How to hide Windows 7 (1 Viewer)

[mbuzina]

When you start explorer.exe from MP the shell is not created (aka the Start Menu)? Hmm, maybe try starting a batch with
start explorer.exe

from MP? That - might - help.

 

[zicoz]

Yes the start menu and desktop is not loaded only the windows explorer (file browser). Yeah I was thinking that a batchfile might be one solution perhaps have one batch that I can launch from inside Mediaportal that changes the shell-registry back to exlorer.exe and reboots the HTPC and then another on the desktop that changes it to mediaportal.exe and reboots the computer.

Turns out it was quite easy to do so:

- Export "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\" from regedit with "explorer.exe" in shell as explorer.reg

- Export "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\" from regedit with "c:\program files\team mediaportal\mediaportal\mediaportal.exe" in shell as mediapotal.reg

Place them both in c:\batch

Then open notepad and enter:

regedit /s c:\batch\explorer.reg
shutdown -r -c "Rebooting into Windows shell"
exit

Save it as winshell.bat


Then open notepad and enter:

regedit /s c:\batch\mediaportal.reg
shutdown -r -c "Rebooting into Windows shell"
exit

Save it as mpshell.bat

Then create a multishortcut link to winshell.bat and place it under plugins

Then you only need to click that and you'll reboot into the Windows Shell after a few seconds.

To have it reboot into Mediaportal all you need to do is to press the mpshell.bat file in windows.

 

[zicoz]

Is there any way to launch Imon with Mediaportal when I use Mediaportal as a shell?

Solved my problem by creating a batch file that launches Mediaportal.exe and Imon.exe. It looks like this:

start /d "C:\program files\team mediaportal\mediaportal" mediaportal.exe
start /d "C:\program files\soundgraph\imon" imon.exe

And then I pointed the registry to the batchfile instead of Mediaportal.exe

 

[ifreaky]

My HTPC is going on standby when i press the button. If the HTPC is resuming from standby the taskbar and the desktop icons are hidden. But, i also automaticly startup a program called newcs.exe (cmd file for my DVB-C card) minimized, so it's in the taskbar and you don't see it. But the only thing that bothers me is that you can see the taskbar is hided. You can see a little line in the bottom of the screen.
But if you disable explorer.exe, so the taskbar is completely hidden this program is just visible after resuming standby.

So, my question is,
Can you hide this program newcs.exe and hide the taskbar before starting up mediaportal?

 

[zicoz]

Do you only use your computer as a HTPC ifreaky? If so I'd recomend that you try what I've been told to do in this thread, have a batch file launch instead of explorer.exe when you boot Windows. Then you can use the batchfile to launch newcs.exe and Mediaportal. Then you won't get the taskbar at all since it boots straight into Mediaportal. When I boot my computer the MP splashscreen covers anything else.

Wrote up a guide on my current setup:

Guide to booting Windows directly into Mediaportal


First we need to create 2 registry edits:

The first is to have a quick way to revert back to launching the Windows-shell instead.

Start -> Regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\
Press File -> Export and save it as Windows.reg in c:\batch


Then we want to create the .reg-file that will launch Mediaportal

Start -> Regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\
Press File -> Export and save it as Windows.reg
Doubliclick on "Shell" in the window on the right side and replace explorer.exe with c:\batch\mediaportal.bat
Press File -> Export and save it as Mediaportal.reg in c:\batch

The reason for pointing it to a .bat-file instead of c:\program files\team mediaportal\mediaportal\mediaportal.exe is that some people might need to launch other programs aswell, one such program might me imon.exe which will not launch if you point it directly to mediaportal.exe rendering your remote useless.


Now right-click your .reg files and choose "edit"

Now remove everything but the following lines.

For windows.reg:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
"Shell"="explorer.exe"

For Mediaportal.reg:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
"Shell"="c:\batch\mediaportal.bat"

Now we are going to create the batch-files we need.

First the one to launch Windows this batchfile can be added to Mediaportal using the Multishortcut-plugin and when you press it it pops up a messafe saying "Rebooting into Windows shell" before it reboots into the Windows shell.

Open Notepad and enter the following:

regedit /s c:\batch\explorer.reg
shutdown -r -c "Rebooting into Windows shell"
exit

Save it as c:\batch\Windows.bat

Now to the batchfile that will change the registry so that we boot directly into Mediaportal.

Open Notepad and enter the following

regedit /s c:\batch\mediaportal.reg
shutdown -r -c "Rebooting into Mediaportal"
exit

Save it as c:\batch\MediaportalUI.bat


And last we need to create the bootscript, this is the script that launched Mediaportal and any other programs we might want to launch.

Open Notepad and enter the following:

start /d "C:\program files\team mediaportal\mediaportal" mediaportal.exe

Save it as c:\batch\mediaportal.bat

If you need to launch Imon aswell simply add this line to the script

start /d "C:\program files\soundgraph\imon" imon.exe

If you need to launch any other programs simply add them to the script aswell.

Now you can create some shortcuts to your Mediaportal-UI.bat and your Windows.bat files on your desktop this is not something you have to do, but it makes it quicker/easier to run the scripts.

If you run the mediaportalUI.bat you will boot reboot directly into Mediaportal after a few seconds.

To boot back into the normal Windows UI all you need to do is to press ctrl+alt+delete and select "Start Task Manager" then choose "New Task" and run windows.bat.

As mentioned earlier I have added it as a Multishortcut in my Mediaportal so that I can run it without opening task manager.

Thanks to mbuzina for the registry hack.

 

[EViS]

Am I right in assuming that if you launch straight into mediaportal.exe (for example) and don't launch explorer.exe, then any other programmes which would usually launch at startup (e.g. I require Avast, RealVNC Server, Girder and Daemon Tools) would NOT launch as they are reliant on explorer.exe first?

Hence, a batch file is required to specifically start these applications? How about non-Windows Services? Do they start without explorer.exe?

 

[zicoz]

I have no experiense with the programs you list so they might work in some other way but generally yes. Personally I've had to add both AnyDVD and Imon to my batchfile. As for services I'm not sure, I've only been testing this out as I go along myself. If you have any suggestions for services I could test it.

 

[joostzilla]

Here is a app that changes the logon background automatically

Utility: Windows 7 LogonUI Background Changer is Released - The Winhelponline Blog

 

[EViS]

Here is a app that changes the logon background automatically

Utility: Windows 7 LogonUI Background Changer is Released - The Winhelponline Blog

I successfully used Julien Manici's Windows 7 Logon Background Changer as recommended by this Seven Forums Guide.

Now my logon, desktop and MP startup (using StreamedMP) screen's are the same which makes everything look very seamless in deed! Not going to attempt at removing the taskbar and startmenu as I do need these.

Very pleased with the results . Just need to change 'Starting Windows' and 'Resuming Windows' to Starting/Resuming Home Cinema .

 

[fabien44]

Could you list tricks to speed up Windows XP start up and running MP?