Slow boot with modified Explorer shell

[kvnkng77]

I'm setting up a WinXPE image that I want to boot directly to our
application without exposing the O/S, a common scenario that should
call for Minlogon. However, we need the ability to selectively
terminate our application and run the Explorer shell for basic
diagnostics and maintenance by field engineers. I did this by
substituting our program for the "Shell" application in the
"HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon" registry
key. Works great, except that it causes the logon process to hang for
about 30 seconds. Running Bootvis shows that there's no disk or CPU
activity, no driver delays and no process creates during the period in
question. The delay goes away if I restore Explorer.exe as the shell
application. Any insights?

 

[Guest]

Oh, I forgot to mention that my application is a very small MFC dialog that
runs very quickly under the Explorer shell if called directly. That's an
important detail.