Custom Shell Replacement Boots Slowly

[Guest]

Hello,

I have a custom shell that replaces explorer.exe, but it seems to add almost
30 seconds to the boot time.

I am using the following registry value to force my custom shell
"HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Shell". Even if
I use something like Notepad.exe as a shell I see the same 30 second stall.
The cursor turns into an hour glass right after the login screen. What's
really strange is that if I use explorer.exe as the shell and then set my
custom shell to run automatically by placing it in
"HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run" there is no 30 second
stall, and boot time is super fast.

(note: disabling networking and configuring a static ip yeild the same
results, so it's not a dhcp issue)

PLEASE HELP!!

- Chris M

 

[Oren Winter [MS]]

Chris,
The most likely reason is that winlogon waits on a named event that
explorer.exe sets.
Please note that my following suggestion is really a hack and is not
supported but may work: You can try in your custom shell application to
create and set the named event "ShellReadyEvent" and see if this solves the
problem.

Oren

 

[KM]

I always thought it is "msgina: ShellReadyEvent" named event.
I am referring to the Winlogon XP Welcome screen waiting event implement by Gina.
Maybe a good idea to explore named objects with WinObj first.

 

[Oren Winter [MS]]

Yes, you're correct - it is an msgina event (which is a part of the winlogon
subsystem). I second the advise of using WinObj to get the right string

 

[Guest]

Yep, setting the "msgina: ShellReadyEvent" event works like a charm! I'll
look into WinObj now. Many thanks!!

 

[joeacunzo]

In an app that starts as the shell, I too am setting the "msgina: ShellReadyEvent" approach on XP to dismiss the welcome screen and it works great.

But in Vista, there is no more more GINA. Does anyone know how to accomplish the same thing in Vista, that is, cause Winlogon to take down its welcome screen? I've searched everywhere for a solution, and found nothing. Any and all help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!