Windows XP Build Script

[Bill Mote]

Build scripts are a great way to get nearly click-for-click identical machines across time and space   (we don't build machines every day, but we often build them in different locations!)  I decided to share my build script for the arcade cabinet as I thought it might be of some use to the users here and it would be great to debate the ins-and-outs of what I've done and how it could be even better.  It's the same script from which I build office machines though not as many services can be turned off and I don't do all the work to hide the OS.

The result of my build has only 10 running processes and consumes a paltry 50 MB of memory.

So, without further adeu:

Code: [Select]

Arcade Machine Build Notes

0. Partitioned the drive into 3 partitions 10% (c), everything -6g (d), and 6g (e)
1. Labeled C-drive: OS
1A. Change the CD drive letter to Z (forgot to document this, sorry!)
2. Formatted and labeled D-Drive: DATA
3. Formatted and labeled E-Drive: SWAPFILE
4. Created this file.
5. Adjusted machine visual effects for best performance.
6. Moved paging file to SWAPFILE drive and rebooted.
7. Shutdown and added 3rd stick of RAM for a total of 768 MB.
8. Changed desktop appearance (no background, black).
9. Installed video drivers and rebooted.
10. IE settings
11. Changed resolution to 800x600x32bpp
12. Changed the way users logon/logoff (no welcome screen, disabled fast user switching)
13. Installed audio drivers
14. Set "Sounds and Audio Devices" to use preferred devices only.
15. Set sound scheme to "no sounds."
16. Turned off services:
1. Automatic Updates
2. Cryptographic Services
3. Distributed Link Tracking Client
4. DNS Client
5. Error Reporting Service
6. Help and Support
7. IPSEC Services
8. Messenger
9. Portable Media Serial Number (had trouble stopping)
10. Print Spooler
11. Remote Registry
12. Secondary Logon
13. Task Scheduler
14. TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
15. Themes
16. Upload Manager
17. WebClient (had trouble stopping)
18. Windows Time
19. Wireless Zero Configuration
20. Network Connections (disabled)
21. Network Location Awareness (NLA) (disabled)
22. SSDP Discovery Service (disabled)
23. Background Intelligent Transfer Service
24. Computer Browser
25. Server
26. Ati HotKey Poller
17. Reboot & check services
18. Ran MSCONFIG and disabled any remaining utilities
19. Turned off ATI system tray app
20. Reboot
21. Cleared event logs and set to 4,096 KB + overwrite as needed.
22. Turned off Santa Cruz volume control in system tray

CAPTURED A.GHO

23. DisabledStatusMessages in the registry.  .REG file stored on D.
24. Set the login background to 0 0 0.  .REG file stored on D.
25. DisabledBalloonTips in the registry.  .REG file stored on D.
26. Copied MameWAH to C-drive.

dot

[Bill Mote]

Here are some useful registry files (more to come):

Hide your recycle bin:

Code: [Select]

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\ClassicStartMenu]
"{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel]
"{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}"=dword:00000001
Add a GUI interface to recycle bin visibility:

Code: [Select]

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\Folder\RecycleBinOnDesktop]
"RegPath"="Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Explorer\\HideDesktopIcons\\NewStartPanel"
"Text"="Show Recycle Bin icon on the desktop"
"Type"="checkbox"
"ValueName"="{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}"
"CheckedValue"=dword:00000000
"UncheckedValue"=dword:00000001
"DefaultValue"=dword:00000001
"HKeyRoot"=dword:80000001
Final OS cleanup:

Code: [Select]

REGEDIT4

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\TypedURLs]

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU]

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RecentDocs]

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ComDlg32\LastVisitedMRU]

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Search Assistant\ACMru]
USE: Just cut-and-paste those into a file with a .REG extension and double click them.

dot

[Bill Mote]

0. Partitioned the drive into 3 partitions 10% (c), everything -6g (d), and 6g (e)
1. Labeled C-drive: OS
1A. Change the CD drive letter to Z.
2. Formatted and labeled D-Drive: DATA
3. Formatted and labeled E-Drive: SWAPFILE
<snip>
6. Moved paging file to SWAPFILE drive and rebooted.

Okay, lets start disecting this ...

These steps were done for a couple of reasons.

1. I've been moving the SWAPFILE to a separate partition, even on a single drive system, to avoid fragmentation on the OS and DATA partitions.  I set the swapfile to a fixed 4096 min and max size on the SWAPFILE drive.  Why 6g when I'm only setting my paging file to 4g?  Because windows will warn you about being low on drive space

2. A full set of MAME ROMs consumes 7 DVDs!  I want to keep all the MAME related DATA on a separate partition such that I can get good DRP (ghost specifically) images of the OS partition to speed rebuilds.  Who wants to go through all these steps over-and-over!  I don't.

[Bill Mote]

5. Adjusted machine visual effects for best performance.
<snip>
8. Changed desktop appearance (no background, black).
9. Installed video drivers and rebooted.
<snip>
11. Changed resolution to 800x600x32bpp
12. Changed the way users logon/logoff (no welcome screen, disabled fast user switching)
<snip>
14. Set "Sounds and Audio Devices" to use preferred devices only.
15. Set sound scheme to "no sounds."
<snip>
23. DisabledStatusMessages in the registry.  .REG file stored on D.
24. Set the login background to 0 0 0.  .REG file stored on D.
25. DisabledBalloonTips in the registry.  .REG file stored on D.

All this was done to help hide the operating system.  There are steps that haven't been outlined yet to hide the recycle bin, set MameWAH as my shell, change the mouse cursor to a 1 pixel dot, etc.  Those items are coming ... be patient.

#5 is accomplished via Start->My Computer->Properties->Advanced Tab->Performance Settings->Visual Effects Tab.  Set this to "Adjust for best performance."  It will remove all the cutesy stuff.  Not sure that it's a deal breaker if you leave this alone and replace the shell, but if you like things speedy rather than shiney it's not a bad tweak to apply.  The old look isn't really hateful anyway.

dot

[Bill Mote]

16. Turned off services:
   1. Automatic Updates
   2. Cryptographic Services
   3. Distributed Link Tracking Client
   4. DNS Client
   5. Error Reporting Service
   6. Help and Support
   7. IPSEC Services
   8. Messenger
   9. Portable Media Serial Number (had trouble stopping)
   10. Print Spooler
   11. Remote Registry
   12. Secondary Logon
   13. Task Scheduler
   14. TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
   15. Themes
   16. Upload Manager
   17. WebClient (had trouble stopping)
   18. Windows Time
   19. Wireless Zero Configuration
   20. Network Connections (disabled)
   21. Network Location Awareness (NLA) (disabled)
   22. SSDP Discovery Service (disabled)
   23. Background Intelligent Transfer Service
   24. Computer Browser
   25. Server
   26. Ati HotKey Poller
17. Reboot & check services
18. Ran MSCONFIG and disabled any remaining utilities
19. Turned off ATI system tray app
22. Turned off Santa Cruz volume control in system tray

Everything your system is doing that isn't a part of playing arcade games or presenting an interface to your player(s) is a waste of resources!  XP is good at that   These services can be safely disabled.  I have my eye on a couple of other services but I haven't tried disabling them.  Specifically, COM+ and RPC.  All-in-all this is a fantastic start.  10 processes and 50 MB is amazing!  Want to check?  Open up task manager and look at your process list.  Make sure you check the box that says show all running processes.  Then look at your commit/change memory.  I bet it's higher than 50 MB!

I have an ATI video card and a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz sound card.  I disabled the tray applications for both of those.  There's no need for them as we won't be using explorer as our shell anyway.  ATI has a hotkey poller service that I had to disable.  It won't be on your system unless you have an ATI card.

#1 Automatic Updates, why udpate?  It's my arcade cabinet.  I'm not going to surf on it.  I'm not going to read e-mail on it.  It's hidden from the internet behind my firewall.  Updates are not needed and with regards to a stand alone kiosk (arcade machine) they're evil.

#4 DNS Client, this service simply retains a cache of recently visited sites.  You can disable this service and still surf the internet.  It doesn't mean that your system won't do DNS lookups.  In fact, it's exactly the opposite: it will *always* do DNS lookups.  Probably not a bad idea given all the phishing schemes, etc.  I have always disabled this service on every machine I build.

#24 Computer Browser & #25 Server, these services can be disabled if you don't want to share a directory on the arcade.  The arcade can still access shares on other machines.  That's why the workstation service is left alone.  For reference I use the following Start-Run:

net use b: \\{computer name}\{share name} /user:{username} {password} /persistent:NO

"b" is almost never used as it was reserved in the BIOS for dual floppy drives.  You can choose any drive letter you want.  White space is important on the command above.  If you butt 2 things up against each other you'll have probems.  Anyway, that's how I get to data on my primary PC from the arcade.  At present I don't have a way to put things on the arcade, but in the end it will be my FTP server so that problem will be resolved.

dot

[Darq]

Here's a link to explain all the services.  Maybe this can help weed out any others.  http://majorgeeks.com/page.php?id=12

[Bill Mote]

Here's a link to explain all the services.  Maybe this can help weed out any others.  http://majorgeeks.com/page.php?id=12

There are a *lot* of sites around the net that can provide assistance with which services should/should-not be running.  Thank you for providing a link.  It was important to note, and I did not, that I'm running Windows XP w/SP1 and not SP2.  That's why there may appear to be services missing from my manual/stopped list.  I'm pretty sure I have ~10 Windows Services running.  Arguably those are the only necessary services (as things are running as expected.)  I'll post the services I left on automatic/running.  That may be more useful than a list of services I stopped.

Thanks for the reply!

dot

[Bill Mote]

Some more registry files ...

DisableBalloonTips:

Code: [Select]

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"EnableBalloonTips"=dword:00000000
DisableStatusMessages:

Code: [Select]

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\system]
"DisableStatusMessages"=dword:00000001
HideLoginBackground:

Code: [Select]

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Colors]
"Background"="0 0 0"
ReplaceShell:

Code: [Select]

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\IniFileMapping\system.ini\boot]
"Shell"="USR:Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion\\Winlogon"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
"Shell"="c:\\MAMEwah\\mamewah.exe"
Obviously, you need to set the correct path to your Front End.  Here's a continuation of the steps:

Code: [Select]

27. Ran system file setup from MameWAH site.
28. Turn off "Users must enter a username and password to use this computer" by doing Start->Run->control userpasswords2 and unchecking the option box.
29. Copied MAME folder to D-drive.
30. Change SYS to USR to replace shell.  .REG file stored on D.
31. Add Shell entry for current_user.  .REG file stored on D.

dot

[Bill Mote]

Code: [Select]

32. I googled "1 pixel mouse cursor mame" and downloaded pix.cur from a site into c:\windows\cursors.
33. Applied change to registry to replace default arror with 1 pixel cursor
ReplaceArrowWith1PIXCursor:

Code: [Select]

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Cursors]
"Arrow"=hex(2):25,00,53,00,59,00,53,00,54,00,45,00,4d,00,52,00,4f,00,4f,00,54,\
  00,25,00,5c,00,43,00,75,00,72,00,73,00,6f,00,72,00,73,00,5c,00,70,00,69,00,\
  78,00,2e,00,63,00,75,00,72,00,00,00
dot

[jfh2112]

Final OS cleanup:

Code: [Select]

REGEDIT4

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\TypedURLs]

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU]

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RecentDocs]

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ComDlg32\LastVisitedMRU]

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Search Assistant\ACMru]

I take it that adding the dash in front of the keys deletes them? That's handy. <making notes>

[lloydcom]

Would it be just easier and snag a copy of tiny Xp to use with a paid license key?

I can see your configuration, but you cannot beat a 150MB installed footprint that runs like the devil on 256mb memory and a 1ghz processor.  MAME just flies.

Also I think this thread should be stickied, as there are alot of good advice from dot, for those who want to edit their own home installations.

Good advice is hard to find these days.

Thanks for sharing dot.

[DrewKaree]

Would it be just easier and snag a copy of tiny Xp to use with a paid license key?

I can see your configuration, but you cannot beat a 150MB installed footprint that runs like the devil on 256mb memory and a 1ghz processor. 

http://www.nliteos.com/

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showforum=89

dot, you should look at nLite if you haven't already.  You could work all your registry tweaks in as well, and would end up with a disc you'd just have to throw in and can even set it to be unattended during install, so you just toss the disc in, come back half an hour later, and bam, you've got MAME! 

If you're any good at simple programming, I'm almost certain you could set up a silent install of your FrontEnd too.

*edit*  Removed junk to clean this thread up

[DrewKaree]

*edited to protect the innocent* 

[DrewKaree]

*edit*  threw this in the thread referenced a few posts down.

[lloydcom]

Nice spotting Drew.

Yes I have been trimming it down, getting rid of all those extras that are not needed.  I located a working ramdrive file from Win2K which I use for the swap, even though I have gigs of space on the drive.  I have two builds on the cab - one with ram swap - the other via the hard drive.

There was an attempt to get XP working on a pen drive nearing 128mb, that only boots with Damn Small Linux, but doesn't boot with a XP loader.  I tried using Barts pendrive installation with the Win2K ramdrive, which proved fruitless.

Whatcha think Drew? DSL with Mame on 128mb pendrive, is it possible?

[Bill Mote]

I take it that adding the dash in front of the keys deletes them? That's handy. <making notes>

Exactly.

dot

[gonzo90017]

Done and Done!

[Bill Mote]

Hey Drew do you mind sharing you Last Session.ini?

Would you guys mind breaking this off into a separate thread   It'd be great if you'd edit your post and link to the new thread.  I'm very interested in the list versions of XP that have been noted here.  I had no idea such a beast even existed.

dot

[DrewKaree]

Would you guys mind breaking this off into a separate thread

dot

Done!  http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=59373.new#new

Gonzo, just cut/paste your post into that thread.  You can't delete a post, so just leave a period so it doesn't stretch out dot's thread and is put someplace more relevant.   

[Bill Mote]

Thanks guys!

Well, I did the first test run of the PC.  It works perfectly.  Well, almost.  There are a couple of other pointers that need replaced.  The "busy" pointer and there's another arrow at login right before it switches to the 1 pixel cursor.  My guess on the latter is that I just need to set the cursor on all users rather than the auto-logged-in user.

I need to reflash my IPAC/4.  It seems to have lost the mappings on a few keys.  No big deal.  Ms. Pacman played perfectly. 

So, what's next: fixing the cursors, replacing the Windows XP boot screen, and flashing the IPAC.

On a similar project of documenting my setup to share/improve; I'm going to post my controller config.  We spent a lot of time remapping any MAME key that was mapped to a "special" key or had a duplicate somewhere else on the control panel.  What does that mean?  It means we're not using SHIFT, ALT, SPACE, CTRL, etc and no key is used twice.

Once in a game I go into the general control config and make sure that all 4 players are mapped correctly.

dot

[Bill Mote]

Code: [Select]

34. I captured a restore point and a ghost image (b.gho) just in case.
35. Edited the BMP files contained in the ntsokrnl.exe to replace the Windows boot screen.
The boot screen is now one that I downloaded from Little White Dog.  They were made for Windows 2000 so the progress bar is off and I blacked out the "Professional" BMP in the resource which made a big black area.  Dang it.  The image does display.  It just needs a little tweaking.  No big deal.

I found out that the IPAC/4 programming tool changed.  I don't have the old one since my HDD crashed.  I've asked a buddy to e-mail me his copy.  I really wish they had the old version available for download.  Yes, I looked on the page and there is a link to download an "old" version.  Problem is it doesn't look like the new one.  I used one with an interface just like the current one, but I know I bought my board before Jan 2004 so there must be something between the old and current that's not listed.

dot

[Bill Mote]

I flashed the IPAC controller.  I'm going to have to rework all my keys.  For now it's on the defaults.  Now we're down to the tinkering.  I'm ready for a good debate on my setup.  Any takers?

What's left to do: boot screen replaced (tweaks left), the IPAC reflashed (tweaks left) and the mouse cursor (tweaks left).  All those things are done in a rough form.  Done enough that you can't see "windows" and the kids are free to play the few games that are loaded while I wait on the newest set of ROMs to arrive.

dot

[Bill Mote]

Code: [Select]

36. Installed VNC v4.1.1 free edition
I use a custom port for VNC (actually a different sequential port for each machine in my house) and I forward the port from my firewall to the given machine.  I leave all my machines on DHCP, but I set reservations in the firewall based on MAC address.  This way I can leave the machines dynamic, but still know exactly what IP address they're going to get.  I can VNC into any machine on my home network by specifying a different port number.  Works out very well.

I have a Linksys router that's been reflashed with the DD-WRT firmware.  Very nice for all those added features.

dot

[Bill Mote]

ROMs showed up today.  12 DVDs.  Man that's a lot.

The arcade is running like a dream.  I should have reloaded it sooner   The HDD crash is turning out to be a good thing.

dot

[Bill Mote]

I changed the 1 pixel cursor to something more useable on the arcade.  The 1 pixel white completely disappears on all the white explorer screens that are used in XP.  DUH!  Well, I made a 3x3 cursor that has a small black and white point on opposing corners.  It works very well.  It's visible on the arcade; even on the TV, but it's still *very* small (see below).

dot

[Bill Mote]

Okay, so it doesn't look very small, but it is!  It's only 3 pixels by 3 pixels   The actual cursor file is attached here as a .zip file.  Just unzip and enjoy!

dot

[Bill Mote]

The cab is 99%!  The only thing I have left is tweak the boot screen.  Everything else has been done and documented.

dot

[torez]

Hi, I noticed that you put a swap file on a secondary partition located on your master drive.  That's not very good way to do it, as access speeds to it will be not as good as your primary partition.  The only way to put a swap file is to put it either on your c:\ drive (master partition) or on another hdd, also on primary partition.  If you want, you can use Nero to test speeds on your partitions and you will notice that the partition you have your swap file on is much slower than your primary partition.  Fixed size swap file does quite enough to limit defragmentation of a swap file.  With XP is not as bad as it was with Win98/ME when it comes to swap file fragmentation.

[Bill Mote]

Point taken.  The machine isn't likely to swap much anyway given the # of services/processes I have limited it to and it has 768 MB of RAM.  I will do the tests you speak of.

dot