*tutorial* Setting up Windows 10 for a MAME based arcade machine

[keilmillerjr]

The official gist can be found here. I will copy and paste the contents here, but please refer to the gist first for any updates in case I forget to update this thread.

Setting up Windows 10 for a MAME based arcade machine

Turn off sticky keys

While on the desktop, open System settings by clicking the windows icon in the taskbar, type "Ease of Access keyboard settings" and press enter.
Under the Sticky Keys category, turn off "Press one key at a time for keybpard shortcuts".

Change the user name (user name is shown during log in)

While on the desktop, open an explorer window by clicking the folder icon in the taskbar.
Press the up arrow in the new explorer window to navigate to the desktop folder.
Click the shortcut to the Control Panel.
Click "User Accounts".
Click "User Accounts" (again).
Click "Change your account name" and change it to your arcade machines name or something else suitable.

Personalize the lock screen

This screen can not be hidden, and will be shown with your user name and icon briefly.

While on the desktop, open an Windows Settings by clicking the windows icon in the taskbar, and then the gear icon.
Click on "Personalization" and then "Lock screen".
Click on the drop box under "Background" and select "Picture".
Click on the "Browse" button and select a photo of your liking.
Turn off "Get fun facts, tips, and more from Windows and Cortana on your lock screen".

Disable the boot screen

Disabling the boot screen will not only hide it, but speed up the boot process.

While on the desktop, open System Configuration by clicking the windows icon in the taskbar, type "msconfig" and press enter.
Click on the "Boot" tab.
Check "No GUI boot" and "Make all boot settings pernament".
Click "Apply".
Click "Yes" in the pop up window.
Click "Ok:.
Click "Exit without restart" so we can continue the guide without waiting.

Automatically log in to your Windows account

While on the desktop, open netplwiz by clicking the windows icon in the taskbar, type "netplwiz" and press enter.
Uncheck "Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer".
Click "Apply".
Enter password and password confirmation fields.
Click "Ok".
Click "Ok".

Boot directly into your front end

While on the desktop, open mmc by clicking the windows icon in the taskbar, type "mmc" and press enter.
Click "File" and then "Add/Remove Snap-in...".
Click "Group Policy Object Editor" option.
Click "Add >" button.
Click "Browse" button.
Click "Users" tab.
Click on the current user you set up to automatically log in.
Click "Ok" button.
Click "Finish" button.
Click "Ok" button.
Navigate the tree in the left pane as follows: Console Root -> Local Computer -> User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System.
Double Click "Custom User Interface" in the right pane.
Click the "Enabled" radio.
Enter the file path of your front end in the field under "Interface file name". Params to be passed to the executable may be passed here. For the attractmode front end, be sure to include the param "-c pathToConfigDirectory" to avoid an error.
Click "Apply" button.
Click "Ok" button.
Click "File" and then "Save".
Click "Save" button.
Exit the Policy Editor.

After reboot

After shutting down and then restarting, the only thing visible process should be the lock screen and then your front end.

Launching Explorer

To launch Explorer for administrative tasks, press "control + alt + delete".
Click "Task Manager".
Click "More details" button.
Click "File" and "Run New Task".
Type "Explorer".
Click "OK" button.

[rablack97]

Change your background image and your user account image to a black background.

Change your user name to -------------------

Give you a nice split second clean loading look for login.

I was able to able remove the shutdown text and blue screen by modifying the these files per my hide win 7 tutorial.



or this

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System

DisableLogonBackgroundImage DWORD

0 or delete = enable
1 = disable

followed by this

[rablack97]

download dot .cur file from here

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=76132.0

place in c:windows/cursors

go to mouse settings in control panel, then pointers replace any cursor with the blue toilet bowl thingy with this file, and it will disappear on all bus tasks.

[rablack97]

to get rid of the boot logo, open an elevated command prompt and type

bcdedit.exe -set {globalsettings} bootuxdisabled on

[javeryh]

I know this is an old thread but I'm going to try this tomorrow and I don't want to lose it.

[Zebidee]

{ghost post: in case I want to do this one day too} woooo o hooooo 

[bobbyb13]

Thanks you gents for bumping this because I hadn't seen it before and I am looking forward to implementing these!

[javeryh]

I cannot disable the stupid HP splash screen before booting up.  There's no setting to change in the BIOS.  It would be so much easier if there was a setting to delay turning on the monitor until like 20 seconds has gone by.

[PL1]

It would be so much easier if there was a setting to delay turning on the monitor until like 20 seconds has gone by.

You could use a time delay relay.   


Scott

[javeryh]

It would be so much easier if there was a setting to delay turning on the monitor until like 20 seconds has gone by.

You could use a time delay relay.   

I don't even want to know, do I?

[PL1]

It would be so much easier if there was a setting to delay turning on the monitor until like 20 seconds has gone by.

You could use a time delay relay.   

I don't even want to know, do I?

It's not that bad.   

Depending on your monitor, you might need to wire the switch to the relay if the monitor doesn't auto power-on when power is applied (shown below) or just run the monitor power black wire/hot/live through the relay.

Rablack97 used a time delay relay to power on his monitor in this thread.

If you use the relay and base that rablack97 used, wire it like this.

Other related posts:  https://duckduckgo.com/?q=time+delay+relay+pl1+site%3Aforum.arcadecontrols.com&t=h_&ia=web


Scott

[Zebidee]

I don't even want to know, do I?

I just finished wiring a relay into my vertical cab and it wasn't that hard. In the process I completely re-jigged the whole power system. Total cost: $negligible I spent less than $1 on a fuse and a relay, otherwise used parts I already had.

Maybe I should do a separate topic thread on it.

My relay was a simple one, takes 5v via molex from PC. TV/speakers come on once the computer is fired up, but you could substitute one with a built-in adjustable timer like this:

https://www.banggood.com/QF1023-A-10S-Timing-Relay-Delay-Switch-Relay-Delay-Timer-Switch-Timing-Relay-10S-Adjustable-p-1593269.html?gmcCountry=AU&currency=AUD&cur_warehouse=CN&createTmp=1&utm_source=bing_pa&utm_medium=cpc_bgcs&utm_content=haosen&utm_campaign=haosen-pa-aug-elecom-module-pc-1116&ad_id=&msclkid=045daae82115121ebd2acae14b23ce70

Curiously enough, I have to deal with that HP splash logo too

[Phreakwars]

Kind of like where you are going with this. Ever tried the windows 7 hacks to customize boot logo and shut down screens? I totally wanna do an animated boot. That's probably THE thing that ever keeps me from switching from 7 to 10 on the cabinets. I gotta do custom all around. Though I love the performance on 10 with a Ryzen APU. Makes for a very compact ITX install.

[mahuti]

I've done some time delay relays and standard relays in the past. Not much to it really. A few wires on one side, a few wires on the other. The main trick is just making sure you get a relay that's built to handle the juice that has to go through it.

[javeryh]

OK I figured this out with the help of this video:



The "catch" is that you have to upgrade Windows to "Enterprise Edition" for this to work.  It's really not a big deal though because upgrading is free - there are codes floating around that allow you to upgrade (from Microsoft - just google it).  These are not licensed though so if you are in Windows you will have a watermark on the bottom left.  But that's OK because with this method Windows never boots so the watermark never appears.

Make sure you run all of these changes as Administrator.  It was really easy and once you put the path to your front end in as the "Shell" your computer will boot straight into it bypassing the Welcome screen so there's no need to even mess around with making your user name blank and your profile pic black and your background black, etc.  None of that stuff ever loads.

If you exit your emulator, you will get a blank screen.  You need to press Ctrl+Alt_Del to bring up Task Manager and then select File -> Run new program -> type "explorer" and then Windows will start and you can mess around (add games, tweak the front end settings, etc - whatever you want). 

This is really slick and easy to do.  The only other issue you may have is seeing your motherboard's splash screen flash on the screen for a second.  This can usually be disabled in BIOS but it might be hard to find.

[mahuti]

Good info. Thanks!