[tredman]

Originally Posted by JeffD

My understanding is that little is changed over Win 7 underneath, so this guide should still apply for the registry changes. May install Win 8 as a VM over Easter if I get the time to take a look. Was planning on rebuilding my XMBC pc now Eden Final is out and complete this guide at the same time over the Easter weekend.

Will give it a bash over easter and see how it goes - apart from the difficulty in finding stuff win 8 does seem the same - but better.

Rebuilt all three of my xbmc machines with eden now (ATV1 with crystalbuntu, linux mint desktop & revo with win 8) after setting up a shared SQL library on my little server - wish I'd done it years ago, it was dead easy and now i can stop playback in living room and resume on machine upstairs

[sunshinekhan]

Hi,

This is my first post at the AVForums.

I was wondering if there was a way to select a shell to be used at boot, with a default value and a time limit (like dual / multiboot systems )?

Regards,
sunshinekhan

[JeffD]

Originally Posted by sunshinekhan

I was wondering if there was a way to select a shell to be used at boot, with a default value and a time limit (like dual / multiboot systems )?

Hi there, welcome to AVFourms

Each Windows User can have a different shell configured, for example you could have 4 users each using a different shell:

XBMC user that uses XBMC as shell when logged in
Mediaportal user that uses Media portal as a shell when logged in
WMC user that uses Windows Media Centre as a shell when logged in
Admin user that uses standard Windows Explorer shell when logged in

Options for Windows log in are:

1. Windows boots to User selection window then you manually log in.
2. Auto login is configured for a specified user to bypass the user selection process and load straight into the specified user & it's shell.

A delayed default user auto login with a timed countdown is not available as standard, however there are tools which do this such as:

Autologon by LogonExpert

[thesilverfox]

I've stickied this thread, as I think it is more useful than perhaps people may already realise

[JeffD]

Thanks

Guess that means I need to find the time to get the last few bits finished off

Btw, not convinced I choose the best name for the thread, is any better ideas?

[thesilverfox]

Originally Posted by JeffD

Thanks

Guess that means I need to find the time to get the last few bits finished off

Btw, not convinced I choose the best name for the thread, is any better ideas?

Take your time, no rush. As for the name ... no idea If you think of something better, just let a mod know and they can update it.

Cheers!
tsf

[robbo100]

Nice and clear looking guide! Great work.

I am tempted to do this, but will it still allow me to run other programs (e.g. emulators) from my HTPC software or will it only allow the HTPC application to run?

Thanks

Robbo100

[JeffD]

Originally Posted by robbo100

Nice and clear looking guide! Great work.

I am tempted to do this, but will it still allow me to run other programs (e.g. emulators) from my HTPC software or will it only allow the HTPC application to run?

Thanks

Yes you can still run other programs, Windows underneath continues to operate as it normally would.

The default Windows Explorer shell provides the desktop icons, start menu, taskbar & system tray, so replacing it just means you lose these functions, the benefit of this is these items don't intrude on your media experience. For example system tray items can cause full screen windows to minimise as another program tries to grab focus, running your HTPC software as a shell prevents this.

As replacing the shell removes the normal way to launch other programs your HTPC software would ideally provide this function. In XBMC the Advanced Launcher add on will do this, and in WMC you can use something like Media Centre Studio to create new menu strips and icons for launching programs.

The other fallback is doing a Ctrl+Alt+Del to bring up the Task Manager and then running Explorer.exe to start the Windows Explorer shell.

[robbo100]

I might give it a go one night this week then.

Thanks

Robbo100

[richardb70]

Originally Posted by robbo100

I might give it a go one night this week then.

Thanks

Robbo100

Thanks Robbo for offering to be a guinea pig (with MediaPortal, I assume)!

I'd be interested to know if the MultiShortcut plugins work OK, I'm currently launching TMT5's MCE interface via one, with "Hide MP while executing" and "Stop MediaPortal Player" set to "True". TMT takes a fraction of a second to start up, during which I see my Windows 7 desktop.

[robbo100]

Right then,

Initial feedback from the "MediaPortal guinea pig" - I hope that name doesn't stick!

It works for MediaPortal (why wouldn't it I suppose, it is just a programme like any other).

I run iMon remote software, so I will need to configure that to run too (which I will try following the advice in this thread for that, but I suggest this gets formally added to the guide so that users don't have to search for it).

The problem I have (and it is a big deal!), is that when I try to watch ANY media that is stored on another computer on the network, MediaPortal can't play it! Any locally stored media is fine though - strange! (However, if I am honest, this is running on a new user account as per your instructions, and I did not check this function before changing the shell, so it could be a problem with the user account rather than the shell). I will report back!

[JeffD]

I run any additional software which doesn't need gui interaction as services, for example I have Anydvdhd running as a service to decrypt blu-rays in the background, I setup Anydvdhd with the Admin account running the Windows default shell then add it as a service, not sure if this is the advice you refer to.

As for networking, that definitely still works after changing shell as all my media is on a server running WHS2011, but as you pointed out I needed to make sure all users on the htpc had permissions to access the folders. Will add a note about checking this before switching shells.

To check networking from new user account, exit mediaportal then do a Ctrl+Alt+Del and select Task Manager and follow steps at bottom of post #3 to start the default Windows Explorer shell so you can check your network access from the new user account.

[robbo100]

OK, there is definitely not a problem with the network under the shell, it was that the new user account wasn't setup correctly to access the server. All working now except iMon.

The advice I was referring to was from post 20.

I will look at running it as a service and report back.

Robbo100

[robbo100]

iMON won't run as a service :-(

If I run iMOM from task manager after the shell has booted it all works fine, but I just can't get it to load with the shell boot.

The good news is that MediaPortal works absolutely fine in a shell (including multishortcut and Emulators which call external programs)!

Robbo100

[JeffD]

Originally Posted by robbo100

iMON won't run as a service :-(

If I run iMOM from task manager after the shell has booted it all works fine, but I just can't get it to load with the shell boot.

What are your Task Manager settings?

Alternatively I'm aware of another solution for this type of circumstance, but hadn't tested it yet hence not in the guides yet. I'll try and get that done tomorrow as shouldn't take long

[tredman]

Originally Posted by JeffD

What are your Task Manager settings?

Alternatively I'm aware of another solution for this type of circumstance, but hadn't tested it yet hence not in the guides yet. I'll try and get that done tomorrow as shouldn't take long

I run progs on my server as scheduled tasks on startup, if they don't run as services nicely. Works very well and easy to set up.

Failing that there's the servany.exe route.

[robbo100]

I tried servany.exe with iMon (which didn't work), to be honest, that is the only way I know how to setup a service with an application or .exe.

What other methods can I try and how do I schedule a task on startup (in a way that will work for a Shell)?

Thanks

Robbo100

[tredman]

Originally Posted by robbo100

I tried servany.exe with iMon (which didn't work), to be honest, that is the only way I know how to setup a service with an application or .exe.

What other methods can I try and how do I schedule a task on startup (in a way that will work for a Shell)?

Thanks

Robbo100

You could try http://www.serviceex.com/ but tbh it's easer to just use the task scheduler.

Just load up the task scheduler and create a new task, with full rights (prob on same login as your new shell I guess) and set it to run on startup (not login) make sure you disable the force stop after X hours too.

[JeffD]

Originally Posted by robbo100

I tried servany.exe with iMon (which didn't work), to be honest, that is the only way I know how to setup a service with an application or .exe.

What other methods can I try and how do I schedule a task on startup (in a way that will work for a Shell)?

Thanks

Robbo100

I've update the guides following your feedback, got a new section on running addition programs using the Task Scheduler method, this info is now in Post #2

[JeffD]

Just about done now, only major thing left to do is put together some video to illustrate better the effect of the various changes.

[paul77]

This is brilliant!! Using mediaportal and this would really make a difference in the WAF department, will give it a go over next couple of weeks.

well done for making this a stickie, its an excellent guide

[Meridius]

hi all just woundering does all the ati drivers get loaded and sound drivers if you do this ? what happens to ati control centre which has picture settings in it
cheers

[JeffD]

Originally Posted by Meridius

hi all just woundering does all the ati drivers get loaded and sound drivers if you do this ? what happens to ati control centre which has picture settings in it
cheers

For ATI the drivers will certainly be loaded but not sure about CCC, I'm guessing if CCC is listed as a Startup item in msconfig then it should still be loaded, but if not then Part 2 - Running Additional Programs should cover getting it working. If you want to test create a new user account so as not mess with your existing setup, then set whatever program you want as the shell for only that new user account, log into account and do a Ctrl+Alt+Del then select Task Manager and check if the relevant process is running.

I think thesilverfox used this guide with ATI graphics so he might know better as I've only used these techniques with Intel & Nvidia graphics.

[potnoodles]

A very good guide, thanks, I used it to configure a single portable xbmc installation for sharing between all users over 2 OSs - win7hp and win8 pro both 64bit. Both OSs have a xmbcuser using xbmc as user shell. (Using Group policy guide in win8 and Registry guide win7HP).
One problem was that both these users needed a different path to get to the same media source on the hard drive of win 7.
I overcame this with guide for task scheduler which I used to launch a batch file on login that invokes subst U: <path to public shared folder>.
I previously had the batch file in all users- both OSs but of course this did not run without the explorer shell.
So a big heads up - great work!!!

[steford]

I'm just about to have a go at this. As I understand it with XBMC as the shell there is no way any other application can get focus as there is no windows management system provided by explorer. I'm slightly puzzled therefore at talk of startup programs grabbing focus. I have a fair number of programs I need to kick off alongside XBMC - uTorrent, MSE, CCleaner, Google Music Manager, PeerBlock, Dropbox, VNC server, DynDNS updater and Homeseer. I also get the odd Flash update etc and uTorrent runs a batch script to email me when a download is complete. What are the implications of running these programs either via registry entries or scheduler? Right now, without XBMC as shell, I often see XBMC minimised.

Thanks for any help.

EDIT: Tried this on a spare PC. Machine boots to XBMC shell fine. I used a scheduled task to run 3 programs on login. CCleaner took focus and minimised XBMC. MSE ran in background (I think). Dropbox didn't start. Not the most successful experiment. I could have XBMC start after a delay but I worry that things that happen in the background will take focus. Is there no foolproof way to keep XBMC on top and maximised?

[JeffD]

You could try this http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=136798

[tredman]

Originally Posted by JeffD

You could try this http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=136798

I use this and it works well.

[steford]

Thanks fellas. Yes it was on my list to try. Not a huge fan of the 10s loss of focus though.

Am currently testing on another machine. I have XBMC as window and running as shell. I have turned off notifications for all things I need to run in background and written a batch script to get me out of explorer and back into XBMC should I need to admin the machine. So far, so good. Going to try it on the HTPC tomorrow. May add a small script to capture MC remote green button or stick Eventghost back on which I used to use years ago for key mappings. Don't want too many extra pieces of software on there but just counted up how many I can uninstall along with 7MC and it amounts to 11!!

[tredman]

This:

http://xbmccustomregis.sourceforge.net/remote_manu.html

Works very very well for mce remote and green button.

[JeffD]

Originally Posted by steford

Thanks fellas. Yes it was on my list to try. Not a huge fan of the 10s loss of focus though.

You could try to run any additional programs as services, since services don't load a gui there's nothing to interrupt focus, this is what I do to have Anydvdhd running in the background.