GameEx immediately. You will not see your desktop, start menu, etc. because those are displayed via explorer.exe. You will see whatever background image you have set up for your login image I think (if you set one) and then whatever image you have set for your background for windows as I recall.

Anyway, all of this is 100% reversible. So, if you happen to run into any problems, it's just a matter of loading in safemode or starting explorer.exe in a new process to bring up the desktop (just ctl-alt-del -> File -> New process ... explorer.exe) and changing any settings you need.

The only thing that can go wrong really is panicing and reformatting the computer.

[katuuuz]

If you've already gone through the trouble of doing these tweaks manually, then there's really nothing else to do but change the login to automatic.

But yes, I do run my system using InstantSheller (essentially the same thing you have set up now). When you boot up, it will go though the bios screens first. Then, instead of running the default windows loading screen (with the horizontally shifting bars), I have a different image (GameEx as I recall, but there are a ton out there). After the system is done loading (the screen is ready to disapear), the shell will load. In this case, we have replaced explorer.exe with gameex.exe so it will load GameEx immediately. You will not see your desktop, start menu, etc. because those are displayed via explorer.exe. You will see whatever background image you have set up for your login image I think (if you set one) and then whatever image you have set for your background for windows as I recall.

Anyway, all of this is 100% reversible. So, if you happen to run into any problems, it's just a matter of loading in safemode or starting explorer.exe in a new process to bring up the desktop (just ctl-alt-del -> File -> New process ... explorer.exe) and changing any settings you need.

The only thing that can go wrong really is panicing and reformatting the computer.

thanks for the knowledge kenobi. i think i will try this, for my arcade before had ghetto launch where i set the taskbar to "hide", made my desktop black with no icons, and put gameex into the startup folder. sounds to me the sheller just straight boots gameex and wouldn't even give you a chance to see your desktop. i have like 4 more dvds of .chd files to load onto my hard drive, and will be ready to try it probably late tonight, early tomorrow. all i do is download the sheller and change explorer.exe with sheller.exe? if you could explain that part a little more in detail, because i will freak out and wipe the hard drive clean again haha. as you should know by now. thanks for your time man, it's appreciated.