perfomance improvement by using MP as exclusive shell app

[smnnekho]

well this one would be interesting for all the owners of a real HTCP, thus those where MP should be the only meaning of usement...
... and if MP is the only use? why not start up with ONLY mp?? (-;

in windows the default shell_application is the explorer. you can change that in the registry so that MP is the shell-application. the result is, that when your pc is started up there will be no taskbar, no desktop (at least no icons or something else on it) and no additional programms starting up except MP. i testet it and it works fine for me. it also allows MP to have the exclusive rights to use the CPU ressources wich means a massive perfomance improvement (at least for me).
if you need addtional software to be started there are several options for that, eg starting it as service, at it to the myprogramms plugin, or (not tested) set a batchfile as service which starts as well MP as also the additional software / services needed.

Furthermore the taskmanager is still available (via CTRL-ALT-DEL in my case) where you'll still be able to execute everything via "run".
It worked really good for me so far (can't use it though because i lack a HTCP since im only using my laptop as this)

alright here we go:

go to the registry (via start-->run-->regedit and change the values of "Shell=" in:

Hkey_Local_Machine/Software/Microsoft/windows nt/winlogon/

and

Hkey_Current_User/Software/Microsoft/windows nt/winlogon/

from "explorer.exe" to "Drive:/MPdirectory/mediaportal.exe"
On the next reboot MP will appear like it would be a standalone OS (exspecially together with the MP_bootlogo)

I really hope this one is useful for some of you, so post what you think.

ps: if you want to revert the change simply open regedit again (taskmanager!) and change back the values to explorer.exe

[Callifo]

This was suggested a while back and it did work OK but I do believe it caused some problems associated with explorer.exe not running. Cant remember what they are so if you do have any probs Id do a search.

[Efros]

Running MP on a athlon 2500 with 512Mb, 160 Gb, FX 5200, Diamond Xtreme PVR550, snapstream firefly, tinyxp installed with MP as shell, no insurmountable problems as yet. MP was setup before usnig it as shell. Any configuration changes necessitate the use of task manager to run configuration.exe, more complex changes would probly need to change the shell back to explorer and then return MP to shell.

[Leon_Gjerland]

If you need to start Explorer, just exit MP, launch Task manager (Ctrl-Shift-Esc) and start explorer.exe with New task from the file menu.

[smnnekho]

in fact you don't have to exit MP at all....

[j1nx]

Originally Posted by Leon_Gjerland

If you need to start Explorer, just exit MP, launch Task manager (Ctrl-Shift-Esc) and start explorer.exe with New task from the file menu.

But why use MP as the shell, it isn't a shell?????

There are enough light weight shells available to use if you want to get rid of the starderd XP explorer shell.

[Efros]

The point is why add the overhead of a shell on a dedicated media box when you don't need it. When you do occasionally need the facilites of a shell you can use task manger to start an instance of explorer.

[zion22]

Tried this, but when MediaPortal loaded, it whined about something with DirectX and that i should download and install some SDK.

So it's a no-go from me, unless there's a simple solution for that.

[Efros]

try dling directx 9.0c and see if that helps.

[zion22]

http://forum.team-mediaportal.com/vi...=shell+directx

That should do it I guess. Will check when I get home from work.