Starting explorer

[Rob]

Hi,
Why does explorer.exe have no desktop and taskbar when starting it at a
later stage ? ( when it's removed from the reg location it normally starts
from)

Kind regards,
Rob.
www.robtso.nl

 

[Sean Liming - MVP]

When Explorer is not the shell it launches as fiel explorer. Is that what
you are seeing?

What is the shell to your system?

--
Regards,

Sean Liming
www.sjjmicro.com / www.seanliming.com
Book Author - XP Embedded Advanced, XP Embedded Supplemental Toolkit

 

[Rob]

Hi,
You mean "file" explorer I assume, and yes thats what I see.
Explorer is our shell now, but we would rather not start it at all, only
when we need it. But this does not work since we then only get 1 explorer box
(file explorer) and NOT the taskbar and desktop.

How does Explorer.exe know if it is started as shell (from the regkey) or in
a later stage ? Is it's look depending on reg-settings ?

Kind regards,
Rob.
www.robtso.nl

 

[Sean Liming \(MVP\)]

I have never understood the mechanics of how Explorer knows it is a shell or
not. In one version of XPe if you had a custom shell, launching explorer
would launch as the desktop. Later on this was fixed. Once explorer is not a
shell, it doesn't give you a desktop.

If you are trying to switch shells, you might want to look at registry keys:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms838576(WinEmbedded.5).aspx
--
Regards,

Sean Liming
www.sjjmicro.com / www.seanliming.com
Book Author - XP Embedded Advanced, XP Embedded Supplemental Toolkit

 

[Rob]

I'm guessing its just looking at the regkey its started from.
I'm writing a program "startexplorer.exe" that puts explorer.exe in this
regkey and then starts explorer, and removes explorer.exe from the key again.
I'ts not ready yet, i'm curious if it will work...

Kind regards,
Rob.
www.robtso.nl

 

[Rob]

Hmm... doesnt work :-(
Any other idea's ?

Kind regards,
Rob.
www.robtso.nl

 

[Rob]

Correction : it IS working !
Explorer.exe needs to be first in the string..... (?)

Kind regards,
Rob
www.robtso.nl