Customizing Windows for XBMC

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

Nice im definately gonna check this out myself.

thanks!

Good stuff.

Know a way to prevent things like popups and whatnot from stealing focus from XBMC?

Awesome. Exactly what I was looking for. Instructions a very easy to follow. Thanks heaps Matt.

Np

Matt

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



XBMC Water Effect Download

Thanks for posting the guide

This thread is for the bookmarks Thank you very much!

Np. Hope it works for you.

Matt

Thanks for the info.

What exactly does -d 10 do?
Does it prevent other windows from popping up for 10 seconds?