Windows 7 - Seamless XBMC startup?
#1
Hello,

I'm looking to set my Windows 7 Aspire Revo so that it boots straight XBMC. I had a look at this how to HOW-TO make Windows boot directly to XBMC (as a shell), and it looks like exactly what I want but the "Set your Shell to EventGhost" doesn't seem to work for Windows 7.

Has anyone managed to achieve a similar setup?

Thanks in advance
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#2
All I did was put Xbmc in the startup menu so when it boots up into windows it then goes directly to xbmc. Not a shell per say but on my revo works great that way
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#3
As moviebuff explained all you really need to do is put a link to XBMC in the folder called "Startup" that's located in your start menu. Anything in that folder is started after windows finishes booting.
Windows 7 x64 Home Premium
Gigabyte MA78GM-U2SH Mainboard
ATI HD3200 Onboard
AMD 7750BE Dual-Core 4.00GB RAM
ATI HD3200 HDMI Sound
HTPC HMDI -> ONKYO TX-SR605 -> Panasonic TH-46PZ85U Plasma
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#4
I think he wants more of a seemless startup without seeing all the windows crap. With Windows 7 there are lots of things you cant get rid of that you could with XP as far as customization goes.

I cannot figure out how to kill the login screen with Win7 (yet). But you can kill all the icons and task bar etc. You can change Windows shell to something else. I use Emerge http://www.emergedesktop.org/ you still have access to things if need but its all right click on the desktop. When you install just uncheck everything so your desktop is nothing but a wallpaper. Also make your mouse cursor an invisible one so you dont see that either.
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#5
To enable autologin do the following:

1. Press the Windows key + R on your keyboard to launch the “Run” dialog box.
2. Type in control userpasswords2
3. Press Enter. The User Accounts window will display.
4. Uncheck the option “Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer”
5. Click “OK”
6. You will then be prompted to enter the current password and confirm it.
7. After doing so, you will no longer be prompted to enter your password upon login.

As far as replacing the Shell, you may want to try disabling UAC, see here: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-v...ows-vista/

Windows 7 is restrictive about allowing changes to the HKLM area of the registry. If your HTPC is only going to run XBMC then there is no reason to have UAC running since the system will have minimal risk of getting viruses/malware.
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#6
I know how to auto-login. But Im saying you cannot remove the screen when it shows you logging in. You can, at most, only change the background (AFAIK). I think you can change a couple little things with the fonts too. Like the shadow etc.

With XP I could have everything black until my wallpaper showed up. then it would open XBMC. So it was very nice looking except for the bios screen. And yes I know I can use S3 standby but I choose to turn the machine off.

I always kill the UAC first thing. Its a waste. I havent tried to change the shell to evengthost with win7. Emerge works well enough for me.
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#7
Have you tried only having one user account (admin of course) and remove all others. That should bypass the login screen. It may require having no password.

Also there is an option on the 'Boot' tab of MSConfig to remove the Boot GUI.
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#8
I guess I am speaking of the "Welcome" screen as it's logging you in. Have you removed that? I have not tried deleting all account but the admin one.

The no GUI boot removes the Windows 7 logo with the animated 4 colors. That can be removed no problem as you said.
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#9
I don't have a spare Win7 machine to test here at work, but if there is only one user account then Windows 7 should bypass the Welcome screen completely as long as there is only one account. Can't recall for sure if it must have no password as well.
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#10
I have it working in Windows 7 Ultimate using a local policy that only applies to my user account. The policy tells Windows to use XBMC as my shell instead of Explorer (so there's no start menu, just a wallpaper). This way XBMC is instantly launched upon (automatic) user log in.

Step 2 only works on Windows 7 Ultimate, Enterprise and Professional! (The group policy object editor is not available in other versions, thanks M$)

1. Setting up your user account to log in automatically
  • Log in as administrator.
  • Open the start menu, and type in the search box: netplwiz <ENTER>.
  • Uncheck Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer and hit Apply.
  • A window will pop up asking for the user name and password of the user account which should log in automatically. Supply all the information and hit OK.

Next time you restart, the account selected in step 1 will log on automatically. Now you can setup this account to use XBMC as shell instead of Explorer:

2. Set XBMC as shell for a specific user account
  • Log in as administrator.
  • Open the start menu, and type in the search box: mmc <ENTER>.
  • Choose File -> Add/Remove Snap-in....
  • Select Group Policy Object Editor and hit Add.
  • In the wizard that pops up, hit Browse..., go to tab Users, select your user account (the one that you set up to log on automatically in step 1) and hit OK.
  • Make sure that the checkbox in the wizard is Unchecked, and hit Finish.
  • Hit OK in the Add/Remove Snap-ins window.
  • In the User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System folder, open Custom User Interface.
  • Select Enabled and enter the full path (including XBMC.exe and any switches that you may use) in the Interface file name textbox.
  • Hit OK and reboot your system. It should now log in and start XBMC automatically without showing the start menu and icons first Smile
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#11
Thanks everyone.

Robbio85 - that sounds like exactly what I need. But unfortunately I only have Win 7 Home Sad

I'll give SlaveUnit's emergeDesktop a try.

Cheers!
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#12
elusiveMUSE Wrote:Thanks everyone.

Robbio85 - that sounds like exactly what I need. But unfortunately I only have Win 7 Home Sad

I'll give SlaveUnit's emergeDesktop a try.

Cheers!

Hmm I think the same could be achieved by setting the right registry keys, but I don't know which ones... maybe Google knows Wink
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#13
i use this tip, and it works great - but i have only one user in my windows and when i exit xbmc now, i still have a black screen - no windows anymore ..... thats not what i want and i have no second user to go to windows ...... any trick for me to make the changes back Huh
-- please forgive me for my bad english -- :blush:
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#14
What would I gain in utilizing some of the solutions listed above as opposed to just putting my computer to sleep with XBMC running and then waking the HTPC when I want to use it?
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#15
Mallet21 Wrote:What would I gain in utilizing some of the solutions listed above as opposed to just putting my computer to sleep with XBMC running and then waking the HTPC when I want to use it?

Probably not a lot!! I use event ghost to close xbmc on sleep and start it on wake up (just so there is nothing left playing and network shares may not be available). I always sleep my htpc, but there is always the danger of the memory becomming corrupted (power spikes, fluctuations etc) and if that happens I want to boot to windows shell. Having said that I also have event ghost start xbmc on windows start, just for good measure. All that being said, I'm running on a SSD so things don't take long to come up.
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