Customizing Windows for XBMC
#1
After a fair bit of fiddling i have managed to mostly remove any visable windows stuff on my XBMC pc, All of this worked for me but whatever you do with your pc is your own fault.

See the video here,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6op7x8nV...e=youtu.be
1. Removing 'microsoft corp' and the spinning orb on boot up and replacing them with more XBMC friendly bits.
first off goto
http://www.coderforlife.com/projects/win7boot/
and download windows 7 boot updater.
Run the program as admin.
Right at the bottom where its says message 1 and message 2 change them to what you want
I changed 'microsoft corporation' to 'XBMC' and i changed 'starting windows' to 'starting XBMC'
At the top where it says booting, change the animation to static image then point to a .jpeg on your hdd. This image will replace the spinning orbs, I used
http://wiki.xbmc.org/images/thumb/3/3a/B...y_xbmc.jpg
Then select the 'resuming' tab and do the same as above.
Once your done, Click on play on the bottom right hand side to see what it will look like.
Once happy Click apply

2. Removing 'windows 7 ultimate' on login screen.
Download this reg hack and install it
http://www.sevenforums.com/attachments/t...ership.zip
Download resource hacker from
http://angusj.com/resourcehacker/
and install
Go to C:\Windows\Branding\Basebrd and right click on basedrd.dll and right click on it and select take ownership. And then right click on it and select open with resourcehacker.
Click on bitmap and delete them all.
Then save any changes and overwrite the basedrd.dll file and reboot your computer

3. Changing login screen background.
Download the Windows 7 logon screen background changer from
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Syste...nger.shtml
Run the program as admin and select your new required background, (google images for XBMC). Then click apply.

4. Automatic logon

Click on Start and enter netplwiz into the search box
Press the ENTER key.
In the Users tab, uncheck the box next to Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer.
Click on the Apply Button.
When the Automatically Log On dialog box appears, enter the user name you wish to automatically login to Windows 7 with. Then enter your account password in the two fields where it's asked.

5. Automatic startup of xbmc

Just create a short cut in the startup folder. Works for me.
To allow the rest of the windows apps to start up and not steal the focus off XBMC add -d 10 to the sortcut filename. so its like
"C:\Program Files (x86)\XBMC\XBMC.exe" -d 10
Simples.

6. Removing taskbar and changing wallpaper. Also hiding the recycle bin icon.

Right click on the taskbar and select properties, click on ‘auto hide the taskbar’, click ok.
Right Click on desktop and select personalize, on the right click desktop icons and un-check the recycle bin. Click ok.


Matt
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#2
Nice im definately gonna check this out myself.

thanks!
XBMC: XBMC 12.3 Frodo, Aeon MQ5, Win7 x64
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#3
Good stuff.

Know a way to prevent things like popups and whatnot from stealing focus from XBMC?
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#4
Thumbs Up 
Awesome. Exactly what I was looking for. Instructions a very easy to follow. Thanks heaps Matt. Big Grin
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#5
Np

Matt
Main - LG - OLED65CX6LA 65" Smart 4K Ultra HD HDR OLED TV - Yamaha RXV383 - N2plus running CoreELEC Nexus - Harmony Elite remote
BedRoom - Panasonic DX-700 UHD TV - N2 running CoreELEC Nexus - Harmony Elite remote
Server - debian based 10TB Media Server 
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#6
I created these two animations for use with the Windows 7 Boot Updater softare. Feel free to use and share.

To install, download the animation (.bs7 file) you want to use. Open Windows 7 Boot Updater (W7BU) which you can download from the link posted above and choose File >Load boot skin... and browse to your downloaded file. Select the file, click open, then click Apply. Close W7BU and restart your machine to see the new effect. The both work perfectly.

I am not responsible if any issues are caused when changing your Windows 7 configuration.

XBMC Spotlight Download

Image

XBMC Water Effect Download

Image
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#7
Thanks for posting the guide
Hardware - HP Proliant MicroServer N36L 8TB / Amazon Fire TV Stick
Software - NZBget / Radarr / Sonarr / uTorrent / Plex / NZB 360

Post - HQ WWE Fanart
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#8
This thread is for the bookmarks Smile Thank you very much!
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#9
Np. Hope it works for you.

Matt
Main - LG - OLED65CX6LA 65" Smart 4K Ultra HD HDR OLED TV - Yamaha RXV383 - N2plus running CoreELEC Nexus - Harmony Elite remote
BedRoom - Panasonic DX-700 UHD TV - N2 running CoreELEC Nexus - Harmony Elite remote
Server - debian based 10TB Media Server 
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#10
Thanks for the info.

What exactly does -d 10 do?
Does it prevent other windows from popping up for 10 seconds?
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#11
no it delays the starup of xbmc for 10 seconds, not sure if it still works with eden

Matt
Main - LG - OLED65CX6LA 65" Smart 4K Ultra HD HDR OLED TV - Yamaha RXV383 - N2plus running CoreELEC Nexus - Harmony Elite remote
BedRoom - Panasonic DX-700 UHD TV - N2 running CoreELEC Nexus - Harmony Elite remote
Server - debian based 10TB Media Server 
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#12
Hi matt77303,

it works flawlessly with Eden, but on my system XBMC gets minimized after exactly 40s, i.e. if I set the delay on XBMC autostart to 10s then XBMC gets minimized exactly 30s later. If I set the delay to 45s it does not get minimized.
I have disabled all notifications and balloons on Windows 7.
Do you have an idea what this could be or how to find out? Has anyone had the same issue?

Thankfully yours,
Bleikur
[MB] ASRock A75 Pro4-M
[CPU] AMD A8-3870K
[RAM] GeIL 4GB DDR3 EVO Corsa 1866 Dual-Kit
[HDD] Corsair Force Series 3 120GB MLC
[Case] SilverStone Milo ML03
[Cooler] Scythe Big Shuriken 2 Rev. B
[PSU] Corsair Builder Series CX430 V2
[OS] Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
[XBMC] v11 Eden
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#13
(2012-05-01, 02:58)Pottsy Wrote: I created these two animations for use with the Windows 7 Boot Updater softare. Feel free to use and share.

To install, download the animation (.bs7 file) you want to use. Open Windows 7 Boot Updater (W7BU) which you can download from the link posted above and choose File >Load boot skin... and browse to your downloaded file. Select the file, click open, then click Apply. Close W7BU and restart your machine to see the new effect. The both work perfectly.

I am not responsible if any issues are caused when changing your Windows 7 configuration.

XBMC Spotlight Download

Image

XBMC Water Effect Download

Image


Dropbox link broken Sad
HP N54L server with 6GB Memory and 10TB storage
Freenas server
HD Homerun twin HD network tuners (awesome)
2 x Pi 512 (B)
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#14
Thanks is there any new things to do or is this still the best way
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#15
Instead of hacking the boot screen, which isn't update-safe AFAIK, you could simply disable "GUI boot" by running "msconfig" and enjoy a faster startup process. Wink
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