2005-07-24, 10:28 PM
To change the "Windows XP" and the moving progress bar before login, use BootXP. I dunno if there's a better or FREE-er program out there, but I bought this a while back so this is what I'll be using. That is really the last step I've got to do, and the lowest on the priority list.
To get GBPVR to run as a shell and start with no user invervention, your computer must ONLY be part of a workgroup. You'll need to first create 2 accounts with Admin priveledges. One should be the user that will run GBPVR.
Now, you'll want to set up XP to automate the login process. Click Start, Run, and enter "Control Userpasswords2" (MINUS the quotation marks). Uncheck the "Users must enter a username and password to use this computer" box. Click "Apply". Enter the user name and password you want to auto-login with, and click OK. Hit OK again, and you're good to go.
Make sure GBPVR is set up the way you want it before proceeding with the next steps.
Now to run GBPVR as your shell. Open regedit under the user you want to run GBPVR as. Open your registry folders as follows:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
SOFTWARE
Microsoft
Windows NT
CurrentVersion
IniFileMapping
system.ini
boot
If there is a value "shell", change the first 3 letters which read SYS to USR.
ex: SYS:BLAH\BLABETY\BLABLA\BLABOO should now look like:
USR:BLAH\BLABETY\BLABLA\BLABOO.
This tells windows to ignore the system's shell values and load up a shell value on a user by user basis. If you don't do this it will never even look for the shell value in the current user key, meaning the next part won't ever be seen.
Now (still in regedit) open these registry folders as follows:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER
Software
Microsoft
Windows NT
CurrentVersion
Winlogon
Create a value for Shell and put the path to your new shell. You'll have to find the path to gbpvr.exe on your computer and enter it.
ex: C:\Program Files\devnz\gbpvr\gbpvr.exe (YOURS may be different, use YOUR OWN path to the exe!)
Log out as the auto-login user and log back in as another user with administrative rights. (You DID create 2 accounts with adminstrative priveledges like I suggested, right?
)
Change the auto-login user to a standard user. This limits anyone to having more access than you want them to have.
To log out, ctrl alt del and log into another user which you're free to use as whatever.
The rest simply has to do with hiding/changing the startup/shutdown screens and hiding the mouse pointer (if you so wish)
Change from the default windows XP welcome screen to the other style by going to Control Panels>User Accounts>Change the way users logon or off. Deselect the "Use Welcome Screen" checkbox.
To get rid of the startup and shutdown messages via regedit:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Software
Microsoft
Windows
CurrentVersion
Policies
System
If there's a DisableStatusMessages dword there, change it to 1, otherwise add it and change it to 1.
Change the login background color. Login is disabled, but background color still shows up. It can be found here (regedit again):
HKEY_USERS
DEFAULT
Control Panel
Colors
Background
It's a 3 digit RGB Color. Black is 0 0 0
Should you ever care to go back to the way things were, after firing up gbpvr, simply hit ctrl alt del and run regedit again, and delete the shell entry you created. POOF! Everything's back to "normal" again!
To get GBPVR to run as a shell and start with no user invervention, your computer must ONLY be part of a workgroup. You'll need to first create 2 accounts with Admin priveledges. One should be the user that will run GBPVR.
Now, you'll want to set up XP to automate the login process. Click Start, Run, and enter "Control Userpasswords2" (MINUS the quotation marks). Uncheck the "Users must enter a username and password to use this computer" box. Click "Apply". Enter the user name and password you want to auto-login with, and click OK. Hit OK again, and you're good to go.
Make sure GBPVR is set up the way you want it before proceeding with the next steps.
Now to run GBPVR as your shell. Open regedit under the user you want to run GBPVR as. Open your registry folders as follows:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
SOFTWARE
Microsoft
Windows NT
CurrentVersion
IniFileMapping
system.ini
boot
If there is a value "shell", change the first 3 letters which read SYS to USR.
ex: SYS:BLAH\BLABETY\BLABLA\BLABOO should now look like:
USR:BLAH\BLABETY\BLABLA\BLABOO.
This tells windows to ignore the system's shell values and load up a shell value on a user by user basis. If you don't do this it will never even look for the shell value in the current user key, meaning the next part won't ever be seen.
Now (still in regedit) open these registry folders as follows:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER
Software
Microsoft
Windows NT
CurrentVersion
Winlogon
Create a value for Shell and put the path to your new shell. You'll have to find the path to gbpvr.exe on your computer and enter it.
ex: C:\Program Files\devnz\gbpvr\gbpvr.exe (YOURS may be different, use YOUR OWN path to the exe!)
Log out as the auto-login user and log back in as another user with administrative rights. (You DID create 2 accounts with adminstrative priveledges like I suggested, right?
)Change the auto-login user to a standard user. This limits anyone to having more access than you want them to have.
To log out, ctrl alt del and log into another user which you're free to use as whatever.
The rest simply has to do with hiding/changing the startup/shutdown screens and hiding the mouse pointer (if you so wish)
Change from the default windows XP welcome screen to the other style by going to Control Panels>User Accounts>Change the way users logon or off. Deselect the "Use Welcome Screen" checkbox.
To get rid of the startup and shutdown messages via regedit:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Software
Microsoft
Windows
CurrentVersion
Policies
System
If there's a DisableStatusMessages dword there, change it to 1, otherwise add it and change it to 1.
Change the login background color. Login is disabled, but background color still shows up. It can be found here (regedit again):
HKEY_USERS
DEFAULT
Control Panel
Colors
Background
It's a 3 digit RGB Color. Black is 0 0 0
Should you ever care to go back to the way things were, after firing up gbpvr, simply hit ctrl alt del and run regedit again, and delete the shell entry you created. POOF! Everything's back to "normal" again!
